Our next dog

I'm sure you already know this.... but, there are a lot of considerations in getting a show puppy besides the breed you choose! Showing costs $1000's, at least. A show quality puppy is extremely expensive, as are the supplies and traveling to shows - so your parents should share your desire for showing completely, because they'll be funding it. I know a family that shows their ONE male Portugese Water Dog. Well, they don't travel out of Northern California and spend around $1000 a month on handling, grooming, supplies, show fees, travel, hotels, etc. Their dog has just been championed, and he's going to be specialed which is even more $$$! They love Cruiser to pieces, though, and they can afford it so it's ok with them.

I think your best bet is to attend as many local shows as possible, talk to breeders, and meet dogs. :)

I personally fancy a Rottie. Rocky loved swimming once we tought him it was fun (couldn't get him out of the water after that). The fur is short, so it doesn't need a pro. groomer, just a nice burshing & a bath in the tub. I found Rocky to be quiet in the house, esp. when the door rang. He would stand at the top of the stairs & stare at the door. As soon as it was open he wanted to see who it was hehe
Never had an issue with him & kids. He wasn't the nicest dog towards adults, but he was far too sweet with kids! 2 small girls ran up to us during a walk (they were good they stopped 10 feet infront of us & asked to pet the dogs). We told them to pet my dog only & kept the Rottie away (he was muzzled & we didn't trust him). Well Rocky was going nuts & doing the butt wiggle, he was trying to play with them. So we decided to let them pet Rocky. He was going crazy & trying to lick them through his muzzle (we used a small muzzle on him). It was the cuttest thing ever! The father of the girls had to stay far away & he asked why the rottie was muzzled cause hes loving the girls. We said hes dog agressive & hates adults exp. men. In the end the muzzle was off of him & he was slobbering all over the girls & was giving kisses to my dog (he wasn't too sure about that).

thats just my personal opinion, as it matches what you want, just a bit larger heheh..

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

I'm sure you already know this.... but, there are a lot of considerations in getting a show puppy besides the breed you choose! Showing costs $1000's, at least.

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I've never found it to be that expensive, but maybe it's because I have a low-maitenance breed. I only end up paying for the ride there and the show itself, I don't pay for grooming or supplies or anything. Our last sanction match wasn't in town and it only cost me $45 altogether.

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Originally Posted by king2005

I personally fancy a Rottie.

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I was going say the same thing. A rottie sounds perfect from what you are describing. They can be a little hard headed tough so some advanced training would be needed, by the sounds of it though, if you are indeed going to show, that shouldn't be a problem.

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

I was going say the same thing. A rottie sounds perfect from what you are describing. They can be a little hard headed tough so some advanced training would be needed, by the sounds of it though, if you are indeed going to show, that shouldn't be a problem.

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& get the pup young, a 6 month old untrained Rottie pup is NOT fun to deal with at all! When you get him young you can start training right away before he gets too full of himself & does as he pleases. But if you slack off on training it can turn into an unpleaset pet. Trashing the house, dragging you for blocks, animal agressive, ALL people agressive.. ya not good!

Rocky was bought at 6 months old & he was so wild he had to be chained to the door (inside). OMG he ate 2 couches, bit so many people & refused to learn his name.. It took 2 years to train that beast & it worked out in the end.. He was a great guard dog, no need to be cahined up in the house, could go off leash, great recall, swam, played well with non-barking dogs, people friendly when on walks & knew lots of tricks.. so young is best!! Also go to a breeder that plays with the pups & teaches them basic puppy manors, as this rottie was left with its parent in the garage & had little human contact (the breeders didn't want the puppies pooping in the house, still not an excuse to not play with them). The parents were lovely dog (not friendly to strangers. They had papers & would be breed every 2-3 years, so it wasn't a puppymill or a byb, it just wasn't the best, to get the pups at 6 months...

I plan to get a Rottie pup in the future!

Thank you a Rottie sounds great! Are they really reliable off leash??

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Originally Posted by zoomer

Thank you a Rottie sounds great! Are they really reliable off leash??

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If you train them properly YES! Rocky was great! He use to be a dog killer & with all our hard training, he enjoyed playing with dogs & NEVER strayed far from us. He hated going more then 30 feet away when playing with a nother dog, so we were bumped into quite often.

Think of a Rottie as a personal bodyguard. they don't stray far when properly trained :) Just make sure he's friendly casue if hes not I can't see you being allowed to enter him into any dog shows. So he should go to lots of dog parks as a pup & get to play with kids as a pup..

What our family did to prepare our puppy (Max was a lab, rottie, pitty mix), was he made pulling his fur, skin, paws, ears nose, tail all a big game (he was rewarded the whole time & fed treats as he held him & pulled on him).. So he was SOOO use to being touched all over, that when a 3yr old grabbed his shaft & tried to pull it off his body he didn't care.. it hurt him like a bugger, but he was sooo use to rough play & grewup with kids, he just ignored it & fell asleep.. If course we tried to get her to stop, but every now & then she'd grab him again! We think she liked his naked pink belly & since his shaft was dangly (duh lol) she was attracted to it (like when a dog wags its tail kids LOVE to pull it).. He was amazing with kids. He would take 1 of the girls toys & get her to chase him. Then she would take a toy & get him to chase her (he would stay 3 feet behind her trotting until she wanted to chase him again). Cuttest thing EVER!

Don't get me wrong Max wasn't all feefee like. He did have a VERY scary side to him when it was needed! He saved our house sooo many times! & he accidently saved me when it wasn't needed, but was praised, cause when I yelled stop he let go of dad right away :eek:
He didn't know it was dad & I didn't know that Max was sleeping when I yelled for help (its a game we always played & it was soo much fun, Max would bark & jump in the air licking dad & he would grab my pant legs & knock me off my feet hehe).. so ya, dad was ripped through the door & shaken like a ragdoll.. was so scary!! Not a drop of blood was lost & there were no teeth marks.. Just a partly disslocated shoulded & muscle brusing.

So training a guard dog is SOOOOO important to do it right. That recall or off or stop needs to be a fast & 100% reaction!! If the dog isn't trained right there may be no stopping it, to the point of it turning on you!! There is NO need to teach a dog to bit, it will do that on its own, its only the drop, stop & recall that the dog needs to obey 100%!! I used all those commands while playing tug of war with Max (I NEVER won, I always ended up on the floor being dragged hehe) & if I told him to stop, he would, if I told him to drop, he would! So PLEASE becareful if you want a guard/pet dog!!!!

Rotti's are very intelligent Dogs i had one he is passed now and he was great with anyone id trust him to babysit he was so layed back and eager to please Doberman's are also a sweet dog...My neighbor has 2 brown ones they are beautiful
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