Well as all pet owners know, eventually your best bud will pass. Last friday I had my miniture poodle of 16 years put to sleep due to stroke and kidney failure.

So now I start the search for that one to fill the void in the family and dogs can be cheaper then gals and kids.

I currently have a black lab(stands 3 foot at the shoulder and still growing. maybe half horse) and would like to get a dog about half that size or 2/3's the size. I plan to search the rescue organizations like where we got him from but getting one from a breeder is not out of the question.

Now I would like to get a 'working' dog mainly because my deceased poodle was my bird dawg during hunting season. A natural born retreiver that started a 6 months of age. I think i want to stay away from breeds that need hair cuts like poodles.

So here is what I am looking for-

medium sized
short hair but not a real requirement
working breed but really am flexable on this
Miniture GSD and pinchers considered

So reccomend me a dog. Sources in the Austin tx area and include pictures if you can.

Only thing I am certain of is the name Derringer or Dare for short.

Thanks

UPDATE: Well we got a new puppy. Four month old aussiedoodle. Yeah I know just a mut but she's now my mut. Sweet girl that likes tummy rubs. Her parents are both from a rescue organization. Pa is an aussie and ma a standard poodle. Think an aussie with cowlick currly hair.

Named Rayne, Blood Rayne that is.

take a few trips to the closest shelter (although one trip usually does it);

your dog will find you, trust me on this.

I love golden retrievers.  I've had several and don't see any reason to switch breeds.  

I know there are some good breeders in Austin.  Ask me if you want a name.  A friend of mine got a wonderful dog from that area a couple of years ago.  

Or the GR Rescue organizations in Austin probably have a lot to choose from.  It is my understanding that all the rescue orgs are struggling right now with too many dogs and not enuf people to take them.

Sarah says,  "Get an Australian Shepherd like me!  We're awesome!  Great with kids,



very loyal, very smart, and cute as hell!"




CJ






 

The 2 replies above are great advice - our best dogs have been rescue/shelter dogs

GR or golden doodle

border collie smart, personality, needs a job, if you can keep them employed they make great pets.

Rescued dogs are greet dogs. My lab Scooter is case in point. We got him last year from Pawmatch of Austin and he is one of the best dogs ever.

Right now it is the looking phase with the 'right' one hopefully standing out. It's that 'feeling' you get when you find the One you are looking for.

Only thing I'm sure of right now is no pits or pit mixes. Nothing against the breef mind you/ I'm just not a pitbull person.

a american pitbull you can find them pretty small. and despite all the bs about them they really are great dogs and very playfull and eager to please. if you can teach them to do it they will be the best at it

My last two Goldens were rescue dogs.  

The most recent dog was rescued from a back yard breeder.  He had previously sold this dog but the people had to return him for some stupid fucking reason or another.  So the AH breeder chained him up in his back yard.  

One thing led to another and I heard of this dog.  So I drove about 100 miles to the guys house....in Gun Barrel City, TX.  When I got there I saw this gorgeous large GR puppy, about 1 1/2 years old.  We put him on a leash and took him for a short walk.  I noticed he kept looking up at me while we walked.  He seemed to be eager / desperate to please.  I think he had already picked me and was wanting to be sure he did everything just right.  I was probably already hooked then but was too stupid to know it.  When we got back to the AH's house, that dog (Midas is his name now) sat beside me and leaned up against my leg.  He was again telling me that he was mine and I was his.  As one poster said, your dog will pick you.  This dog had definitely picked me and was pulling every trick in the book to get me to notice.  Then we wanted to take him for a ride in the Wrangler to make sure he would travel well.  He fell asleep in the back seat.  We took him home.  Even though I have had a series of wonderful dogs.....I think he is the best of the best.  (Can they just keep getting better and better?)

My previous GR was found in a shelter in Bellingham, WA.  He also attached himself to me in such a way that once I talked to him....it was clear he was mine and I was his.  He lasted for 7 years...I thought he was the best dog I could ever have....before getting liver cancer.  

Best wishes on your search.

Rescue / shelter.  Hardest part will be limiting yourself to one.

Malinois.

Australian Shepherds: intelligent, loving, brilliant, wonderful and I am not a bit biased! Really!
AUSSIE PUPS

 
 

Red Heeler.  Damn, I love mine.

