They are so smart AND athletic and loving. I'd get one in a heartbeat except I want my next pup to be able to sit with me on airplanes when I travel. I'll be looking at toy breeds (or mixed breeds, of course). How fun thinking about adopting a new fur baby.

But they are giants for me. My problem is I'm old, so constantly thinking "Can't do 15 yrs. Also, don't want somebody else to have them after me, or rather, nobody will love them so much as me."

Our gorgeous Golden Retriever is sitting next to me, trying to talk me into going to bed so he can thunk down on his rug for the night.
He is 10.
They live to be 12, give or take.

But in the last 10 years, his ability to pull us off our feet if he gets excited outside or to bump into us too hard has become a potential problem, esp, since Mr. Dixie broke his back this spring, and is a bit fragile on his feet.

I WANT a good size dog that barks and growls when someone comes to the house, we are in an isolated spot in the neighborhood.
This guy does guard dog imitation so very well.

But another 10-12 years of a dog this big....that 's gonna be a problem.

Don't want a little dog, tho, too easy to trip over it, and they are generally too noisy.

Maybe a senior dog.
The animal shelter is nearby....
maybe the cosmos will send what we need when the time is right.

The problems of getting older.........

I've had lots of dogs in my life. My toy poodle, Kalinka, was the smartest one of all of them, and some of my dogs were really smart. She lived the longest, was the healthiest and had an iron personality. She ruled the house. she knew all the names of her many toys and would go get the ones I told her to get. to train her it was only necessary to show her once. She learned how to walk on a leash the first time we went out. She tucked on it and I pulled it back and that was it. she understood the leash.

My mother started spelling words out when talking to me the way grown ups will do around their kids so the kids don't understand, and she was right. I'm sure Kalinka had a understanding of a few dozen words.

Once when her water bowl was empty she came to tell me about it by sitting in front of me and staring at me until I said "What?". She then put her nose on my glass of water. It took me a second to get it but I turned to look at her bowl and it was empty. Of course, I filled it and she drank happily.

I miss her a lot!

I know poodles are waaaaaay up there on the ole doggie IQ ladder. I have a catahoula mix, 50 lbs., right now and that girl is my soul mate. I will never recover when she passes, I know this. She is eight now and has Addison's but hanging on. The only thing worse than losing a pet is never knowing their love to begin with. I will always have a dog in my life.

It has to be something I can lift. I lost one pet when she went into seizures and I had to find someone to help me lift her. It took hours.

I have a hound now, and I have to say, the most affectionate ever of the 5 types I had.

Very sweet. In fact, they are so friendly that they use them for a lot of medical research

We had one for several years. He had a real wood dog house with shingles and everything and he could scramble up on top and sit there like Snoopy. If I ever get a dog again, it will be a beagle.

dog now.

He's an Old English Sheepdog, we've had mostly OES and Bassets and we love both breeds a great deal.

It was a lady out in the country, the ad being for one CHOCOLATE male and three black females, all shots done. We talked for 15 minutes. When I asked the price she started off by saying she had waited for two years, looking for a CHOCOLATE stud. I said this meant it was going to be expensive. She said she wasn't making much, that the shots had cost her $200 & the price was $325. The ad wasn't framed as for a breeder, but she had others for sale so I guess she was. But she sounded really loving about the dogs. She said just everybody has white poodles so hers were extra special. When I said I was just inquiring and have doubts like how my two chihuahuas would react, she said, "They will all just PLAY!" and that my older dogs would be totally young again with young dogs around. We talked and talked.

Yip, I can't get to the point of taking the next step. Here's an oldie but goodie, when the shelter featured this GRUMPY cocker, like he's totally outraged over being locked up in a common jail:

Toni here was ours, NOT a poodle. I'm NOT in the picture. Toni attained Championship status before we adopted her.

Did have a SMART miniature poodle growing up. Toni passed about 10 years ago.

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~btca/BTCA-Liberty's%20Devonshire%20Temptress.htm

My last dog will be the next one ~ a Golden Retriever. He isn't due for a while because the chocolate lab I rescued down in Mississippi is only five years old.

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Plenty of time yet, for The Last Dog.