Big Dogs? Little Dogs? In Betweenies? Which Do You Prefer?

I used to think I liked large dogs the best. I grew up with German Sheppards and then as an adult I always have loved Rottweilers but then Minnie Mouse and Seth came along! Seth is my husband's dog and then we inherited Minnie Mouse from our son. They follow my husband everywhere and love nap time in the recliner with him. :)
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Butterfly said:
I'm a big dog person Labrador retrievers and lab mixes usually. Most all of them have been black. Now I have an American Staffordshire Terrier (at least that's what the Humane Society says). She is a true sweetheart, 7-1/2 and and old soul. I've had her almost 7 months, and I love her dearly. She weighs between 65 and 70 pounds. She is mostly black, with a white "mask". Wonderful companion. She does not approve of cats, skateboards, or mailmen.
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My 2nd oldest son has 2 of those American Staffordshire Terriers Butterfly, he dearly loves them. He has a brindle and white and a black and white. Here is a photo from when they were small looking out the window at a deer in the back yard.
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Linda said:
My 2nd oldest son has 2 of those American Staffordshire Terriers Butterfly, he dearly loves them. He has a brindle and white and a black and white. Here is a photo from when they were small looking out the window at a deer in the back yard.
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They really are wonderful dogs. I got my girl from the Humane Society back in late March after the passing of my last lab-pit cross doggie, who was 13. She seems SO glad to have a home, and is perfectly behaved in the house -- she's basically a couch potato. She LOVES children and likes to sleep on her back on the couch with her feet in the air.
 
jujube said:
If I ever get another dog, it'll probably be a Chihuahua. You don't have to walk them.....just hold them out the window and squeeze.

I did see the cutest dog in the world last year - it was a Pomski, a Pomeranian and Husky mix (yep, strange as it may seem). It looked just like a Husky, but Pom-sized, full grown.
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OMG! "....just hold them out the window and squeeze."

I don't care who you are, that is hilarious! Jujube completely wrecked my train of thought about this :tickled_pink: !!

Okay....I don't know. I have only had two dogs. My first was a beautiful wolf-husky hybrid, and her name was Ruffian. We called her Ruffie. She was awesome! Such a great dog...er...wolf. She was 50% BC timberwolf and 50% husky. She was with us for a little over 12 years.

She passed while playing with her beloved frisbee. She leapt to catch it, stumbled, and just dropped. By the time I got to her, she was gone. I did doggie CPR on her to no avail, and called the vet. One of our vets came immediately and there was nothing she could do either. She took Ruffie for a necropsy and Ruffie had had some kind of heart attack; her heart gave out. Ruffie is under a butterfly bush in our back yard.

We mourned, and even the five cats we had seemed to mourn. I brought Ruffie home after the necropsy and laid her in the livingroom so the cats would (might?) understand. One by one, they visited her and seemed to understand. We buried Ruffie a few hours later.

When it came to treat time with the cats, they didn't want them. They ate their food, but didn't want their treats. Saavy, our little runt, seemed to take it the hardest. She sat by Ruffie quietly the whole time before we buried her.

The house wasn't the same. I got talked into finding a puppy a couple months later....and sure as heck! Here comes our Lilly! She's a big Boxer/German Shepherd mix...weighing in at 82 pounds! When I got her, she was tiny! The story of my finding her will be finished in my Diary here.

I don't know about big, little, or in-between dogs. I just know that I have friends who have everything between Chihuahas and Irish Wolfhounds and I think all dogs are just wonderful. My two dogs were big; Ruffie was 70 pounds (a runt) and Lilly is big, but I just can't say I prefer any one, big or little.

I just love all dogs.

Wow, that's one heck of a wimpy excuse for an answer, but it's all I have to add here. Dogs are awesome, no matter what size or breed.
 
Here is my daughter with our wolfdog Ruffie:

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And here's Lilly:

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So many beautiful photos! Pookie I have never heard of letting the other pets experience the death of one of their family like that. What a great idea and a kind thing to do so they don't just wonder what happened. I'll remember that, but I hope it's not something we have to do for a long long time.
 
Linda said:
So many beautiful photos! Pookie I have never heard of letting the other pets experience the death of one of their family like that. What a great idea and a kind thing to do so they don't just wonder what happened. I'll remember that, but I hope it's not something we have to do for a long long time.
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I hope no one ever has to to that. I didn't know what else to do. I felt I owed them ... they needed to maybe in their own cat ways know she was gone. They loved her.

I don't always understand cats and dogs but it's interesting how they know stuff sometimes.

Thank you, Linda! I hope it will be a VERY long, long time before anything happens.

But I still don't know about preferring dogs. I never did really answer the question. I just love dogs....it doesn't matter. Got dogs? Life is good!
 
When I was eighteen and still at home, our fifteen year old Cairn Terrier, Tigger, who thought he was a cat, had a stroke which left him paralysed. We sat in his pen with him while we waited for the vet. Three oriental cats sat in a semi circle around him also. They, along with his human family, escorted him to the rainbow bridge, or what my grandmother always called, the fields of God. Ooh, I miss him. Salut, mon vieux! Tu est mon Cher ami.
 
My cousin and her first husband were Buddhists. When my uncle died many years ago, his dogs were devastated, wouldn't eat, just laid around crying, peeing in the house, etc.

Her husband asked, "Has anyone told the dogs what happened?" Everybody looked at him like he was crazy. He took the dogs down to the beach, lined them up, sat on a log and "told" them exactly what had happened. He brought the dogs back and they started eating and acting relatively normal. He said, "The dogs just needed to know what was going on."