My favorite   Standard poodle!!  they are smart and don't shed. they will hunt with the best of them!

Here's some English Shepherds available for adoption in your region.

They're the best working dogs and fantastic family dogs. If you're choosing a breed, this is the one.

From the English Shepherd wikipedia article:



National English Shepherd Rescue website.

+1   pitbulls are great!

Yeah, pits are great, unless you get one of the ones who will eventually sink its jaws into somebody's face.




Unfortunately, there's really no way to tell which pit's going to do that, or when.



As far as I'm concerned,  the breed's popularity is proof that a lot of Americans are insane, stupid, or both.  



There are so many good breeds out there that DON'T have a reputation for blowing a gasket and killing kids,  why

bother with the ones that do?  



I'd never have a Chow or a Pit.   And I'm not a big fan of Rottweilers, either, although I've never had any trouble with one.



I prefer the herding breeds.  Shepherds of one kind or another.  





CJ

If a breeder neglects to breed for good temperament and/or intentionally seeks to produce human/dog aggressive animals, no matter the breed, then they will produce dangerous dogs. Good breeders in these breeds will have carefully selected for excellent temperaments for many, many generations. These dogs from reputable breeders are not ticking time bombs. They are really very good family companions.



If a dog is raised in neglectful circumstances, abused and encouraged to be aggressive, then it will become what the owner makes it. If the dog is raised in a good home with someone who understands how to socialize a pet, how to train it to behave respectfully and provides it with exercise and adequate mental stimulation appropriate to the breed, it will be a well adjusted dog, regardless of the breed. What goes in is what comes out.



What is a reputable breeder? It is someone who competes with their dogs, who tests their dogs both mentally and physically, who can provide detailed information for five generations or more about each member of the pedigree and who does not and never has bred for aggressive behaviors.






 

the pitbull breed was never engineered to be a guard/attack dog.  the dog was bred as a fighting dog and as such, pitbulls that showed aggression towards humans were routinely "put down".  the owners/handlers wanted the dogs solely to fight other dogs and a dog that could not be trusted not to bite the handler, was eliminated from the breeding programs.  If you would do a little research before you start running off at the mouth about something you obviously know nothing about, you might be surprised.  the last statistics I saw in relations to the number of bites reported per dog breed, showed dalmations, golden retrievers, and labs in the lead.  pitbulls weren't even in the top ten.  they have gotten bad publicity because of a handful of retards that go out of their way to make them human aggressive.  people seems to forget that when the german shepard was first introduced in the states, it got a frigid reception as the "nazi dog".  now the GSD is an arfcom staple.  it's a little cliche, but "judge the deed, not the breed".

www.badrap.org/rescue/index.cfm
http://lassiegethelp.blogspot.com/2007/08/dangerous-breeds-dog-bite-statistics.html

Doesn't matter.  I'm not a big fan of pits in general.  Even the NICE ones.   I'll take anything ending in "shepherd" over any APBT, any day of any week.
CJ

DO NOT GET A JACK RUSSELL...

she is cute but ours is an absolute terror.

YMMV

Almost did but the owners wanted 300 bucks for it. I decided to keep my money for ammo.

I might go look at some Aussiedoodles(aussie sheppard/poodle mix. think Aussie with an afro) this weekend.

Doodles of any sort are just mutts and buying one is supporting the worst sort of breeder. If you want a mixed breed, do yourself and the world of dogs a favor and rescue from a shelter or rescue group. Don't buy dogs from idiots who mislead the public and breed mutts for money.



Three hundred dollars is a drop in the bucket for a WELL BRED dog. Those "doodle breeders" are going to rip you off for three to four times that amount for a dog with no health history, no verifiable pedigree or proof of parentage, no genetic background, no guarantee, nothing.












 

Aussiedoodle?



Wow, that's sacrilege.   Mixing up a great Aussie with a mere poodle...that oughta be a felony!






CJ

True, but the search is just part of the problem with differrent breeds.

I go on 'feel'. Whether it is a rescued(prefferred) dog or from a breeder, it is that connection(only way I can think of wording it) you get when you first meet the dog.

I have had 4 dogs from breeders( all poodles including Rocky) and it was that connection when we first met and I have had more dogs then I can count that we found at rescue groups or abandoned in the country that there was that connection.

