i want a puppy so bad! i go to the shelter all the time to play with the animals. when my bf and i get a home he said that we can get a puppy. I want a chihuahua or a yorkshire terrier. I also want a pug but he doesn't want one cause he says that they're ugly. and he's gonna get a husky. oh, we also want a kitty. so the plan is to get a chihuahua first cause they're so tiny then a kitty, then a yorkie, then a husky.

Yorkies totally ROCK! I have had my Max (AKC name: Maximus Decimus Meridius) since just before Christmas and I love him to death. I have to admit he is a yappy one.....he is very protective and if he hears someone at the door he barks. But he is not especially hyper, even for a puppy. He pretty much follows me everywhere and just lays at my feet.

A bonus with Yorkies.....the don't shed. I can wear a black top and let Max climb all over me and there is nary a fuzz. Yorkies have hair as opposed to fur, so it grows instead of falling out. If you want to keep the hair short you can get it trimmed....I take Max to Petsmart for grooming and it only costs 14 bucks for the works.

Also, for you "Manly men" who hate little dogs.....my husband is as purely, completely testosterone as it gets. It is not possible for a man to be more completely masculine than he is, simple as that. Sweat, beer, burping and farting, scratching, etc etc.....that's him. He is the exact opposite of a 'metro.' He has always loved big dogs, as in big houndy dogs he can take out in the bush to kill cute wildlife with or gigantic, scary police dogs from the SWAT team that can rip your arm off......he was full of talk about what he was going to do to my rat when I got it. Let me tell you, Max had him charmed within the first hour. Now they have a daily ritual....when Brent gets up in the morning and disappears into his part of the bathroom he always takes a pop-tart in with him. Max now joins him every morning and Brent shares his pop-tart with the dog!!! I can hear him in there crooning to him. When he lays on the couch watching his infernal sports, Maxi is right up there with him getting a belly rub. The thing is, Max isn't a dainty little chick dog. He thinks he is a big, hulking Great Dane. He gets right up into my big dog's face and no matter how many times she bites him he comes right back, snarling like a maniac. They play like two big dogs. I LOVE YORKIES!!!!

Lhasa Apsos
 

I would recommend a Lhasa Apso. I've had 3 since I was little, and each one was great. The only reason they still aren't with me is due to so many moves that I've made. They're the type of dogs that will bark if they hear strangers outside the house, to give you a heads-up, but once you open the door and they realize that the stranger is someone you know and like, they'll be all friendly. They're like, "Oh hey, cool, it's a new person" for a bit, then they'll take off to do whatever it was they were doing earlier. They're not big on barking, unless necessary, and they're not uber-excited to the point that they pee when they see someone new. They're mellow little dogs - definitely a happy medium. If you want to keep their hair long, it takes a lot of grooming. However, you can have them groomed in a puppy cut and they look great. Further information can be found here --> http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/lhasaaps.cfm. and here -- http://www.lhasaapso.org/ -- is a rescue group for Lhasa Apsos.

That was the dog Charlotte had during the last few episodes of SATC! The cutest dog ever...

Since I'll be living in apartments for the next few years (and starting to look for a condo for May 2005), I want a smaller dog. We are also considering a Pug--but just for the entertainment aspect. I seriously can't look at one without laughing hysterically.

we are cairn ppl here.....our first dog, barney, was a cairn...his only health prob was allergies (but we were deep South AL)....he died at 8, but we think he came from a puppy mill b/c of the probs he was having when he died (and we got him from the mall....but he was a FABULOUS dog)......6 months after he died, my mom couldn't stand it anymore, so she went to a breeder and got another one, oscar. this dog makes me cry i laugh so hard. cairns really are the best dogs, IMHO. they are small dogs, funny dogs, loyal, and loving......great pets.

my sister has a jack russell, and he's also fabulous, but likes to play fetch waaaaaay too much! ;)

max and oscar:

[IMG]www.geocities.com/mamas_lil_baby_max/phboys.jpg[/IMG]

Definitely go with a Maltese. No shedding and they aren't hyper. The perfect dog. :)

I cry everytime I go to the shelter. It tears me up, I want them all.

www.petfinder.com

It is a good place to check.

8 is very young for a Cairn. They often live to their late teens. My mom's Cairn, Daisy, is (we think) 16, and she is getting old. She does now have arthritis, and is almost completely blind and deaf. Daisy was full of energy until she was about 14, and you can tell that she still has that Cairn attitude, and wants to do Cairn things, but her body won't let her.

