Quote Originally Posted by mac View Post
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actually, in my experience and i've never been w/o a dog or so....even in combat zones, the worst breeds are the old line purebreds....look at what's happened to the irish setter.......ruined a real pity....had a great english setter once, beautiful dog, blood lines back to the crusades......BUT a basket of nerves, most high strung dog i've ever had.....loved to hunt......but had to give her up....couldn't keep her round rambunctious kids. yep, the worst are the old line pure bloods and the best are curs, feists, mongrels and some of the newer purebreds. i'm currently the property of a damned good jack russel and blackfaced mountain cur.....mac
There has been a lot of consternation about border collies making it into AKC. They used to be bred for their brains. The fear is that breeding them for a specific look will ruin the brains. Alaska mushing dogs look like mongrels because there is no specific look they are looking for. They are looking for a drive and desire more then an appearance. Also, they used to really want the huge powerful mushing dogs (think Call of the Wild and the fact that Buck was a BIG dog). Nowadays, the best mushing dogs are about 50 pounds of lanky running-ness.

I think the perfect dog would be a Lab/Rott crossbreed, but so many places won't allow even half-Rotts. Mostly I've had lab/collie crosses.

My mom's chihuahua is a little monster. I despise the little rat.