Dogs - classic or dud?

I know a few sweet rescue dogs, and their owners also got that benefit, although they came with some problems (mostly super shyness) as well. So it's not always a perfect situation.

Cats are unable to kill you, but would want nothing more and this angers them immensely.

Personally, I bear dogs no ill will but I've got no use for their barking and shedding and drooling and farting and the hair all over the place and the licking their ass and then licking your face and the filthiness and all of that. Cats, I'm highly allergic to so I've never thought much about it. I exist separately from them and always have.

But pugs are cute as hell, as are dachshunds and welsh corgies. I'm tempted sometimes.

ok, so this is the funniest thing i've read today so far.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1124/741750900_aa37eedc55_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1065/740883845_b07be68401_b.jpg

Is that a pitbull/freetail bat hybrid?

OMG PUPPY I LOVE YOU! That is the same face my dog makes in that position, except when you aren't giving him a belly rub, he looks at you from the corner of his eye like, "Where's mah bely rub?"

yay! fat beagles!

I just (yesterday) got home from house/dog-sitting a labrador. It is joy being in a home with no dog hair and no wet doggy smell. I vacuumed that place every day and there was STILL hair everywhere, nearly drove me batty. The dog was gentle and lovely, but a tad clingy - I'm glad to be home not having her following me everywhere in the house. I think if I ever got a dog it would have to be reasonably independent and not pine for me every time I left the house.

dogs=classic!!!
we have a staffy/lab/? cross called Bella, and she brings so much joy into our house (fuck that sounds corny, but it's true). she's kinda like an ADD 4yr old on smack sometimes, but she's so much fun, so loving and so smart. awhile ago my flatmate was imitating the sound of a motorbike (don't ask) and bella started to imitate *her*...

a couple of nights ago i gave her some bones, but because she swallows everything whole, she started choking on it. it was one of the scariest things - my flatmate put her hand down bella's throat and pulled it out, and she was ok. but it made me realise how devastated i'd be if anything happened to her.

Oh so classic.

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v62/8/65/19400695/n19400695_30292316_384.jpg

I'm okay with dogs as long as they're the quiet type. The ones I've known like this were also big dogs.

But I am a cat man, always will be, etc.

My wife found this on the internets.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/whippetgood.jpg

It's a whippet.

for some reason that dog makes me think of the robot dogs in neal stephenson's 'snow crash'.

I like other people's dogs but don't want one myself -- like lots of people say about children. Had dogs growing up and have "known doglove" but still vastly prefer cats to dogs. My mother is coming to visit in a few days with her dog who growls at and nips at children. Should be a hooot.

http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/catahoula-leopard-dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/pictures/catahoula-leopard-dog-0019.jpg

me and my closest childhood companion, jody.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t73/rubyred79/lkjjhgg4.jpg
we had to give her to my aunt and uncle when we moved a few years later. they were fuckheads who treated their pets like shit. about a month after my grandfather died (my other closest childhood companion) i found out from my cousin that his parents had jody put to sleep "because they wanted to get a new dog". i have never forgiven them for this.

Anybody see this one yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dzMp61G5w

Big dumb yellow lab wanders into Tour de France, hijinx ensue.

OMG Rubyred that is so utterly evil. You look v. v. happy with your little dog friend!

I wanted a dog more than ANYTHING as a child. Me & my neighbor worked out one day that we'd trade his collie for my Nintendo. When our parents came home, we of course were forced to undo the trade with which we were both very happy.

I didn't get a dog until I was 23 but he brings so much fun & joy & entertainment & calm & love to my life.

no offense to your family but those people were shits xxpost.
what maria d says, i've never had a dog and i love them but don't really ever want one.
dogs are great, but there's nothing worse than listening to dog owners talking about dogs.
i actually love these conversations! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> child owner conversations anywy. unless it's the parenting thread amirite

I have become a dog person and i wasn't even trying.

no offense taken, tremendoid. most of my family are indeed big shits. the dog (bella) isn't technically mine; she belongs to my housemate. i thought it was going to be kinda a pain having a dog in the house, but like abott says - she 'lights up my life'!!

