Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian?

"ERIC BRENNAN" <groovok RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Of5tf.10440$Q73.2909@trnddc03...
>I currently have a Min Pin who is about to be 2 years old next month and a
>Italian Greyhound who just turned 1 last month.. I've really been
>considering getting a bigger dog and have narrowed it down to three
>different breeds. A Dalmatian, Staffordshire Bulll Terrier and a English
>Bulldog. I've been reading alot on how bigger dogs could easily injure a
>smaller dog just from simply playing around. Are my choices foolish. The
>English Bulldog would probably be the closest in ..well atleast height to
>my Min Pin and Italian Greyhound. Given my desire for one of these dogs..
>which do u think would make the best companion and guardian of my little
>guys ?

i absolutely love staffy bulls, but they can be dog aggressive. you'd have
to supervise every moment of play and interaction, because such a big strong
dog could easily kill one of your pups. i don't recommend going this route.
i know people who do have pit bull types with small dogs, but it just seems
like a really bad idea to me, especially with such fine boned dogs.

the Bulldog seems like a good idea, they're pretty gentle things, quite
friendly with other animals of all sorts.

no experience with dals here, so no input from me.

have you considered a dog with a more gentle play style? retired racing
greyhounds seem to get on quite well with small dogs, and i love watching my
neighbor's borzoi romp with her yorkies...

-kelly
 >> Stay informed about: Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian? 

also while i was reading ive just thought of a comment a woman once
made as we were about to set off on our walk a lady pulled up in her
car and said 'thats quite a family youve got there'
with a pinscher an iti greyhound and a dalmatian i think your waggy
family will top mine :)

white monkey isnt it just great to see a shih tzu with a dane. my dogs
little legs go like the clappers while the dane just plods along taking
it all in his stride but they stay together,when the danes without my
shih tzu he heads in the long grass and the field its as if he knows
she cant manage it so sticks to the path.
 >> Stay informed about: Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian? 

> my shih tzu has some friends and one in particular is a great dane.
> they love to run together and stay together,its too funny to watch
> sometimes :)

My Great Dane LOVES her shi-tzu friend! the pictures all come out blurry for
some reason, though. But hey play and play and so far no-one's been hurt....
I do thing there's always the possiblility Saskia could accidentally step on
a small dog, but she IS careful, and tries to play down to their level.
Among her other small friends are a pug, two jack russels, and a
pug/pinscher cross (funny, bouncy, little flat-faced thingy).

> if a bigger dog is too rough then one good telling off
> from the smaller is usually all it takes.

Yup, everyone laughs when 51-kilo (112-pound) Saskia leaps back to get away
from the tiny dogs when they warn her off. Tommy the (extra small, everyone
thinks he's a puppy) JR and the shi-tzu... ehhm, Floortje, that's her
name... do a lot of that when things get especially energetic, and Saskia
always responds well. Not that every dog would. But she does.
--Katrina
 >> Stay informed about: Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian? 

my girlfriends sister has two large dogs.. i dont know what they are but
they are mixes.. and when my Min Pin is around them.. he shows no fear at
all and is up in those dogs faces.. while on the other hand.. my Italian
Greyhound is very submissive and very shy around them and just lays on his
back and puts his paws up ..almost like.. "please dont' hurt me"... my
greyhound gets very worried when my Min Pin is messing with the bigger dogs
and starts almost crying like "please dont' hurt my big brother" lol. ..
it's too funny.. . .
 >> Stay informed about: Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian? 

On 31 Dec 2005 07:43:16 GMT, Janice <semavilady.RemoveThis@DUCEgmail.com> wrote:

>On 30 Dec 2005, sighthounds & siberians typed:
>>Pete's a fine-looking dog; I don't think I've ever seen such a
>>muscular IG. However, IGs are *not* mellow dogs. They are
>>active, sometimes hyper, often nervous and timid, and quite often
>>difficult to housebreak.
>
>Thanks. That's valuable input.
>
>I'm thinking about some unknown future time (likely to be over ten
>years from now) when I will chose a small breed. I haven't gotten
>serious about it yet.
>
>I've been reading and experiencing (only a handful of pet IGs now)
>that IG can be both ways. It's interesting that the 'pet' quality IGs
>I've met have been really easy going, of course, cautious and aloof
>as my Salukis were in the past.
>
>Being a pedigree maven in my breed, I'm sure I'd be able to see
>patterns in the IG if I got around to databasing IG peds! Not likely
>to happen anytime soon though. My interest in a small dog would be
>for a companion and pet so the motivation to database the peds of all
>the IGs I run into is not really high at the moment.
>
>Time will tell. A few people have told me that the IG tends not to be
>used for coursing events (looks like Pete really is into it!),
>especially not be run with other dogs due to potential for snapping
>bones. :( A Saluki friend mentioned that IGs may be getting more
>attention to breeding for functional bone strength (density?).
>
>I obviously have a lot of research to do before I settle on my "couch
>potato" small breed before I get on a waiting list for the right pup.
>:)

IGs are toys, not small dogs. Although they're technically
sighthounds, their temperaments really are not sighthound
temperaments. I've a friend who's had Salukis for over 20 years, and
now has an IG, and neither of us think the two are anything alike.
IGs aren't cautious and aloof like Salukis are; they're timid and
nervous. They're usually friendly and outgoing with people and OK
with other dogs, but I don't know that I'd describe them as "easy
going". And they are NOT couch potatoes. Greyhounds are couch
potatoes. IGs are water bugs.

Maybe show quality IGs have different temperaments, but I doubt it.
My IG is not a puppy mill or BYB dog, he's just an oversized IG so he
wasn't show quality. He's also a major PIA. Nothing will break this
dog of lifting his leg indoors, and that's a very common problem.
There are tons of IGs in rescue (unfortunately, they're becoming a
popular puppy mill-pet store breed), and they usually end up their
because of housebreaking problems. They're cute and sweet and all
that, but I'd never have another.

Mustang Sally
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On 31 Dec 2005 20:28:12 GMT, Janice <semavilady.TakeThisOut@DUCEgmail.com> wrote:


>Couch potatoe? Well, I just haven't gotten the impression that you
>can hold your hand three feet high in the air for five minutes and
>the dog will jump up and pet itself -- the way a JRT babysat by a
>friend did (eek).

IGs will do that. I wouldn't put them in the same category s JRTs,
definitely, but they're also not synonymous with "couch potato".
People think of Whippets as smaller Greyhounds, and IGs as miniature
Greyhounds. Assume that's true, and just imagine the energy/activity
level increasing as the size decreases.

Mustang Sally
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Janice <semavilady.TakeThisOut@DUCEgmail.com> said in
rec.pets.dogs.breeds:

> Another small breed that I have a lot of interest in,
> (okay, it's a toy) is the Papillion. I haven't actually had
> any friends that owne one. I don't think of them as being
> mellow but I get the impression they are 'busy' and eager
> to please, not necessarily hyper, but I haven't researched
> them. (yet)

As with many dogs, Papillions can be all over the place energy-
wise. There are a couple on the FCI Canadian agility team that
are very wired and run as fast as many fast BCs.

Oh - and they can JRT-bounce, too.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
 >> Stay informed about: Minature Pinscher, Italian Greyhound and Dalmatian?