Originally posted by USApup1991
, I want a dog that will stay right by me, a quick dog, that I don't HAVE to use a leash on.

Q. How big of a dog do I want?
A. A medium dog, not Great Dane, nor a Pom or Chihuahua. JUst a medium dog. Like the size of a Lab or Border Collie.
There are some breeds and mixes that are good at staying by your side without a leash, but being out in public with a dog off leash is always a liability. As nice as it would be to not have to keep a dog on a leash you have to take into consideration: the dog could be distracted and go after a cat, squirrel, another dog, or a person and someone or something could get hurt; runs into the street and gets hit by a car; the dog just runs off and never comes back; if there are leash laws you could be ticketed. The only time you could have a dog to be off leash is if you have total recall and trust and know that the dog will come when called.

As for wanting a medium size dog, well Dogues are far from medium and I would consider Labs large also. Since you are such an active person than a BC, Aussie, Heeler, Dalmation, Belgian Malinois, Vizla, German Short Hair Pointers would be able to keep up. I'm sure there are more, these are just the ones that come to mind for now. But with these breeds there also has to be training, training, training. They think for themselves and if you don't establish that you are in charge, they can get themselves into trouble.

Here are some links to breeder referrals or breed rescues for the breeds I mentioned above. There should be breed info included on these sites to help you in making your decision:

Australian Cattle Dogs (Blue Heelers)
http://www.acdrescueinc.com/gallery/
http://acdca.org/breeders.html

Aussie
http://www.staar.org/
http://www.aussierescue.org/
http://www.australianshepherds.org/

Belgian Malinois
http://www.malinoisrescue.org/
http://www.breedclub.org/ABMC.htm

Border Collies
http://www.bcrnd.org/id27.htm

Dalmatians
http://www.thedca.org/

German Short Hair Pointers
http://www.gspca.org/

Vizla
http://clubs.akc.org/vizsla/rescue.htm
http://clubs.akc.org/vizsla/

Hope this helps.