Redbone!!!
It is hard to recommend a dog not knowing your lifestyle/expectations of a dog. We just got 2 1 year old redbone coonhounds and absolutely love them. All I ask in a dog is that he/she be happy to see me when I walk in the door, be reasonably trainable, and get along with other dogs. The Redbone (unless trained as a hunting dog exclusively) fits all these. The plusses- 1) sweet, friendly to all humans, 2) gets along with other dogs in the house, trainable, and 3) not a major shedder. The minuses- 1) needs exercise (not a problem with us- we walk them and have a fenced in yard), 2) has a loud howl/bark- especially when seeing other dogs in the neighborhood- we will work on this in obedience school, 3) they follow their noses- like all hounds, if not leashed will wander (though one of ours escaped but came back to our house in 10 minutes).
I had a Viszla throughout my childhood. She was very sweet, reasonably trainable, seemed to get along with other dogs. The only negative was that she was a little skittish, nervous. Perhaps they were overbred like many rare breed purebreds. When i would walk in the door she would get so excited, even as an adult, that she would pee on the floor! I found the same thing true with my sister's Viszla she owns now. But they are beautiful dogs and most of them do not have those problems.
Check out the breeds on the net or in breed books. I understand the ridgeback is not as social. Beagles are beagles, similar to the redbone. Finally, my personal cause......please get your pet from a pound, not a breeder (we found one through petfinders.com, a wonderful site to hunt for your dog).
Last edited by joekg; 04-07-2007 at 09:50 AM.
|
Linear Mode