I grew up convinced I'm a cat person, but I think I'm more of a dog person these days once they're beyond the floor-crapping puppy stage.

Oh man. I want a dog!!! We don't have the time or space and it makes me so sad. I got to hang around with my parents pugs this weekend and imt was awesome but made my puppyfever go crazy. Not fair.

Rubyred, that is such a cool t-shirt!

i also think my polyester tracksuit is pretty cool ;)

i love dogs. dogs are allowed in the building i'm moving into and i want a puppy so bad. are they expensive? i thought about a cat but my cat (who my parents are taking care of back in nyc) has cost $$$ in terms of prescription food, vet bills, etc. i can't afford that right now.

are there particular breeds of dog that are healthier and more self-sufficient than others?

I'm mad about cats but almost indifferent toward dogs. This sounds shallow and arbitrary, but with cats it's like you're dealing with some sort of alien intelligence -- they're bewitching. A dog, and especially a puppy, just seems like a toddler and a dim one at that. And since I don't own dogs, it's always someone else's dim kid. So, dud.

A dog, and especially a puppy, just seems like a toddler and a dim one at that.

I disagree. Puppies can be like toddlers, but once dogs get older, they gain a certain dignity. Some of the older dogs I've known have been very dignified and loyal creatures, and haven't seemed dim at all.

I love my dog. She makes the mornings seem that much less blah.

sorry, i'm living with a puppy who I kind of wuv but really I'd rather he wasn't here. he's distorted my view on dogs. it's my roommates dog and it's making my cat miserable.

Cats are kind of like warm, purring throw pillows.

If you want a dog with fewer risk factors, probably best to look at some kind of mutt - certain breeds are much more prone to cancers/hip problems/etc. than others thanks to inbreeding (or just the way they've been bred to a certain look - breed wikipedia pages are good for this). 'Working' dogs and very popular dogs (and their mixes) are probably the hardiest - large breeding population, genetic mixing, bred for health and so on.

My family's chow/lab mix basically cost nothing in vet bills (excluding those paid by the woman who rescued him from some asshole's closet where he had been starved) until he was in his teens.

The 10 most irresponsible reasons given to Dogs Trust staff as to why owners could no longer look after their dog are:

1. "My dog doesn't match the sofa."

2. "The dog looks evil and has different coloured eyes, just like David Bowie."

3. "My black dog doesn't match the new white carpet, can we swap him for a white dog?"

4. "My current dog is too old, can we swap for a puppy or younger model?"

5. "My dog ate the Christmas turkey cooling on the work-top."

6. "My pet guinea pig got worried with a dog in the house."

7. "The dog opened all the presents on Christmas Eve."

8. An owner accidentally knelt in the dog's urine while cleaning it up so brought the dog in the very next day.

9. A puppy was bought as a present for an elderly couple with dementia.

10. The owner was paranoid about recent bad press on Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and the dog was given up through no fault of its own.

geez

Pretty much dud.

They smell bad, they eat their own excrement, they are thick and, most irritating of all, they are sickeningly, vapidly faithful.

"My pet guinea pig got worried with a dog in the house."

Haha my mom-in-law got rid of her guinea pig because she thought it was making her dog nervous. (He is a weird old dog with dementia BUT she also projects like crazy.)

Also, if you're buying furniture, get it to match the dog, duh! (If your dog was made by Eames be prepared for a bit of an expense.)

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Shall we next be seeing a "Human Beings: Classic or Dud?" thread? Dogs are intelligent and emotionally complex creatures - so they are both unclassifiable and unfuckwithable.

I have a mild distrust for people who dislike dogs. (Unless they are terrified of dogs because a dog attacked them, that one makes sense.)

some real sad sacks on this thread