I have 2 German Shepherds, an 8 year old longcoat girl called Kayla and a 3 year old shortcoat boy called Tarro. I've always had GSD's as my Dad loved them too so I grew up with them. As a child they were my constant companions, so it seemed only natural for them to continue accompany me in my adult life. I can't imagine my life without them.

I also have 2 whippets, a 5 year old dark brindle girl called Pippet and a 10 month old blue fawn and white particolour boy called Baja. My love of whippets started about 16 years ago when I worked for a vet. One night a man brought in 3 newborn whippet puppies to be put to sleep There mum had 13 pups and these were the 3 weakest, one also had a very roached/deformed spine. I got upset and offered to handrear them. It was decided to put the deformed one to sleep, but the other two came home with me Needless to say they spent the rest of their days with me (14 years) and there started my love of whippets

My son has a jack russell, 5 month old girl called Pretzel (we sadly lost 9 year old Mosquito jr in June to a tumour ) The terriers always seem keen to be with the kids and get into all sorts of mischief with them

My daughter has a 6 year old jack russell x chihuahua girl called Midge. She's absolutely tiny, only 8 inches high but a true terrier in spirit.

Having terriers and sight hounds seem to go hand in hand lol, that is so sad to hear about the whippet babies though bless them, I would have to hand rear them to.

i grew up with bodercollies but when i met my hubby he had had a german shepherd when he was younger and as my dad had had one when i was younger too we thought we wud get one and now we have two german shepherds a black and tan called memphis who is pregnant now and a male white gsd called maverick who is the daddy.

I wanted a Husky, i done my research & due to the mostly (dont trust off lead) advice on the internet i gave up hope of ever having one, for me personally, my dogs have to run free.
Then i heard about my Kiesha, i was told she was an NI (she wasent) but thats a whole other story, i done a quick search & liked what i initally saw reading online. (to me (i'm no breeder or expert) looked a lot like Husky's & off lead no problems) = Great, so i went to get her.
I realise now how completely nieve i was back then, i had wandered around completely oblivious to any of the crap that goes on in the dog world with my wee collie x for 14 wonderful years & had never heard of NI / BI / Ute / CWD / Tamaskan / Saarloos / Wolfdog or any other name connected.
I suppose you could say i'm classic (joe public/ pet owner)

Once i had her i went searching to uncover her history on various forums & thats where my horror began & continues to be, the deeper you search, the worse it gets depending on who you believe. (curiosity killed the cat theory) Sometimes wish i'd never looked.
However i do understand why people want this type of dog, Kiesha has brought as much to my life as i have to hers & it was obvious to me she needed a companion. Soooooooo recently i took in a rehome, not unlike her & no i did not know any history. I fully realise the implications of this, maybe they will get ill, maybe they wont, truthfully, i dont know but i'm not losing sleep over it. What i can tell you is ..... Even if they both get ill tomorrow i will never regret having them in my life, not for a second.
I dont really want to be involved in the politics of it all but as an owner feel a responsibilty to be involved, its a catch 22
I dont think my dogs look like wolf's apart from the odd photo where they are covered in muck with heads down or one i have of my boy in the snow & i dont think many other people's do either.
I worry a lot about people like me who just want a pet they have always admired like the Husky or Wolf & search for something close to it, for me it was the Husky, for others its the wolf. We (the pet owners) trust you (the breeders) to give us what we want & therefore have to be held accountable in part for the production of them.
I have no regrets in choosing my dogs, its an informed choice (NOW)

Would i have another? ........ Yes, yes i would.

Well i used to be a assistant manager of a off licence and a regular kept talking about his "wolf" so i asked him to bring him into the shop for me and he turned out to be a HUGE gsd but he brought some info for me about wolf look a likes.
I had a good look round the net for 3 years, i went to see some breeders none of them i liked or were up to any decent standard.
I moved in with kev and we took the cat to the vet and saw a ad for a older bitch so i rang the lady and went to see her a few times BUT i liked one and kev liked the other that was there and then I found out they wouldn't be suitable for our situation plus we couldn't agree on which one we wanted, so I kept looking.
I found another gorgeous pup but again kev didn't like her so i kinda gave up to be honest.
I was after a grey/silver or a darker pup that would go grey/silver as it matured and kev wanted a black.
I got a pm telling me about a 14 week old pup that needed a home i had a look and she was sweet but didn't have the look i wanted but kev fell in love with her SO
we travelled 6 hours to go see her and we got to the breeders and were confronted with a dog that was 25 inches to the shoulder had spindly legs and MASSIVE ears then she ran at us, i turned and legged it into the hallway only to be licked to death by her, kev well and truely loved her so we brought her home.
This little buggar was Shila and now she is just over 15 months old.
Isis was a rehome and was only coming to be trained etc and she never left
Would I get another one?????????? It would depend on a lot of things so i dont know to be honest, but they are my babies and i love them to bits xx

