[CrzyGIRL]

I like 30-40 lbs best. We have a dog that looks a lot like Hank, he is a problem child, but I love his size, 37 lbs...just right!

 

[griffinflames]

I think, my ideal dog size would be 40-60 lbs. My current dog is perfect right now at 47 lbs. They're big enough to assert their presence but small enough for me to physically lift if need be. At her peak, my last dog was 80+ lbs and I couldn't lift her into the car by myself to get her to the vet for a non-emergency foot injury. Oy.

 

[ForTheLoveOfDogs]

I love medium - big dogs. When I got an Aussie.. I thought for sure I'd end up with a bigger dog! Nope.. tiny little Kairi at 35lbs and 19". Same thing happened with my Border Collie.. who has yet to even hit 30lbs.

I've come to like their sizes. They are perfect for agility.

 

[Annageckos]

Big dogs, 50lbs at the least to well over 100lbs. I love that Freyja is big and tall. I don't have to bend down to pet her, I have a really bad back so it hurts to bend down. Also I can use her to help me get up. Sure she could pull me over if she wanted to, but she walks really well for me. I've always liked big dogs.

 

[Galathiel]

I guess I'm an extremist. The only 'medium' sized dog I ever had was .. my husband's chow that he brought with him when we married. She weighed around 45-55 lbs. I've always had small dogs (14 lbs and under) and German Shepherds. I'm not much of a medium-medium size. I like the little ones (have had a papillon, pomeranian and a shih tzu), but love GSDs and am on my 5th. My current GSD weighs 90.3 lbs.

 

[seaboxador]

For me the ideal size is a dog who can, at least, play with every other dog. That means 60lbs ish minimum. That said, the question is like what's the best music. If you play country, my ears will bleed, but plenty of people love it.

 

[sassafras]

Ideal for me would be ~40-50 pounds, but I am not very picky tbh.

 

[Canyx]

In general, I would say I am a med-large dog person. 35-80 lb is a range I like. But the type and personality of the dog matter way more. For example, Laurelin's Hank is outside of my ideal range but he sounds like a lot of dog and a lot of fun. I would prefer an 85lb GSD-build over a 70lb greyhound-build (and personality too). I love pitties and they are often denser and heavier than their size suggests. I like sturdiness and balanced builds without extremes, and I feel like those qualities greatly affect size.

But next dog will probably be 40-60lb. I love Soro (~70 lanky and well muscled) but I am not a big person and tricks like catching him in the air or on my back would be way less painful if I had a smaller dog. hahaa....

 

[MrsBoats]

I have had a large dog...my first rottweiler was close to 29" tall and he weighed in at 128 at his heaviest. He was way out of the Rottweiler breed standard for a male. That was too large in my opinion.

My boys are what I consider to be a good size for me because I do like a big dog. Lars is 25.5" tall and was 90 pounds at his last weigh in. Ocean is 24.5" tall and about 85 pounds at his last weigh in. Ocean is a more compact dog than Lars is and he's pretty short backed in comparison. He's got the perfect working physique...and I really like his size and how's he's built for dog sports.

 

[dagwall]

That said, the question is like what's the best music. If you play country, my ears will bleed, but plenty of people love it.

The question was what is YOUR ideal size not what IS THE ideal dog size....

 

[KodiBarracuda]

For me, right at 30 is perfect. Maisy is a touch over 50 but her height is just right, I have no idea where she hides the 50 pounds because I just don't see it.

And I don't understand shelties either, they look so heavy but they arent! It must be all floof.

 

[TSTrainer]

I like medium to large dogs. 60-110 lbs. I just like a lot of substance to a dog, I like to rough house, and I'm a small person so I feel "safer" with a big dog (as in people are less likely to bother me with a big dog, I don't expect any dog to jump to protect me though). I think I would like a small dog though, I definitely want a sheltie someday.

