Hello, everyone!
I am ready to get another dog (previous dog was a pit bull, and I grew up with mutts) and I am in the research phase right now. I am looking to get a dog from a reputable breeder, and not a rescue.
So, the dilemma I'm faced with is that I have three eclectus parrots and they are pretty much never caged except when they HAVE to be because I'm not home or it's night time and a lot of my outings, like hiking, camping and trips to pet friendly stores, involve them.
I eat breakfast with these guys, shower with these guys.. they're very demanding, high maintenance animals and my life kinda revolves around em'.
So it's really important that a future dog does not have a high prey drive, so everyone can learn to coexist. I understand puppies are going to be puppies and some chasing or other inappropriate behavior is inevitable, especially in the beginning, and that you cannot leave predator and prey unsupervised EVER, but obviously some breeds are gonna be better candidates than others, haha.
My pittie was a shelter dog and she was wonderful with my parrots, but a month before she would've turned 5 she randomly dropped dead while we were on a walk and it was determined after a necropsy that she had dilated cardiomyopathy. It was VERY traumatic and now I do not want to rescue another dog. I'd rather stack the odds in my favor with a well bred dog from health tested parents.
She was my running partner and I took her mountain biking, and I toyed with the idea of getting involved in something like canicross, and I'd really like a dog that could match her energy and athleticism when they grow up, but what I'm finding while researching is that most breeds with low prey drive are couch potatoes, or would not be physically capable of what I'd like to do with them due to how they are built.
So, that's why I've joined this forum. Decided to just ask some dog owners their thoughts on this matter and see where that leads. Do I have to just kinda settle for a lazier breed here or does some breed exist that could potentially work in my situation? Any suggestions? It's not the end of the world to settle, but yeah.
I am ready to get another dog (previous dog was a pit bull, and I grew up with mutts) and I am in the research phase right now. I am looking to get a dog from a reputable breeder, and not a rescue.
So, the dilemma I'm faced with is that I have three eclectus parrots and they are pretty much never caged except when they HAVE to be because I'm not home or it's night time and a lot of my outings, like hiking, camping and trips to pet friendly stores, involve them.
I eat breakfast with these guys, shower with these guys.. they're very demanding, high maintenance animals and my life kinda revolves around em'.
So it's really important that a future dog does not have a high prey drive, so everyone can learn to coexist. I understand puppies are going to be puppies and some chasing or other inappropriate behavior is inevitable, especially in the beginning, and that you cannot leave predator and prey unsupervised EVER, but obviously some breeds are gonna be better candidates than others, haha.
My pittie was a shelter dog and she was wonderful with my parrots, but a month before she would've turned 5 she randomly dropped dead while we were on a walk and it was determined after a necropsy that she had dilated cardiomyopathy. It was VERY traumatic and now I do not want to rescue another dog. I'd rather stack the odds in my favor with a well bred dog from health tested parents.
She was my running partner and I took her mountain biking, and I toyed with the idea of getting involved in something like canicross, and I'd really like a dog that could match her energy and athleticism when they grow up, but what I'm finding while researching is that most breeds with low prey drive are couch potatoes, or would not be physically capable of what I'd like to do with them due to how they are built.
So, that's why I've joined this forum. Decided to just ask some dog owners their thoughts on this matter and see where that leads. Do I have to just kinda settle for a lazier breed here or does some breed exist that could potentially work in my situation? Any suggestions? It's not the end of the world to settle, but yeah.