I had a Newfoundland named Bailey years ago that I bought from a very reputable breeder - unfortunately, at a fairly young age (6 months to a year), she had some joint pain - turns out she had hip displaysia - our vet said she was an orthopedic disaster. I let her breeder know about it and the breeder offered to refund our money and take Bailey back - which was absurd, since she was a part of our family and a wonderful dog. Just saying that unforseeable expenses can and usually do happen down the line, as I'm sure you're aware.
I've been doing some fun and interesting research about dogs. We're going to adopt a dog after our oldest cat passes on (she's 20 now). It wouldn't be right to bring in a young dog in our cat's final years. My wife jokingly calls it my new obsession as I review on a daily basis all the different breed rescue and animal shelters in Northern California.
I have a few constraints on finding the right breed (or mixed-breed) for us:
- I'm allergic to varying degrees with different types of dogs - the dander and saliva on some breeds affect me more than others (when they lick my hand or face, nothing more than that, you sick, sick bastards).
- We have to make sure we don't get a dog that is prey-driven (i.e., so they won't attack or kill our two younger cats).
- The size of the dog. Since we're in the city again, we've got to think much smaller. While we have a small yard, we have a nice park across the street (as well as a number of parks in the city and the beach) for a dog to have some fun exercise.
- Dogs with known serious health issues due to inbreeding like English and French Bulldogs (two of my favorite breeds).
My current breeds I would love to have are Australian Shepherds, Basset Hounds, Cardigan Welsh Corgis (as opposed to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, which are supposedly a bit more hyper), and Beagles. Unfortunately, after visiting the San Francisco Dog Show a few weeks back, I determined that I may be too allergic to the aussies.
I love the Basset Hound. Unfortunately for me, my wife is not a big fan. Bassets can have some serious medical issues down the road, too. We have some fairly tall staircases that might be hard on a long dog's back and little legs, too.
The same consideration about the stairs applies to the Cardigan Welsh Corgi about the stairs. While at the dog show, most of the Cardigans were quiet but one dog was very vocal - it's high-pitched barking pierced my skull like an icepick. So that leaves the Beagles. I had one when I was very young and my last dog that passed away about 12 years ago was a Golden Retriever/Beagle mix. He was an awesome dog with an awesome temperment (mostly due to the Golden Retriever in him).
I've looked into pound rescue, breed rescue and the one I'm primarily interested in, labratory rescues that use Beagles for scientific research experiments. Labratory Beagles are bred for gentle temperment and we would like to help one of these dogs get a "real" life other than being scientific experiment subjects. Usually, these dogs get de-barked. It may take more work acclimating a beagle like this to the real world, but I think it will be worth it.
I know it will be a challenge as beagles are fairly headstrong in any case. The beagle is a perfect sized-dog for our home and yard. Also, they are usually very decent with other household pets (i.e., our 2 younger cats). In the course of my research, I've discovered a lot of Basset/Beagle mixed breeds (Bagles), so I would definitely look at one if any are available when we are ready to adopt a dog.
Of course, whether you have a pure breed or mutt, or any pet for that matter, the old adage is true: "There are no free pets."
