# Favourite breeds & types



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

What is your favourite breed or type ... of dog, cat, horse, cow, bird, fish & so on; and what is it about that sort that you love? They say owners choose pets that are like themselves - is that true in your case? Just interested. If the thread is accepted, I shall reveal my own favourites. 
Live long and prosper.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

My favourite dog is the Airedale. Here's the first of our two dear departed Dales, Tyke...









I love this breed because it is 'the Teddy Bear dog', chunky & furry & cuddly. In breeding, it is a cross between a terrier (feisty, mischievous) and a hound (more relaxed & soppy), and that is reflected in its character too. 
'There is nothing like a Dale - nothing in this world!'


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

My favourite breed of horse is the Suffolk Punch, an endangered species of carthorse:









Again, they are chunky & a bit cuddly - the reverse of elegant, and rather 'broad in the beam'.
Are they like me? No comment. 
Oddly, though I like chunky, inelegant animals, I like refined, elegant music, like the French Baroque.

How about you?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

English Cocker spaniels have been in the family since the 60s. These are the current ones:


Jazz in Paris by Art Rock (Hennie), on Flickr
Our Jazz


Yes? by Art Rock (Hennie), on Flickr
My brother's Amy


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

My favourite bird is the barn owl:










A nice medium sized owl. We've seen them several times at displays and they always seem friendly and intelligent. Occasionally, we see them at night, usually on country roads but occasionally on the A12. The country round here is wooded and there are large quantities of wild rabbits and small vermin which makes a delightful meal for a barn owl.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> They say owners choose pets that are like themselves - is that true in your case?


I like moggies - it can be said I'm a moggie myself


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

My favourite breed of dog is the Greyhound, because they are gentle and elegant. Here is Rosie, our family greyhound:


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

I like mongrel fox-terriërs. They are strong, full of life and never ill. Had them from childhood and still like them. Recently gave a puppy to my dad for his 75th birthday (after consulting my mother, ofcourse).
But some 6 years ago a boxerdog came into our lives, and recently a second one (see "petthread"). Doebie and Boris are members of the family, wonderful dogs. Playful, strong and with a frightningly human look of melancholy in their eyes sometimes. Very glad I live very near the woods, nothing better to start the day than a good walk with the dogs!

Also like Berkshire blacks from a culinary point of view......

Cheers,
Jos


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Dog is my favourite breed of dog
Because they don't ask to be brought into our homes, any breed will do including the good old mongrel
They show us unconditional love


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

What about breeds of humans

My favourite is black, they have cool noses and curly hair and also like to blow into the tubes, it's fun to listen sometimes 

White breed is lovely too, but there are so many sub-breeds like dark pelage southern breed/scandinavian breed with fair, golden fur etc that I get all confused.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I don't really have any favourite types, but I might, perhaps, have a special fondness for:

Cat - domestic short hair (the plain old alley cat type, with the mixed grey streaked coat and the tabby M on the forehead); the Egyptian Mau is a noble breed resembling the alley cat that I like a lot; I don't like long-haired cats or ones with pushed-in faces at all.

Dog - German Shepherd; again, I don't like any dogs with pushed in faces or loose excess skin and I am not fond of small dogs, especially not yappy ones.

Horse - I never had much exposure to them, but last summer I saw some beautiful Percherons that I fell in love with.

Basically, I like all wild mammals and other vertebrates. It's the breeds that get insane.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Hmmm . . . Let me think.

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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

I think my favorite breed of dog is "Mutt."

My favorite breed of goat is the Kinder.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I am not presently owned by a cat, bird, or dog. I'm partial toward Burmese, Manx, Budgie, Squirrel, Bagle Hound, Bull Terrier.

It saddens me that many dog breeds are permanently maligned (in our lifetime, anyway). Some due to inherent features, and some due to difficult "owners". It takes so long to reverse negative perception.

View attachment 33320


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

My favorite breed of dog has always been "Mutt". We currently own two pups. Pepper is a German Shepherd/Hound mix...



She was 3 months old here... she's at least three times bigger now... and just turned 9 months old.

Our other "baby", Raphael, is just shy of 14 months. He's a Jack Russell/German Shepherd mix.



