My aunt's scottish terriers were not mean - they were just extremely annoying. My current next door neighbors used to have 3 of them and I found them no better. Just not my style of dog. I am not super keen on retrievers either - and a lot of people adore them. The breed I like is not all that popular any more - a bit aloof and, for a herding breed, insanely lazy unless they decide they want to do something.