Best dog I had growing up was a great dane I found under my deer stand on a wet sunday morning back in the early 70's. I was 11 at the time. We named him Duke and kept him until he passed in 76. He was the family watch dog and protected the house when we were gone shopping and such. We had a break in one day, nothing taken but Duke would not give up that jeans leg he had.

So right now in the looking process I am open to everything, well no small yappers or horses, until I find that connection if you get my meaning.

Keep the suggestions and pics coming.

You should check out tempermant testing.  It's done by people more knowledgeable than you or I.  

Or you could just keep lapping up what the media gives you about how every dog that bites is a pit.

Any mix with a shepherd will produce a better dog, but different breeds have different instincts. When you mix two very different breeds together you get dogs that aren't sure whether they should herd sheep or hunt them as well as a number of other conflicting instincts. The correct response can be trained into them, but it makes them that much more dificult to train. When a situation that hasn't been trained comes up or training fails instincts take over and it's a roll of the dice as to which set wins out.

Or so I've heard from breeders.

I have no doubt that they would make great dogs, but maybe not so much working dogs.

From the Wikipedia article on poodles:

One of the biggest mistakes made is to assume that all herding breeds retained their herding instinct. Herding ability is a fragile characteristic, easily lost if not intentionally bred for and fostered carefully from generation to generation.  That chasing of children and cars isn't herding instinct, it's prey drive, a much deeper seated and necessary survival instinct that isn't as easily lost and is found in almost all canines. Poodles were originally bred as hunting retrievers, but very few actually retain that ability today.
It can't, as someone posted earlier, be trained back into a dog. Instinct, once lost, can't be replaced in that individual through training. I have dogs who work, really work, and I can assure you I see the results of loss of instinct in trial arenas all the time. A trained dog with no instinct relies entirely on it's owner to think for it. Well, when you have cattle in a 50 acre pasture that you need gathered, you can't be right on top of the dog telling it go bye, lie down, way to me....you have to be able to send that dog out to do it's job and know that it will gather those cow/calf pairs or steers and bring them in and do it right, without getting hurt and without hurting the stock.
The problem with crossbreeding is that there is a mixing of genes, health problems from each breed and usually no attention paid to the quality of the animals being crossed nor the issues that may reside behind them genetically. This doesn't make for a better dog, it makes for a crap shoot. You may or may not come up with the dog who has the desired and preferred characteristics of both breeds and only if both parents carried those characteristics to begin with.
Golden Retrievers and Australian Shepherds carry a long, double coat. Poodles carry a hard to maintain hair coat and between the two, the result is one that can easily mat. You won't necessarily get the low-shedding characteristics of a Poodle nor the herding instinct of an Aussie. You may get the Progressive Retinal Atrophy gene of the Poodle and the Epilepsy found in both, though!
Seriously, anyone who advocates that the intentional crossbreeding of dogs produces a better result needs to do a little more research. There are certainly plenty of wonderful, even great mixes in the world, but they are great through a happy accident and could not produce those same characteristics again in another generation reliably. That is the difference in purebred dog programs (operated by knowledgable breeders) and those byb and designer dog breeders trying to rip the public off.
 

Have you considered a Shiba Inu?  I don't have one, but I've been wanting get one for awhile.  I think they are nice looking dogs.   It sounds like it would be along the lines of what you are looking for.

Beagle for the win!!

Great with kids and will always be there for you...unless he smells a rabbit...Best dog I could ask for...

I'll see your beagle and raise you 5 mini aussies / north american shepherds / with tails.

This. That's how it worked for me. Went to visit and knew I couldnt leave without a new dog.

ETA: Maybe you can find a good medium sized mixed breed...

I'll see your, Beagle and the five North American Shepherds for five REAL Australian Shepherds

2/3 the size of your lab is a st bernard, newfoundland, great pyrnees or leonberger.   either you don't have a lab or you live near a nuclear power plant.

You should get anothe Miniature Poodle.  The one I grew up with was a loyal, smart, dedicated hunting dog.  I field trained her with the help of my friend's dad (who was a state champion Labrador trainer.)  Yeah, we had to cut her hair, but we never did the pom-pom BS, we just trimmed her hair to the same OAL, and everything was cool.  If I get a dog it'll be a min or std poodle.  Just a great breed.  But you already know that...

