Quote:
Originally Posted by Twosugars
each to their own
personally not a fan, they're very highly strung and a toy breed
but quite popular, good for small spaces so should be easily adopted
I want a proper dog like my late beautiful doggie with his deep sonorous bark, exquisitely shaped square snout, chunky paws and general substance.
miss him so much
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Not necessarily, 2S. I had that thought too when my grandmother got her chi... and he is so sweet and well-behaved... but they are also brave as well. He plays with and tries to jump on my lab. I ended up getting my own (but he's a mix) and he's one of the calmest, most well behaved dogs I've ever owned...
My husband always thought small dogs were too small for him, not like a good large breed. He had a large breed dog that he was super attached to growing up and always compared every dog to that one... German Shepherd/Husky mix... and of course a lab mix they had... his mind really changed with my grandmother's pups and then with ours... he now really enjoys a good lap pup and when he comes home after 16 hour shifts, he often falls asleep with him sometimes in the living room with him cuddled up. I babysit my grandmother's and recently my mothers... in a pack, they do so much better than when it's a single dog, so I think that contributes as well...
This is what they do on their own when I told them to wait for me while I went to the other room... my Lab knows she's the semi-guardian/nurturer (loves small animals)... that pack personality, they become so synchronized. Very obedient and I am good with tuning into and training animals... put my mother's in with the pack and he learned the ropes fairly quickly... chjihuahuas particularly need a small "jobs" as they are very territorial/bonded, so I give them the job of watching the street and scaring off salespeople... but they know the mailman is
OK.
Anyway, these hoarder types usually are the type to try to "help save" too many animals. It's really naive and does more harm than good. We had 40-50 chiweenies picked up from a hoarder's house and put in the local shelter... the shelter usually has to euthanize most of them after a point, because they couldn't risk adopting them out as some of them had aggressive streaks. Even if a rescue can foot taking them in, they still need loads of fosters to accomodate and to dedicate the time to re-training (usually a long-term thing /w these kinds of situations). Mainly these animals are so territorial, probably from too many living on top of each other. The news usually puts them up and that does get interest... but again, with full shelters, it's very difficult to hold that amount of dogs for an extended amount of time when others could be given the same chance and saved... unfortunately this kind of animal hoarding is so common. It is so frustrating.
I like how Caesar does it, he has an outdoor "play" area with plenty of space for so many to live and thrive and remain full time (with shelter)... that is the best situation, imo, for dogs that really struggle to deal with a typical domesticated environment. Put them in a pack and they do really thrive in that way... they become mucheasier to manage as long as you've got the pack order relatively stable. It may even stop aggression since they are not in an confined environment with too many variables... it just depends.