Who knows. Maybe he was right.
 
Oh Pookie, such pretty pictures. Lily looks like one of Sophie's sisters. Sophie is probably AmStaff/ Boxer and a dash of German Shepherd
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I've known people who are passionately in love with their wolf hybrids. With the right mix you have an incredible dog indeed!
 
fureverywhere said:
Oh Pookie, such pretty pictures. Lily looks like one of Sophie's sisters. Sophie is probably AmStaff/ Boxer and a dash of German Shepherd
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I've known people who are passionately in love with their wolf hybrids. With the right mix you have an incredible dog indeed!
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Yes, my friend! She was wonderful. She had that "pack" mentality where all the cats were hers.

One time, when little Tigger was a tiny kitten, we came home and Ruffie wasn't there to greet us or stick her nose in the bags. That wasn't normal at all, so I got worried. I finally found Ruffie on our bedroom floor, curled up...and Tigger was nearly buried in Ruffie's belly fur.

Ruffie just stayed there as little Tigger slept. Ruffie just looked up at me, as if she were saying, "Sorry, I'm kinda busy right now."
 
jujube said:
My cousin and her first husband were Buddhists. When my uncle died many years ago, his dogs were devastated, wouldn't eat, just laid around crying, peeing in the house, etc.

Her husband asked, "Has anyone told the dogs what happened?" Everybody looked at him like he was crazy. He took the dogs down to the beach, lined them up, sat on a log and "told" them exactly what had happened. He brought the dogs back and they started eating and acting relatively normal. He said, "The dogs just needed to know what was going on."

Who knows. Maybe he was right.
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Well, yes! Who knows? I think dogs understand a heck of a lot more than we think they do. That was a great idea!
 
Shalimar said:
When I was eighteen and still at home, our fifteen year old Cairn Terrier, Tigger, who thought he was a cat, had a stroke which left him paralysed. We sat in his pen with him while we waited for the vet. Three oriental cats sat in a semi circle around him also. They, along with his human family, escorted him to the rainbow bridge, or what my grandmother always called, the fields of God. Ooh, I miss him. Salut, mon vieux! Tu est mon Cher ami.
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I am so sorry for your loss. It always hurts so much when a precious pet passes. I think maybe other pets can understand the passing of another pet.

I truly believe Heaven is full of animals ... all our pets, and even kittens, puppies, dogs, cats, (those who never got homes and passed) snakes, ferrets, etc. I think those of who love pets will be with them.

I know there are some folks who don't like animals. That's okay, I think Heaven can accommodate them as well. There's nothing wrong with folks who don't like animals. It's just a preference thing.
 
I don't know if I can find it at the moment but I have that pic of Sophie tattooed on my shoulder. My beautiful girl will always be with me. Thinking Callie's name on my wrist.
 
Pookie said:
I truly believe Heaven is full of animals ... all our pets, and even kittens, puppies, dogs, cats, (those who never got homes and passed) snakes, ferrets, etc. I think those of who love pets will be with them.

I know there are some folks who don't like animals. That's okay, I think Heaven can accommodate them as well. There's nothing wrong with folks who don't like animals. It's just a preference thing.
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Does anyone remember the Twilight Zone episode called "The Hunt": Hyder Simpson lives with his wife and his hound dog, Rip, in the backwoods. Mrs. Simpson does not like having the dog indoors, but Rip saved Hyder's life once, and Hyder won't be parted from him. Mrs. Simpson has seen some bad omens recently and warns Hyder not to go raccoon hunting that night. When Rip dives into a pond after a raccoon, Hyder jumps in after him, but only the raccoon comes up out of the water. Next morning, Hyder and Rip wake up next to the pond. When they return home, Hyder finds that neither his wife, the preacher, nor the neighbors can hear him or see him—they seem to think that he and Rip are dead.

Walking along the road, he encounters a fence he doesn't recognize, and decides to follow it. Presently, both come to a gate tended by a man. Simpson asks him if he is Saint Peter. Explaining only that he is a gatekeeper, the man explains that Simpson can enter the Elysian Fields. Simpson is appreciative, but disheartened to hear that there is no raccoon hunting there, nor are there any of his other usual pleasures. When he is told that Rip can't enter and will be taken elsewhere ("up the road"), he declines and angrily goes on down the "Eternity Road" rather than enter the gate without his beloved dog. Simpson states "Any place that's too high-falutin' for Rip is too fancy for me." Later, after stopping to rest, Simpson and Rip are met by a young angel whose job is to find and bring them to Heaven.

Simpson tells the angel about his experience at the first gate, commenting "Son, that'd be a helluva place without Rip!" The angel replies "Mr. Simpson, you ain't far wrong—that is Hell! Heaven's up yonder a piece," pointing up Eternity Road. When asked by Simpson why the gatekeeper at the gate to Hades wouldn't let him bring Rip inside with him, the angel explains that the reason Rip was not allowed in was because the dog would have been able to smell the brimstone and alert Simpson that something was wrong. The angel says "You see, Mr. Simpson—a man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can't fool a dog!"

The angel also tells Hyder that there will be a raccoon hunt in Heaven that night "right after the square dance" and assures him that his wife, who will be coming shortly, will not be misled into entering Hell.
 
Awesome story Jujube, I loved "The Twilight Zone". Of course overthinking it but I know Heaven has raccoons;)
All the cats, dogs and rodents I have ever loved will be at the Rainbow Bridge waiting to happily suffocate me
 

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