I love the Maltese puppies, especially Muffin, the middle one. They are playful but love to sit on your laps and just cuddle with you. We have to groom them because ours are dogs, not show people. They are so gentle and loving, greet people when they arrive and eventually just sit at your feet and leave people go. As a handicapped person the dogs are just so special.

I've had many dogs thru my lifetime ... collie, (1) AKC pomeranian, (1) AKC poodle, mutts, (5) AKC Great Danes, (3) mix Labs, (1) AKC pug. They were all my favorite when we were together. I miss them all. Not one was perfect ... well, danes are close. Just as our three generations of Labs of the moment are completely different and have their own personalities so are the different breeds. As someone mentioned, investigate different breeds to see which one might match your personality. Danes are the gentle giant, but they are big along with St. Bernards, mastiffs, etc. Would a small dog trip you easily? Would a GD knock you down? Pros and cons for all breeds. Research.

We had a Sheltie named Charlie he was the best dog ever, he was so smart and friendly he had many tricks he loved to do. sit, shake, speak, whisper, high five, he loved to play frisbee you would have to make him stop so he would not drop over. He would herd the kids when they were outside playing. Our Charlie was in the school play once and he did an awesome job. We would have kids (that we didn't know) stop by to "play" with him. We would take him for a walk and everyone would say hi Charlie. We lost Charlie about 5 years ago he was 14 1/2 and he had a stroke. That was a hard day. We now have a yellow Lab Elsa and a catahoula leopard hound Pippie they are both really nice loving dogs, and provide DH and I alot of entertainment.

Oh , gosh! I've had a zillion different dog breeds & don't know if I could pick a "favorite". In addition to rescued mutts of every stripe, I've had poodles, a Great Dane, a St. Bernard, a Maltese, Goldens, English Cockers, a West Highland Terrier & Cock-apoos. They all had things about them that were my favorite. My childhood poodle, Rags, & our Maltese, Morgan, were the doggiest dogs I've ever owned, My Westie was a huge dog in a tiny dog's body. My Goldens were just love bugs & super protective of the kids (we couldn't even scold the kids when they were in the house!). My mutts have all had their various charms. Yankee had more personality than more people I know. But I guess if I had to pick a favorite, it would've been my blond Cocker, Baggie. We didn't know it when we got him, but he was a puppy mill reject. We thought we were helping out a family who was allergic to him. Imagine our surprise when we saw them on TV being led away in handcuffs for puppy mill violations! He was my shadow & I dunno... he was just my boy. I was devastated when a wack-o teenaged boy poinsoned him (yes, this kid drove over MN to poison dogs in WI. And yes, he got caught & got the book thrown at him. But it didn't bring my boy back). Sorry, Leo. I don't have a picture of him on my 'puter but I do have pictures of Yankee (the 1st picture) & Leo (who is hunting moles in the picture... LOL! Hearing them in their tunnels drives him NUTS!).

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For me, the best dogs are dachshunds. We currently have 4. Thought last week that we were going to have to put down our 11 year old Annabella. She is now diabetic and blind. Started her on insulin shots Friday and she is responding well. Have a blind female and her sister, a deaf female. They are double dapples and have genetic problems. Needless to say we had our male fixed after that accident. We also still have him. Love my dachshunds they are the most loving dogs I have ever been around. Got our first one as a rescue about 18 years ago and have never been without one since.

Papillons.

I have had many dogs, and I enjoy active playful dogs. I have and love Border Collies too, but Papillons are my number one favorite breed. They are smart, playful, loving and very human oriented. They adjust their lifestyle to yours, relaxing when you relax, but ready to go when you are. Mine hike, swim, play frisbee, then cuddle on the couch the whole next day. Very few congenital health problems in the breed, and they are long lived.

Who can resist the bright little faces?

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Oh wow! Thanks for sharing all your furbaby stories and pictures! What a great way to get my morning going. I sat and read all these posts this morning and they all made my day.

Right now we have 2 Yorkies with very different personalities. One was a puppy mill baby & after 6 years we are still working to overcome the bad breeding though love & attention. She will never be 100% housetrained, there is such a thing as a "dirty dog" :hunf: The other Yorkie is a sweet, smart loving doll. We have raised a Sheppard/Collie, Black Lab, Golden and Lhasa Apsos. Our favorite is whoever is living with us at the time. No doubt!

Boston Terrier. Good points, not too small, so kids wouldn`t step on him, short hair, never saw any on cloths or any thing. Smart, clean, trained easy. good with people, protective of family. Not so good points, we don`t have any dog now, Boston terriers are sooo expensive, they don`t live as long as most dogs because of siegures . They are called "a gentlelman`s dog", because they are neat & clean.

I couldn't pick among the various dogs we've had, each one someone else's reject, but the one with whom I will always have the closest bond is our little basenji, Rascal, who is now 15 years old. He was about 6-7 months old when we got him, and he had been mistreated by someone. He was terrified of everything, and it took months of coaxing and coddling to bring him around. He became my "baby" and the most endearing little dog you could ever want to know. At 15, he's lost his hearing almost completely, and doesn't see too well, but he still has a lot of zest for living and loves his walks. Because of him we adopted a couple of other second-hand basenjis, who lived to 14 and 17.

I would not recommend basenjis to anyone who doesn't have a lot of time and patience. They're not high strung, but they're very active, and they need to find good ways to spend that energy or they will find bad ways. They are pack animals in a way that no other dogs I have known have been. One alone seems very unhappy and will tend to be troublesome. They evolved in Africa among people who have always kept them outdoors where they could hang together, and they are bred to flush small, quick game. Many of them will never lose the desire to catch anything that will run, and they are extremely speedy. They have terrorized neighbors's cats who came into our yard (exactly once each!). Our three once caught a squirrel. Of course that happened when the DH was out of town and I was left to deal with body parts. They've been harmless to our own cats, but the cats tend to avoid them on principle.

Here's a recent picture of Rascal. He usually has his tail in a tight curl, but sometimes it unfurls when he's very relaxed or asleep. Rascal's current dog pal is Gracie, our sweet little cock-a-poo, and she deserves a lot of mention, too, but I'll save that for another time.