Trail dog for variable temperatures

[babybear]

had a viszla/ lab mix and that has been my favorite dog ever
not the easiest- the viszla is a great dog but also can be scaredy cat weirdo's- flowing alpy's vizsla is also like this and my good friends also are vizsla owners so have had lots of experience around them
I think the lab mix in was a super positive if you can locate that. They can get cold. although we live in Jackson Wy which is cold AF- so we'd just to a jacket in the coldest times when he got older
Have joked to my husband that we should start breeding the vizsla/ lab mix as everyone else is doing for the designer breeds. We just stumbled upon him as a broken rescue but the mix made sense

[iceman]

OP just needs to get a quiver.

[babybear]

OP just needs to get a quiver.

this is like, my dream life, maan

[reckless toboggan]

The red one.


God this place is slipping.

[Shredhead]

Sorry, I’m kind of passionate about this.
V’s can be psychotic and require tons of exercise. But that works for me.
I go out every morning and he’s always ready, always excited. He’s virtually there the second my foot hits the floor and I get up and out before dawn.

Short hair dogs are just easier to maintain. Do you really want all that dirt and fur, in the house everyday?

[fastfred]

had a dalmatian she had a mind of her own, but loved to ski, she would just start shaking uncontrollably in the parking lot totally loosing her shit while I was getting my ski gear in order, so amped to go, she was right there the whole time focused on speed and where I was

my other dog was a sheltie golden mix, lots of hair which caused lots of snow ball problems, he was great skier but not as focused as the dalmatian

my current dog takes ADD meds and is nuts, built for pure speed long long legs, hucks big air in the winter 6 - 8 ft drops no problem, loves pow, loves snow, and to run endlessly he's a blue healer boarder collie

[neufox47]

Rhodesian Ridgebacks seem like a pretty damn cool dog.

I love my border collie, lab, gsp, German Shepherd, whippet mix. He does have a knee issue (luxating patella) though.

[nyskirat]

Sorry, I’m kind of passionate about this.
V’s can be psychotic and require tons of exercise. But that works for me.
I go out every morning and he’s always ready, always excited. He’s virtually there the second my foot hits the floor and I get up and out before dawn.

Parents have had 4 Vizslas, grew up with them all. They currently have two, one is 3 turning 4, the other is barely 6 months.

They require a TON of exercise. Every single one. Our 2nd was the worst, she'd get anywhere between 7-15 miles of exercise, a day, depending on the time of the year up until a week before she was put down at 13 due to a brain tumor.

The 1st, 3rd, and 4th love their exercise and got/get anywhere between 5-8 miles of walks a day plus LOTS of outside time throughout the day.

All were trained professionally by a former K9-Unit guy so they were quite well behaved on trails and in public. Two had experience with mountain bikes and understood that they were to either stay 10-15 feet ahead or 10-15 feet behind. However, none of us were big mountain bikers so I can't really comment how they'd handle techy and flowy trails.

More importantly, if you are someone who is out for most the day, a vizsla isn't the right dog for you. They are called the velcro dog for a reason. They will not leave you alone nor do they like to be left alone. They all slept on our beds as children, sometimes under the covers, other times curled up right next to us.

Which leads me to my next point. They don't like being cold. They will tolerate it to make you happy and be with you, but they'd prefer not to be. A coat is an easy remedy to this. If it's SUPER cold (think below 10 degrees), boots are a good choice too. I'd highly recommend buying them an igloo bed, they'll love it.

I should add that ours haven't had overriding hunting instincts like some dogs do. Our 3rd would be the worst pointer, ever. She doesn't really understand the concept of looking up....

These are the two newest ones


This was the 2nd

And this was the 1st, who passed tragically when I was just 9. She was playing with another dog and managed to get impaled on a fallen tree she was hardly 4. It's the only picture I have of her digitally since this happened almost 20 years ago.


Anyways, given that I'm not the only one here with vizsla experience, I'm sure the collective group could answer almost any question you'll have about them.

I'm a New Englander and FWIW, I think they're a great NE dog. Very popular now. Lots of breeders. A good reputable breeder should minimize the risk of hip issues too. We bought our 3rd and 4th from the same woman in VT but I know there are other breeders in CT and ME that we've heard of as well who apparently are solid.

[The Reverend Floater]

I've owned three Griff's....they are not what you're looking for as they are built to hunt in cold weather and retrieve in icy water. They get hot easily in warmer temps and cannot be shaved.

Yes they can run forever and have crazy stamina but in my experience, they're a hunting dog first and everything else is a distant second.

[ill-advised strategy]

The red one.


God this place is slipping.

Red heeler?

[reckless toboggan]

Bernadette: What a lovely dog. What's it's name?



Bob: Herpes. If she's good, she'll heel.

[XXX-er]

Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Great trail dog. Go anywhere, anytime. Aloof to anyone but you.

I had a Chesapeake/ Lab cross, the pict of dog carrying the big piece of log is so the breed ... they are crazy hard working dogs IME

[snowaddict91]

Red heeler?

You rang?


