Went Dog "Shopping" Today

[Smart Red]

Not all labs are big dogs. My chocolate lab, Cee Cee, is not much bigger than than a good sized cocker spaniel. My Irish Setter went through life as a puppy. Since she never grew to normal setter size, she always had the look of a young dog. Once she was stolen and sold(?) to someone who wanted her for breeding(?). She didn't hardly look old enough to have been spayed at 6 YO. And my son's MIL has a Rottweiler that is hardly taller than my lab.

It is possible to get a "RUNT" that stays small and is suitable as pet quality only. If I remember my literature correctly, Clifford was the runt of the litter.

 

[Nyboy]

Red if you have a lab the size of a cocker spaniel good chance lab not purebred, or did you mean springer spaniel much bigger dog.

 

[Smart Red]

Yes, bigger than a cocker spaniel. She's a rescue dog so I have no idea if she's purebred or not. My runty Irish Setter was. I met both of her parents and a littermate or two.

 

[Nyboy]

My first litter of puppies both parents where champions, one puppy didn't even look purebred. She looked like a cross between a dog and a rabbit, I spayed her and kept her. She became my favorite dog. What she lacked in looks she made up for in brains.

 

[thistlebloom]

Now that we're talking about "runt" sized dogs I'm going to jump in and brag about my Wren.

Some of you might remember when I bought her a few years ago. She's something of an anomaly for an Australian Cattle dog. We got her as a 1 year old herding failure.

She's tiny for the breed, weighing about 15 pounds, but she is scary smart, and I've never had a sweeter natured dog. She loves people and adores kids, especially little boys, having had her very own 4 year old at the farm we got her from.

She's a great watch dog, maybe not so much as a deterrent, but excellent at the alerting function. Totally trustworthy around the chickens and other animals, but she does tend to keep the cats and squirrels on their toes.
She never strays or wanders, but seems to have figured out the property boundaries on her own.

She's a real love and is so pleased when I sit outside and invite her into my lap. She's quick and unfailingly obedient. When you call her she sprints to you.

She does have one fault and that is her ball obsession. She lives to have it flung so she can chase it down and bring it back. But she respects the "we're done" command and won't keep after you to throw. Not too badly anyway.

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, I'd say you have the luck of the draw with Wren.

Mary

 

[so lucky]

I took my grand daughters to the humane society after school today, to see if they had anything interesting in. Cute little terrier, can't think of the breed right now; not for adoption, has heart worms and is going to a rescue org that will treat then adopt out from there. Saw a very pretty black with white blaze smallish shepherd of some kind, but she is four or five years old already. Then another cute small dog that also has heart worms. Then a tall Chihuahua which was said to have an aggression issue. Still lots of big non-descript lab and/or pit mixes. A beagle. A pretty large brindle colored hound of some kind. German shepherds with heart worms. Nice looking Doberman--big guy.
The ones I liked the looks of were not available.
Maybe the idea of the runt of the litter, or one undesirable for the standard of a particular breed might be the way to go.

 

[Nyboy]

Wow I can't believe how many dogs have heart worm there. Here t is very rare.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Love our Australian Cattle Dogs. They are very smart! These are #2 and #4. Altho neither are prone to herd anything but the lawn mower or bicycles.

 

[so lucky]

@Nyboy, I guess strays are a lot more likely to have heartworms because they don't get preventative treatment. I would think the dogs you deal with are given good medical care. In your area, do you give the heart worm preventative just as a matter of course, like vaccinations and flea/tick medications?

Just as a matter of curiosity, how old would you consider too old for a dog to be prime adoption material? There is this beautiful smallish black shepherd type dog at the pound that is 5 years old.