Talking meme: What breed of dog is my favorite?

[gwyn]

hobbituk asked what my favorite breed of dog was, and why. That is a really hard one to answer! Because I love most of them -- the only dog that I'm not super cool with is German shepherds/Alsatians, because twice when I was young I was bitten pretty severely by one, and my piano teacher in junior high had one that terrorized me and that she always brushed off with "he won't hurt you."

One of the dogs I wanted to get when I first started fostering dogs for Motley Zoo was a corgi mix of some kind; I figured a purebred corgster would be hard to get as a rescue. But I've also always wanted an Italian greyhound -- they're just so precious, the way they prance when they walk and their beautiful sleek faces and dainty feets. But they also have a lot of problems because the way they're bred, so I haven't invested myself fully in getting one, though I do know someone who knows someone who does iggy rescue and it seems like there's more than a few of them out there who need homes. So maybe someday.

But ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted an English bull terrier, like Pete is in my icon. Most people I know hate them, but I just find them so adorkable and they're like these little tanks with tiny eyes and wagging tails. They're like the Cherno Alpha of dogs. There's a full-size one (not the miniature ones that are most common) with black and white spots in my neighborhood named Scout, and I adore him -- and he adores Ginny. He has a total crush on her, which is hilarious because she could not possibly care less about other dogs, and actively turns her back on him.

And then there are pugs. Which are the best. Pugs kill me. I've been lucky enough to have full-breed pugs twice now in rescue, and they were both awesome dogs. Tilda, if any of you have been following me and remember her, was my perfect dog. I always say that I'll keep fostering till I meet my perfect dog, and she was it. But my dad was sick, so I let her get adopted because I didn't think I could take care of her well enough and him. So of course he died a couple weeks after she got adopted; at least she was here when it happened because I was dog-sitting for her when her new peeps were on a trip, and it made that a whole lot easier to take. Man, she was awesome. And I guess she was the ring-bearer in their wedding recently.

I love smoosh-faced dogs. A lot of people don't, so I often get them when they come in to the group. One of the weird side-effects of loving them was that I got over the worst of my snoring issues -- they make so damn much noise that I got desensitized to snoring of roommates at con hotels. That was quite an unexpected bonus.

Speaking of dogs, if you follow the link to Motley Zoo up above, you can see a picture of my Ginny, greeting someone at an adoption event wearing her shark fin for Halloween. The dreaded shark terrier, she is fearsome and mighty!

Comments

[ratcreature]

I agree on the adorkableness of bull terriers. Unfortunately they have been considered a "dangerous breed" here for some years now, so their import, breeding and keeping is restricted or even fully illegal in most German states, and you almost never see them anymore. It's so unfair and pretty useless. I mean, nobody outlawed German Shepards just because some of them are dangerous, and it's not like stigmatizing breeds prevents morons from acquiring dogs and handling them wrong or even wanting their dogs aggressive. They all have teeth after all.

[gwyn]

Oh, that is so sad to hear. Over here it's pit bulls, of course, which most of the time are just big sweeties when they're owned by normal people who don't torture them to turn them into killers.

[ratcreature]

Pit bulls here too, and Staffordshire, and mixes with them. Those all fall under federal import restrictions even. My state additionally bans several kinds of mastiffs and even Rottweilers, but those are put in the slightly less dangerous category, where the individual dog can pass a test of its character and obedience to the owner, and the owner is checked and I think taxed extra in addition to the regular dog tax, and then you can keep it. But all the bull terriers and related ones aren't even given that chance. It was a death of a kid in my city in 2000 that was the final straw pushing the federal law too as a pit bull and a staffordshire jumped the fence from their garden and attacked a little kid playing on the lawn in front of a school gym, killing the kid and wounding the couple that owned them as they tried to pull the dogs from the child.

[cesperanza]

OMG, you and Yahtzee with the pugs! Pugs are admittedly adorable but now I'm suspecting them of being MASTERMINDS as WELL.

[gwyn]

I never knew they were masterminds! I mean, I always thought they were cute and all, but it wasn't till I had one in the house using its powers of mental control on me that I began to think of them as the kind of dog I'd want to have permanently. I know there are some that have behavioral issues, but I have never met one -- I've never seen a mean pug. They seem happy to let you do the most horrible things to them, like put them in pink tutus and stuff. They seem to also be a popular fannish dog. Maybe it's the cosplay factor. I just love them.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I couldn't possibly pick one breed as my favourite. I can't even pick on species of animal, let alone one breed of any of them!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I know. I mean, if it came down to it, I'd have to pick cats as the desert island animals, but it would be hard being forced to make a choice.

I adore pugs, too

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

I was raised with a pack of them, and they are the cutest puppies ever, just little pudgy balls of love.