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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Dog Breed Recommendations
My husband and I have decided we are ready to get a dog. We are interested in adopting via a good rescue. I don't know about the various breeds so I took a quiz on animal planet. Between the survey results and our experience with our friends' dogs we are interested in a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver, Labrador Retriever, Norweigian Elk Hound, and Rhodesian Ridgeback.
We would like something larger than our 15 lb cat and smaller than a Great Dane. Any recommendations on Breeds and or local rescues in Maryland would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Re: Dog Breed Recommendations
I would recommend doing a good amount of research. I've had dogs my entire life (except when I was in college and lived in apartments that didn't allow them) but DH and I still did lots of research to make sure we were getting a dog that fit our current lifestyle. Start with the dogs you know you're interested in, but I wouldn't limit yourself to those...there are TONS of breeds out there and mixes are great dogs too. You need to think about activity level (yours and the dog's). What kind of activities you would like to participate in with your dog. For example, if you're a runner, you wouldn't want to get a Mastiff as a running mate. Just a few things to think about.
In the end, we ended up getting a puppy of a stray near my dad's house in NC. She was adorable and homeless. We knew the chances of her getting hit by a car or attacked by another dog was pretty high. The mom looks lab/pit, not sure who the dad dog is.
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All of this! We got our mutt from the SPCA on Falls Road and she is awesome. A lot of energy, but as long as we walk her and/or play fetch at least once a day, she's fine. GL!
I'm a huge fan of german shepherd mixes. Check out www.allshepherdrescue.com. They will be sure to match a dog with your lifestyle. Not all their dogs are on their website, and they have a Facebook page.
Also, I like Calvert Animal Welfare Leaque in Southern Maryland.
German Shepard mixes are great dogs. Hopefully if you try allshepardsrescue, they'll do a better job than they did with us... It took them over a month to get back to us and by then we had rescued a lab mutt.
I would highly recommend lab mutts, but would advise you to be careful about what they are mixed with. We had a lab/chow mix growing up that was a handful and we had to "take her to the farm" after she bit my mom really bad. Our lab/german shepard growing up was really great and our current lab/setter mix is super sweet but very hyper.
We adopted our dog from MAGSR- mid atlantic german shepherd rescue. They were great to work with.
We are currently fostering for ARPH- an australian shepherd rescue. They aren't quite as organized as MAGSR is though. Our foster puppy is super cute and already 26 pounds so if you are looking for a border collie/aussie mix...
Labradors and chesapeake bay retrievers are both extremely high-energy, intelligent working breeds (I don't know a lot about the other breeds you mentioned.) I think Chesapeake Bays are crazier than labs but that's just based on personal experience. There are a lot of running jokes about lazy labs who just like to eat etc, but in my experience, that's only the case once the dogs hit about 6 or 8. Before that they require a lot of exercise and mental stimulation. Our lab is pretty crazy even for a lab so I don't think he's a good representative ha but my family has never had a lab that didn't require significant exercise prior to 6 years or so.
I actually think golden retrievers are a good bet if you want a retriever-like personality - they tend to settle down sooner I think than labs or CBs. We volunteer with the local golden retriever rescue, GRREAT, and I think the organization seems to very well-run.
chiming in with my two cents.....how exciting! I worked at a kennel for several years so I have been around most of the dog breeds. We had labs growing up and I agree that they are super high energy, and seem to be even more hyper now than they were 20 years ago for whatever reason. So as long as you have a ton of energy, go for it. Also this is anecdotal but every chesapeake bay retriever I have ever met has been a little nutty.
Some of favorite dogs are golden mixes....my aunt had a golden/newfie mix and he looked like a black golden retriever with a bigger head. Sweetest, smartest dog ever.
I have two pitbulls and they are seriously the most loyal and best family dogs I have ever had. They love my son and are so tolerable. Even when Tristan was a baby they would not flinch if they were sleeping and he fell on their head.
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