He's just a little bigger than Pepper was when she was 3 months old... but like the usual Jack Russell, he's absolutely fearless... except when it comes to cold weather... and we've been getting that in spades this Winter.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I love my lynx point siamese cat. As for dogs, I like mixed short haired herding dogs. The one we have is now over 15 years old.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I don't have any pets, but I do like wildlife, and I love birds. We know the names of all the birds in our backyard, and we get surprise visitors migrating through our area. A few weeks ago, some bluebirds (which are very rare to see around here) came through for a little while.

One of the cutest in our neighborhood is the Carolina Wren:








The Carolina Wren may be small but it has a huge voice, and many songs. It has flown into our house on several occasions by accident in the past years, and it is very personable. We've been feeding the few that live in our neighborhood for many years, usually it's just a pair that settle down at a given time. It stays year-round, and is fun to watch sing and hop around on our deck.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

I like Great Pyrenees (AKA Pyrenean Mountain Dog). We currently have two, which we got from Great Pyrenees Rescue of Central Illinois. One thing about Pyrs, they are high maintenance dogs. The floors in my house are covered in white dog hair unless they have been vacuumed within the last couple of hours.

Our first Pyr, Abigail, had been gotten as a bought by some people who tied her to a tree and left her there, fed her whenever they remembered, and finally moved out of state when she was about 18 months old. (She weighed about half what she should have when we got her.) One thing that I simply do not understand about them was that she was obviously pure-bred, and was close to show quality, so she could not have been cheap.

Fortunately, her neglectful puppyhood did not affect her personality. She was intelligent, affectionate, patient, gentle and outgoing. Her favorite activity was to be walked in the park in the next town. People used to come up to her and admire her, which she really liked. Actually, adults would tend to say what a beautiful dog she was, small children used to shower her with affection, which she really adored. She used to sleep in the corridor connecting our bedrooms, and I have no doubt that she was guarding us when we slept. Unfortunately, she got arthritis, which became so bad we had to have her put down.

We replaced her with another Pyr, Belle, who was about 2 when she came into our family. Belle is now 13 and quite obviously feeling her age. But, for her age, she is doing remarkably well. She is also gentle, patient and affectionate. She reminds me of a bit from the Jewish _Talmud_, where at the beginning of the discussion on the dietary laws, there is a preliminary question: What is food? The answer is "If a dog will eat it, it's food." Going by what Belle will eat, food includes many, many things.

My wife decided that Belle needed a companion, so we went back to Bloomington and got Madison, who had been abused as a puppy and had what Cindy at the Rescue called "trust issues". Still, she learnt to trust us and liked Belle. Alas, when she was 8, she got a fast moving, aggressive cancer. The day before we were to take her to the vet to be operated on, she died. The morning of her death, she jumped into bed with my wife and me -- something she had not done in months -- and showed her affection to us. I have no doubt that she was saying goodbye to us.

We are now on our fourth Pyr, Amadeus. (I think that Cindy looks on us as repeat customers.) Amadeus is slightly over a year now, and is big. He weighs almost exactly 50 kilos and is 7 hands at the withers. He will also eat almost anything -- I once tried giving him some candied ginger, and not only did he take it, he even took a second piece.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

My favourite dog is the lurcher. I was lucky enough to share one that looked like this - the most lovely gentle dog (unless you were a hare):










My favourite bird these days is the tui:






I'm also very keen on kune-kune pigs. This little one lived on a farm we stayed at, and every day she would come up to our cottage for a cuddle.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

mamascarlatti said:


> I'm also very keen on kune-kune pigs. This little one lived on a farm we stayed at, and every day she would come up to our cottage for a cuddle.
> 
> View attachment 33425


pig massage! adorable


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I often dog sit for a friend's Shorkie, a mixed designer breed consisting of a Yorkie father and Shitsu mother.

So cute and tiny with a hopelessly weak and adorable bark that wouldn't scare an ant.

Always tough to say goodbye.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

All cats are nice, even or especially the moggies. But a friend once had a half-Abyssinian cat, called Abra (short for Abracadabra), and he was so playful & spirited. I think they are the most good-looking cat of all & in an ideal world, I'd have one - but in the real one, I'd never dare let it out, in case it was stolen or got lost.

The Abyssinian Cat:


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