 

[RonE]

My father always had bigger dogs - foxhound, Airedale and several ambiguous mixes - so nobody was more surprised than me when he told me, at about age 90, that he and my mother were coming home from their winter digs in Missouri with a rescued Shih-Tzu. And her name was FiFi. Are you kidding me?

I have to say, there is a great deal of comfort to be derived from having a tiny, agreeable dog fall asleep in your lap. And after my father died,my mother told me that FiFi was often the only reason she got up in the morning.

I think we tend to love the one we're with - regardless of the size.

But I am WAY past the ability to pick up and carry a 115 pound dog that has fallen and can't get up. More recently, I carried Molly, who runs about 65 pounds, up a long flight of stairs and it was no fun for either of us.

When old people down-size, we aren't just talking about houses.

 

[mudypony]

I've always been a big dog person. Duke is around 80lbs and 25" tall. I love his size and could see myself getting a bigger dog next (which will likely happen if I go the Beauceron route). I'd say my ideal is probably 70lbs and up. I like sturdy, impressive looking dogs.

However, I am really starting to understand the appeal of medium sized dogs, approximately in the 30-50lb range. Easier to transport, cheaper to feed, easier to control if needed (I will admit that I NEVER want a reactive dog that's anywhere near Duke's size, let alone bigger than him). I can definitely see a medium sized dog in my future.

That said, size is not a huge factor for me when choosing a dog, as long as it's not super small. Breed characteristics and/or the personality of the individual dog far outweigh the size factor.

 

[Willowy]

I like big dogs. But I have to admit that big dogs are a bit inconvenient sometimes. 30-40 pounds would probably be ideal---big enough not to be small but not too big either. Not that I'll follow my own advice .

I'm always charmed by tiny dogs but I would be too scared to live with one. I tend to be clumsy and I'd be afraid I'd step on the poor doggie. The smallest I could live with without being overly nervous would probably be 12-15 pounds, but the dog would have to be sturdy, not fragile seeming like an Italian Greyhound.

 

[taquitos]

Do you have one or a size range?

I definitely am loving Hank's size. He is 26 lbs and 16" tall. It's perfect for most things- easy to travel with and not too bad to feed. He's sturdy though and fast to run in agility which is fun. He's not too big I have to worry too much with the papillons and even though he's strong, I can still out muscle him if I need to. I can also pick him up or carry him easily. He can easily play with my friends' dogs (labs, Belgians, BCs, and aussies mostly) and he holds his own well without me worrying about him getting injured. My shelties were about this size (upper teens in weight) but finer boned and felt smaller overall.

I like papillons (GREAT dogs and personalities) but single digit weights are a lot harder in a lot of ways. Just a little bit fragile and tiny.

I would like to try to stick to dogs in the 20-40 lb range in the future. Preferably upper 20s to lower 30s in lbs. 15-19" tall(ish). Sadly most my favorite breeds range quite a bit so I expect to go a bit above or lower but that's ideal for me.

Your taste in dogs = my taste in dogs I think lol even size wise!

 

[MastiffGuy]

For me it's the giant sized dogs. I prefer 150lb to 200lbs. Largest I've owned was between 245 to 250lbs. It's very rare to fine one at that size that solid and good energy levels.

 

[Hiraeth]

I like giants. My size scale is really skewed. I do not consider my 140 lb Shep/Malamute mix a "large" dog. I consider Little Dog to be a fairly small dog and he is 90 lbs.

I would prefer to own dogs in the 36" and 170 lb range and up.

 

[Flaming]

I like tall and LG-XL dogs.
So ~60lbs and up is my prefered, though I have and can go down as low as 25lbs for the right dog.
I do have physical issues though so for training I need a tall dog. For life I need a strong bulky tall dog.

 

[Jacksons Mom]

12-25lbs is my ideal. I wouldn't likely go smaller than 10 or larger than 35 or so in the near future. I love portability but I also like more sturdiness. While I can appreciate and see the appeal in tiny dogs AND larger/giant dogs and enjoy spending time with them, I think overall my size range of 12-25lbs is definitely my personal ideal of my own pets.