Alright like every man I imbelished the size. He's 24.5 inchs at the top of the shoulder only seems bigger due to his weight of 60 pounds.

I plan on looking at the Aussiedoodles this week end. Only thing sure of right now is I will get a female. Another b––-h in my life.

Still may get a recue dog if I can find the 'right' one. DOgs can be like ar's, yeah can't have only one.

::SIGH::




 

Our home owners insurance would not cover certain breeds, you may what to check on that.
Two pound dogs, the humane society is the only place I will get a dog from.

I would get a north american shepard but there are none advertised in the austin area. If they are the same as the mini aussie then the closest breeder I could find was in Brenham tx. The only mini advertised in austin is going for 600 bucks. A little too steep for me.

Who knows the aussiedoodle may not work if I don't hit it off with one of the pups. I am still going to keep looking at the rescue dog though.

Our insurance luckly does not have an exclussion clause for dogs and there is no HOA to but heads over breeds of dogs(friend at work is currently having this proublem because of his akita).

I'm with you.  






I'll never have anything but Aussies for the rest of my life.  Believe that.









CJ





 

For the win !!

awwwwwwwwwwwwh crap, your 2000+ miles away. (I'll include some more file pic's)

"Scar" (10 month old male) keeps a watchful eye. (after a romp in the mud)


Blue eyed tri boy.


Play time.


You don't say.


Blue merle.


"Stryker" little under 6 months and smart as a whip. May have some pic's of him at a big event this weekend.


Sorry for the highjack.

Thanks for the win.

If you are serious about a North American Shepherd (there is no such thing as a Mini Aussie, btw) I can put you in contact with *reputable* breeders. Just so ya know, six hundred is really quite reasonable for a purebred dog from a good breeder. If you can't swing $600.00, how are you going to manage the average 500.00 to 700.00 annual fees in regular care or a really big hit should the dog have some major health concern?



Lets put it into context given the source of our forum. You can pay for a quality weapon, made by a known manufacturer with guarantees to the accuracy and quality, mil-spec, tried and true or you can go out and by some garage built composite that may or may not be a great weapon, you just never know.

Intial cost is big for a pure breed yes. As for the 500 to 700 annual fees for regular care or major health issues, I have discovered a thing called dog health insurance. 200 a year and for the services I have already had on my dogs it has payed for itself 10 times the annual cost. This insurance acts like a hmo. 10 to 15 bucks for visit,including preventive care for free and heavily discounted services for other major issues.

As for swinging the 600 bucks, I refuse to pay inflated cost for an animal unless I can ride it or use it to pull a plow. I'll admit i am cheap and if I wanted to spend money like that I'd go with a rescue dog for 150 adoption fees with the rest going to the rescue group as a donation(I try to donate every chance I get anyways).

Now I am not saying buying an expensive dog is bad if you can afford it but it's not for me. Besides some of the best dogs I have had over the years have been free to less then 200 bucks. Otherwise if I had the money I would get a pointer from a family friend. His dogs start at 5 grand(includes health care for 1st year since he is a vet and training for the first 1.5 years for obeidence/retreiving) and I have worked with his dogs so i know what you get.( btw he is retiring from the dog breeding business once he gets read of this year's liter. Going into deer breeding for more money).

High cost of a dog does not mean you get a quality dog just that you have a better chance. Case in point is Rocky, cost me 120 bucks and he turned out to be a great bird/companion dog for 15 years. Neighbor bought a nice pointer for 400 bucks. Dog was dumb as a stump even with pro training. Great dog all around but just to crazy to hunt with and ended up after 3 years of trying as a house dog.

Just get a GSD and be done with it!

You wont regret it :)

Australian Cattle Dog

I will give my vote for purebreed Aussie too. Not sure what part of Texas your in but there are several Aussie rescue sites that can be found by searching Texas Aussie Rescue. Most have very reasonable fees in the $200-$300 range. Not only do you get to rescue a pet but you can find one you will already know alot about. Not hard to find a young one already house broken and crate trained. Most will also tell you if they do well with kids or other pets. Here is a link to a Aussie rescue in Austin.

Austin Aussie Rescue

good for you!