As others have mentioned, each individual dog has different tolerances. My red heeler has never done good with heat, and I unfortunately gave her heat stroke once and she has never done well on long rides since then. I was a new dog owner and had never seen her tired until that day, 14 mile mtb in unfamiliar territory with warmer than expected temps.

My blue heeler can run with me like a bat out of hell and seems to always have more in the tank. I think I'm going to start taking him on some longer rides and start leaving the 7 yo red at home. He is 5, I've had him for two years and he had a patella luxation surgery last fall. Now that he is at 100% he is fuckin FAST.

As soon as fast fred said ADD meds I knew it was gonna be part cattle dog.

[plugboots]

Ted Stryker’s wife has the advice. We’ve used that for 3 dogs now. We’ve searched through petfinder, then used her advice.
See my avatar.

[doebedoe]

my current dog takes ADD meds and is nuts, built for pure speed long long legs, hucks big air in the winter 6 - 8 ft drops no problem, loves pow, loves snow, and to run endlessly he's a blue healer boarder collie

Our heeler-collie mix is on meds too. We attributed to his rocky past (found as a stray in rough shape at 1.5 yo), but maybe it's just the mix. Super good dude, ultra loyal (to a fault), herds us to bed every night, and can go all fucking day.

[KQ]

Idaho Shag

A friend has one. Great dog and adorable too.


https://www.capitalpress.com/state/i...c9e0093b6.html

[KQ]

....

[zion zig zag]

Idaho Shag

A friend has one. Great dog and adorable too.


https://www.capitalpress.com/state/i...c9e0093b6.html

That's what my dog is. I think he may lack the Australian Shepard part because he's a little bigger (60lbs). But yeah, he can ride all day long, but the flip side is that he's totally chill to lay on the couch with you without acting all cagey, unlike our border collie. Does OK on hot weather rides as long as there's creek for him to lay down in at some point. Loves the snow, but has to have mushers secret on his webbed feet to prevent snowballs. Super smart, sometimes a little over protective of the family, does the rounds checking on all of the strangers when we have people over, making sure they keep their shit together.

[Marshall Tucker]

I had a Chesapeake/ Lab cross, the pict of dog carrying the big piece of log is so the breed ... they are crazy hard working dogs IME

We had a black lab for years, I put a lot into training it. Dry run for kids. would go off leash anywhere, pefectly heeled etc. (later kids notsomuch). So. At the time I had a boat on a big lake about 40 miles north of where we live. We'd take her go spend the day on the boat. Lake had 'coktail cove" where a lotta boats would go anchor and the water-balloon slingshots would come out. So we'd achor, "spa-loosh" the dog would jump in, just swim around sometimes go up on the golf course that circled the cove chasin geese. So it dawns on me a few weeks into this, there's all these freakin water ballons just magically floating around our boat. We NEVER had ammunition problems. The dog was swimming around "retriving" whatever water ballons it could find and by instinct was extremely gentle with it in its mouth.

/Good times. Good memories.

[Timberridge]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Yorkshire Terrier yet.

[MarcusBrody]

I've owned three Griff's....they are not what you're looking for as they are built to hunt in cold weather and retrieve in icy water. They get hot easily in warmer temps and cannot be shaved.

Yes they can run forever and have crazy stamina but in my experience, they're a hunting dog first and everything else is a distant second.

That's what I feared (regarding the getting hot part). I have friends with a pair that are some of my absolute favorite dogs and seem to be very happy as active family dogs for the 90% of their life that they aren't hunting. Thanks!

[MarcusBrody]

Idaho Shag

A friend has one. Great dog and adorable too.


https://www.capitalpress.com/state/i...c9e0093b6.html

That's a fun looking dog. If I ever actually succeed in my consistently unsuccessful attempts to move to WA or ID, I'll look into them. ha

[MarcusBrody]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Yorkshire Terrier yet.

I actually dated and briefly lived with a woman who had a Yorkshire terrier/Chihuahua mix. I actually loved him and we had a lot of fun. He was not the dog for my current life style, but as an apartment dog, he was surprisingly fun. I do just love dogs in general though.

[Telemarketeer]

I actually dated and briefly lived with a woman who had a Yorkshire terrier/Chihuahua mix. I actually loved him and we had a lot of fun. He was not the dog for my current life style, but as an apartment dog, he was surprisingly fun. I do just love dogs in general though.

After we lost our awesome border collie/ lab mix last year, I've been considering a small dog. I love dags, and want to get another one pretty badly, but I've really been enjoying my independence w/o one this last year. Having a capable companion means that you always take them, or feel guilty for not taking them. That look you get when you are headed out in ski gear to ski the resort is almost unbearable.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I'd buy three dogs of assorted size and hair length, there is no doggie quiver-killer out there.

I'd go with 2 or 3, but a bunch of snuggly lab mixes.

Honestly, if there's a good shelter near you, that's the route you gotta go. Too many good pups out there in doggy jail waiting for a good life.

2 is a good number. Generally that's how many hands people have, so that's how many dogs you can pet at once.

After 2, it just turns into the dogs from Christmas Story.