Hi everyone,
I have been considering buying my first very own dog for a couple of months now. My family has had dogs since i was 10 (I'm 22 now) and we still have them, a 12 yr old german shepherd and her 8yr old daughter.
I've narrowed my selection to the following three breeds:
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Longhair Weimaraner
Border Collie
Now I do understand these may be quite difficult for a first time dog owner but I believe I've learned a lot about dogs over the years we have our dogs, since furthermore both my parents have had multiple dogs before I was even born. I've come to this selection by reading about the breeds, taking the Dog Breed Selector quiz at http://animal.discovery.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds.html and visiting a dog show.
Strangely enough, while the breed selector suggested me Chesapeake and Border Collie, Weimaraner was not on the list. I believe he is quite similar to the other two in terms of energy, trainability, health.. I hope I'm quite correct?
Actually, when I check out the exercise needs of various breeds on the internet, I get results ranging from 2hr walking to 4hr running for the same breed. Now what I am ready to guarantee is about 2*1.5 hours walking, possibly 2*1+1.5 hour walking. Plus some training or playing. Now I understand that the dogs I have chosen are quite a bit more demanding and active than the german shepherds we have now. I wonder if my plan would definitely satisfy each of the breeds, possibly some comments whether I should prefer 3 walks or 2 walks
Also I am only talking about what I can guarantee every day, I believe neither of these will have a problem walking 5-6 hours in a row.
I prefer Longhair Weimaraner over shorthair both because I like the looks better and because I believe normal Weimaraner could have a problem both in winter and in water. However, I can't quite find the information how often one needs to groom the Longhair Weimaraner. It's certainly quite difficult from the shorthair but everything I found is about as vague as "regularly"
But basicly I believe it's the more logical choice for the climate in Czech republic, what do you think?
One of my biggest concerns is for the breed to be healthy. Our 12yr old german shepherd has hip dysplasia and some eye problems and its just not easy seeing the dog having a really hard time to even stand up or walk up the stairs..
I believe all the breeds I have mentioned are generally healthy but I'd like to know if any outstands in being healthy and if possible, what are the chances of their typical ilnesses and how serious problems they usually cause. Because you will about always see hip dysplasia, bloat, eye problems in the possible health problems list, but never with chances..
Another concern I have, which is quite difficult to find an answer for, is the urge to hunt. Our german shepherds obey maybe until they are 10m from us, if they see a hare or a cat at a larger distance from the handler, the urge overwhelms them=)
I don't suppose Weimaraner or Chessie would be any better, since they are hunting dogs, would they? And would Border Collie resist this better maybe? Not being a hunting dog.. but our german shepherds aren't hunting dogs either and..
I also wonder what does http://animal.discovery.com/ mean by saying that border collie is hard to train while weimaraner is easy to train for example. My understanding is that border collie will be easiest to train while the other two breeds will take some more work but will be also relatively easy, but maybe its not just an error and they actually mean something by that?
Finally, I wonder if you believe any of the above breed's would get along with our german shephard females just fine. Mainly with the 8yr old who is the leader. She actually doesn't get along too well with other dogs but I believe that she shouldn't be harsh on a dog I'd raise from a puppy. What do you think?
I've seen that the advices given on this forum are usually quite useful so I hope someone will get through my wall of text and try to answer my questions. (sorry for that!)
I have been considering buying my first very own dog for a couple of months now. My family has had dogs since i was 10 (I'm 22 now) and we still have them, a 12 yr old german shepherd and her 8yr old daughter.
I've narrowed my selection to the following three breeds:
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Longhair Weimaraner
Border Collie
Now I do understand these may be quite difficult for a first time dog owner but I believe I've learned a lot about dogs over the years we have our dogs, since furthermore both my parents have had multiple dogs before I was even born. I've come to this selection by reading about the breeds, taking the Dog Breed Selector quiz at http://animal.discovery.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds.html and visiting a dog show.
Strangely enough, while the breed selector suggested me Chesapeake and Border Collie, Weimaraner was not on the list. I believe he is quite similar to the other two in terms of energy, trainability, health.. I hope I'm quite correct?
Actually, when I check out the exercise needs of various breeds on the internet, I get results ranging from 2hr walking to 4hr running for the same breed. Now what I am ready to guarantee is about 2*1.5 hours walking, possibly 2*1+1.5 hour walking. Plus some training or playing. Now I understand that the dogs I have chosen are quite a bit more demanding and active than the german shepherds we have now. I wonder if my plan would definitely satisfy each of the breeds, possibly some comments whether I should prefer 3 walks or 2 walks
I prefer Longhair Weimaraner over shorthair both because I like the looks better and because I believe normal Weimaraner could have a problem both in winter and in water. However, I can't quite find the information how often one needs to groom the Longhair Weimaraner. It's certainly quite difficult from the shorthair but everything I found is about as vague as "regularly"
One of my biggest concerns is for the breed to be healthy. Our 12yr old german shepherd has hip dysplasia and some eye problems and its just not easy seeing the dog having a really hard time to even stand up or walk up the stairs..
I believe all the breeds I have mentioned are generally healthy but I'd like to know if any outstands in being healthy and if possible, what are the chances of their typical ilnesses and how serious problems they usually cause. Because you will about always see hip dysplasia, bloat, eye problems in the possible health problems list, but never with chances..
Another concern I have, which is quite difficult to find an answer for, is the urge to hunt. Our german shepherds obey maybe until they are 10m from us, if they see a hare or a cat at a larger distance from the handler, the urge overwhelms them=)
I don't suppose Weimaraner or Chessie would be any better, since they are hunting dogs, would they? And would Border Collie resist this better maybe? Not being a hunting dog.. but our german shepherds aren't hunting dogs either and..
I also wonder what does http://animal.discovery.com/ mean by saying that border collie is hard to train while weimaraner is easy to train for example. My understanding is that border collie will be easiest to train while the other two breeds will take some more work but will be also relatively easy, but maybe its not just an error and they actually mean something by that?
Finally, I wonder if you believe any of the above breed's would get along with our german shephard females just fine. Mainly with the 8yr old who is the leader. She actually doesn't get along too well with other dogs but I believe that she shouldn't be harsh on a dog I'd raise from a puppy. What do you think?
I've seen that the advices given on this forum are usually quite useful so I hope someone will get through my wall of text and try to answer my questions. (sorry for that!)