Maltese, and like most small dogs they grow very attached to a single person (so not really family dogs). That dog will follow my daughter everywhere, literally just wants to be by her side at all times.
…and I don’t mean they don’t get along with the entire family, it’s just they get super attached to one person in the family.
…and children too.
Yes I agree with two dogs, especially if they are small dogs. Can’t leave a small dog alone or they will bark and whine the whole time. With two dogs, its usually not a problem.
My sister-in-law’s family has a mini Maltese they rescued from a puppy mill. She is soooo cute and very devoted to the whole family. She’s an only animal and seems to get on great, but she does love to be with her people.
“oh, so happy to see you. Would you like to play? Do you want to know where the money is? Do you want to play? Do you have any treats? If you open the door I’ll run out to play.”
Do you mean that Golden?
My wife and I have determined we will have a dog as long as we can. Golden retrievers until we can no longer handle and then something like a beagle beyond that. We have talked about getting two but I don’t want to go through losing two in short order or only going 5-6 years between losing one. Tough enough going through that once every 11-12 years. No interest in shelter/rescue dogs for the same reason. That and every time we have looked shelters will full with pits/pit mixes.
Selfish I know. But we are amazingly hypocritical when it comes to animals. If you are cute/cuddly and/or can entertain us or do work for us, you are good; taste good grilled and you are in trouble. To my wife’s defense, she is at least a vegetarian. Like our dog, I am not.
I love dogs - I tell my D that the dogs are my favorite children. Listen to everything I say, do what I ask, always happy to see me - they are perfect!
I grew up with a dog - a lunatic Irish Setter. He was nuts but he lived to be almost 16. When H and I married, we got a chocolate Lab who was wonderful - protective, great with children. Died when he was close to 15. Our next Lab was a wonderful family dog but he had multiple issues, including seizures. He died of lymphoma at the age of 9. We then got a yellow Lab who was just gorgeous - I think he thought he was sent to the wrong home - he should have lived on an English estate or something. We thought he was bored so we got a female to keep him company and she completely dominated him. She was the boss. Sadly he died of an extremely aggressive gastric lymphoma at the age of 7. Our poor girl was so upset we got her a puppy. More than you asked for - but two dogs is a LOT of work, especially when only one of the family is the chief caregiver. There are days I feel like I arrange my life around the care the dogs need, but they bring a lot of joy and happiness to my life. Even though I miss the ones that have crossed the bridge, I can’t imagine not having a dog.
I have to admit I can’t figure out your point in your last paragraph - can you explain further??
This may be a regional thing. My D volunteers for a rescue company, as I mentioned above. And from the 17 dogs or so that are available for adoption, not one is a pit or pit mix. Pits or pit mixes are pretty rare at her Rescue.
The guy who owns the gym that I belong to adopted a pit/pit mix a few years ago. Most docile and trainable dog that I’ve ever seen. Yep, it’s a singular data point.
Given a choice, would you rather be born a dog/cat/horse or a cow/chicken/pig in the US?
@sushiritto – Just know what I have seen. YMMV.
Shelters in our area tend to have a lot of pit bulls as well. I think it is partly because breed specific rescues pull the other dogs out of the high kill shelters. The pet resort that houses our Great Pyrenees rescues also rents space to the Basset Hound, Boxer and Golden Retriever rescue organizations.
I know your question wasn’t directed at me, but in my next life I want to be one of Oprah’s dogs.
My daughter and her boyfriend adopted a dog last year. They couldn’t have pit bulls in their apartment complex but non pit bulls were hard to find. They ended up with a Vizsla mix. The most chill, well behaved, loving dog.
This is Elroy, whom we picked up at King’s Harvest (no-kill shelter) here in town.
He is either a Vizsla with more white markings than usual, or more likely maybe has some yellow lab/white lab in him too. He is extremely energetic, is highly talkative, gets the zoomies frequently.
His previous owners had dubbed him Godzilla… which we thought was a bad name for him. lol
When we got him we were told to keep him away from cats and some dogs. So if we got him a companion, we’d have to be careful. He has an extremely high prey drive. Wonderful dog though, very cuddly.
That’s the one! 
Cute! Obviously they look quite a lot alike.
Elroy scored a rabbit in the backyard this past summer. He’s really fast. I’m glad I didn’t see it. I put the poor rabbit under a shrub., said a few words…
@BalletMom, thanks so much for starting the thread. It obviously meets a need! Here’s our Charlie, demonstrating that poodles are really water dogs. Unfortunately, it’s harder for him to help us with the watering now that it’s cold.
I think anyone would become a dog lover if they watched the video I took today of my goofy boy jumping and try to catch snowflakes! Sadly, I can’t figure out how to post it here! I know the cc member from PA with the horses (can’t think of her name for the life of me) posted a couple of horse videos, but my Ipad only gives me the option to post photos. 
Creekland! But I think her videos were a figment of my imagination!
Lol! I can relate to all of this.