My mom got Daisy in 1989. Sam, the mutt that I grew up with, was put to sleep at the age of 17. When my mom went to the vet to pay the bill, the vet offered Daisy, a homeless Cairn Terrier, to my mom for free. Another client of the vet gave it away. This woman, whom we don't know, owned two Doberman Pinchers. She was walking them one day when a scary looking, probably homeless man, said to her, "hey lady, you wanna buy a dog for $20?" She didn't really want another dog, but this was a scared, and emmaciated dog. She bought her to save her, and named her Daisy. Daisy soon gained her weight back, but it really wasn't fair to have this 12 pound Cairn in the same home as two fully grown Dobermins. Daisy terrorized them to the point where they were cowering in a corner all the time. Daisy's then owner hired a pet psychologist, and was told that nothing could be done. So, she gave Daisy to her vet.

A week after my mom was offered Daisy, she went to the vet, and picked her up. This was a happy dog. What my mom didn't realize was that Daisy wasn't her dog. My mom was Daisy's person. This is the way with Cairn's. They don't really bark for things, they act cute. Daisy would jump two feet up onto a couch, and prance onto your chest, and look at you nose-to-nose and smile. If you didn't react, she would lick you. It was time to be walked, or fed.

We were told that Daisy was about 2, but she could have been older. Its so sad to see a dog, who has been filled with so much life, enter her final years.

Soon after my mom got Daisy, a woman walked up to Daisy on the street, and started crying, almost uncontrollably. She had just put her Cairn to sleep, and she saw Daisy walking around like she owned the city. She missed her little dog with so much heart, that her heart grew to match that of the little terrier.

They are the best dogs.

yeah, 8 is extremely young for a cairn.....but he developed cataracts, and then soon after developed "doggie alzheimers"....it was horrible to witness. barney was sooooo energetic, and then all of a sudden, he wasn't......my mom cried all the time. she got used to him being blind b/c he was fine with that, but it was when he didn't know where he was, and then he had a seizure that was the kicker for her. the last thing that happened was he had vertebrae that were separating, so the only thing he could do was sit on his lil bed. when my mom picked him up to take him outside, he would scream like a human and then isht himself. :( finally, we just had to put him down........the vet said he had to have been a puppy mill dog b/c cairns never have all those problems. mom swore she'd never get another dog, but then here we are with oscar who's a crack head and will prob live to be a billion. :D

Cavalier King Charles spaniels are great, but be prepared--they are pretty expensive! Personally I'd go with something else...I tend to favor mixed breeds over purebred dogs. I had a "Maltepoo" (however you spell it) once, which is a Maltese crossed with a poodle, duh, and she was wonderful! I've also had a Lhasa, which I liked...we just kept her coat trimmed so we didn't have to groom her as often. Right now I have a Westie and I love her to death, but she's very very hyper so I don't think that's what you want.

My only advice for dogs to stay away from is pugs...I have one and she's a very sweet dog, but if you can't stand loud breathing/snoring, they're not for you. They also cannot be out in the heat for very long because they get heat stroke, plus they have a range of sinus problems because they have practically no nose.

If I were you, I'd go to the Humane Society and pick out a small dog.

Well, it came down to having a cool apt OR a dog... So if we get this apt we found, the dog thing is out the window...But if not, I'm still looking!!! I'm stuck on chihuahua's, but they're so dang expensive!!! (Well, $400 isn't bad for a dog, but is bad for my checkbook).

Well, we've been graced by the presence of GLUE STICK and hatchetface...is sheetcake going to chime in too??

:rolleyes:

PLEASE DO NOT BUY FROM A BREEDER, DO NOT SUPPORT BREEDING! I wish I could get this point across to people. There are sooooooo many homeless dogs that need a good home-go to the shelter and save a life. Go to a rescue organization. I deal with "breeders" all of the time and 99% of them are not legit! Many people get puppies, pay outrageous prices and then if the puppy is sick soon after adoption they don't have the money to pay for veterinary care.
If you had to see healthy puppies euthanzised everyday maybe you would understand-I think people should have to watch this. First they should have to play with the puppy for a few hrs, take it for a walk, get to know it and then watch it be put to sleep-is this sadistic-maybe but it is reality. I do it all the time.


SAVE A LIFE! go to the shelter

ok off my soapbox, but this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart b/c I deal with it everyday.

Re: Lhasa Apsos
 

I love Lhasas...our first dog was a purebred who lived to be 15, and now we have a 3 year old Lhasa Poo mix. The one good word of advice is that Lhasas are not very good around small children.

Co-sign! The animal shelter is the way to go!

(This is from someone who found a litter of kittens dumped under a tree). They all got good homes and I have one of them