bad dog pets?

Adopting a Puppy? Think Twice Before Choosing These Breeds

Not so great dog breeds?

I sometimes walk/pet sit a part Husky, and I will attest that they are NOT for people who can't keep up or want to order the dog around. Last time I walked him (his name is Chili!) we went about 2 miles down the road half running half stopping to sniff random stuff and on the way back I just watched him play in a swamp with frogs n stuff, and then a moose showed up and it was "chili dog, we need to gtfo."

My aunt loves rottweilers, and I can't say any of her fur babies have been overtly aggressive towards anyone I've seen. Excitable, yeah.

I knew a guy that had some kind of Cattle Collie, and it was like the husky in that it was active, but it's energy was more focused (probably because she grew up working that farm).

I haven't had a huge amount of known experience with other breeds, but I'll say I've encountered friendly pit bulls and not so friendly labs, so it really does depend on the individual animal, their past, their owner, and the situation. I haven't met a smart little dog though, haha.

A large number of huskies are being euthanized in shelters lately due to overcrowding. A lot of people think they are cute but don't realize how high energy they are, and aren't prepared for the work they require.

That's a problem more generally. People buy/adopt a breed because they like how they look without researching if they can give the dog what they need and if the dog is suited to their lifestyle.

There is nothing wrong with these dog breeds, but the fact is, people frequently seek out a specific dog breed because they think it looks cool or cute or they see the dog performing a task at a high level and don't understand that looks are irrelevant to a dog's innate function and instincts. These dogs are bred for their instinct to do a certain kind of work and you cannot train that out of them.

Unfortunately, the prevalence of backyard breeders (unethical breeders who breed dogs who are not proven for the work they are bred or health tested, etc.) and puppy mills (same as BYB but on a commercial scale) has made so many breeds seen in movies available to the general public: huskies, shiba inu, belgian malinois, and so on. Shelters are now full with poorly bred versions of these dogs - meaning they look like the breed, but have inherent behavioral problems (often but not always) and considering they are often dumped as juveniles and adults, also have already learned bad habits.

I have a border collie puppy from an ethical breeder. This is not for the faint of heart. He is a terrorist. But that's exactly what I'd expect a border collie puppy that was bred for herding sheep and cattle to be. As we work on training and manners, he's calming down and fitting in, but the first 4 weeks were not that fun. I always say that I dislike the puppy phase, because when you are talking about working breeds, they are terrorists at a young age.

Andy, who is a mixed breed but not of any working breed, was so much easier as a puppy, and his mix is mostly companion dog breeds.

I'm winding around the point, but whether you go to a breeder or a rescue/shelter, they need to be more careful about matching breed to lifestyle. When I got my first border collie, I was running marathons, biking cross country, and super active. Astro fit my lifestyle perfectly. I'm not quite as active personally now, but I'm so involved with dog sports, the border collie still fits me. If I were to stop doing dog sports, I would probably go back to a golden retriever so I could have an active dog that would do things with me, but not need such an intense job to do to be fulfilled. Unfortunately it's pretty common these days for shelters and rescues and the above-mentioned unethical breeders to place these breeds with people who don't have a lifestyle match.

So...sorry for the rant. I feel like it's the equivalent of getting a 2 seater sports car when you have 3 small children that need to fit in car seats.

Exactly. No bad breeds, just bad matches. I’m really tempted to look for a high energy hiking buddy (someone like Chili with a bit of Husky if not full husky especially considering The Whites get downright cold), but I know I won’t be able to handle one every single day for it’s whole life and my health is pretty rapidly declining and that’s just not going to work.

Pitbulls or if you mean actual American Pitbull Terriers, as well as American Staffordshire Terriers, are not supposed to be human aggressive. They have high prey drive, which leads to dog aggression (which does not make them bad it just means that you have to be aware they don't mix well with other dogs). But they should never have any human aggression genetically. In fact they were bred that way so that humans could take them out of the fighting ring without getting hurt. But most of what you see in rescues, etc., are not well bred pitbulls and are typically mixes that should not have been mixed, leading to these issues. Combine that with not being raised by people who understand these dogs: I would not recommend an APBT or staffie to a first time dog owner - and I've owned 2 mixes of these breeds.

But as to your analogy with labs, a lot of this is genetic dumpster fire stuff - meaning they've been bred poorly or mixed with other breeds and their poor genetics are all haywire. My rescue Algo Más is that way. He's reactive, and it's genetic, and we are able to do a lot to counter condition it and manage it, but to an extent it's how he's built.