Nice honest stories, I like that
I guess in a way all of us like our breed (or cross) either because of the way the dog looks or a dog from our childhood or something
Far to few people actually research the breed they want, they just assume that it should have a good temprament and dont take into account the drives of the breed
TBH before I came on these forums I would have considered a wolf dog type cos of course it is going to look amazing
but now not
my heart is and always was with collie type dogs (and I researched)

When Logan my GSD started getting on a bit in years, I started looking for another GSD, I didnt like what I had looked at, at this point we had a rescue rottie and a rescue bullmastiff,

after looking on and off for a while, Dougie said ok, how about another breed or dog, He wanted to go more heavily into rotties, I did not... we thought about dobs and boerboel's and a few other breeds,

Dougie called the scottish rottie club and talked to a few people,
he heard of an 18 month old male from a show/breeding kennel that was up for sale,

I went to have a look..all be it grudged, { my view being rotties were not as trainable as gsd's hangs head in shame. }

when I got there and met Royce he compleatly stole my heart, he was so eager and willing to please,
I had a play around with him, I found him so responsive that I had to change my mind,
I asked the breeder for time to think about it, went home.... thought for an hour then went back and got him...
within a couple of months he was out there at the scott rott champ show picking up first places in the obed ring..


Royce was the start of my real love for the breed. He also taught me that all dogs could be trained... my biggest problem had been I had tried to train cash my rescue rottie the same way I trained my GSD..
Rotties are very diff, the moment I got my head round that.... voila

Even though I loved my rescue girl, her breeding was questionable to say the least....

when i was younger i had a jrt and a patterdale terrier and then a weimeraner. i loved these dogs very much but they are not the most trainable breeds! when it was the right time to get a dog in my adult life i remembered the the gsdx that we had had when i was tiny and i really resaerched the breed-i had my heart set on one but my partner was more into sbt-then we heard a good breeder had had a litter locally so we went to see them-and-well the rest is history so to say as sadie chose me-i could not of wished for a better dog-faithful, obedient and 100% loyal. then when she was a year old i decided to add another-a white gsd-totally different as hes a male but just different personalitites altogether.
i would/am considering adding another dog-of a different breed to my family but i can honestly say i will never be without a gsd-they truly are, in my eyes, 2dogs in a million!!

I have always loved both Spaniels & Border Collies..
While I was growing up, we had a Border Collie rescue, although she had to be rehomed because she wrecked the house. I was heart broken when she left & have ached for a dog since.

Nick & I had a long discussion about getting a dog a couple of years ago and we wrote down some of the things we'd expect from a dog - including things like height, age and background etc.
We went to the RSPCA and came across this quite Border Collie/Whippet cross and he just sat infront of us quietly while the big dogs barked all around him. He was the only one who hadn't messed up his bed - nor had he pooped in the kennel area. I immediately fell in love with him.. Nick took some convincing but for me, it was love at first sight! I begged Nick to get the garden sorted so that it was all secure & probably 10 days later, he was home with us. He is a real sweety.
I like to think that when we got Sox, we were responsible to take a look at our lives and make a list of what was appropriate for us & the area we live in. A puppy back then would not have been good for us as we had work and other commitments.. I can't imagine life without Sox now. When we go on holiday, I actually end up missing him too much to enjoy myself!

As for George..
We did get a puppy (8 weeks old) from a guy who had an accidental litter (apparently). The puppy was called Benji but he proved too much for me & Nick - and Sox, who prefers a more laid back approach to life, he did not appreciate a jack russell puppy hanging from his ears!
Benji suffered from separation anxiety & hated being alone.. Turned out that the guy we got him from was keeping the puppies in a shed in his garden (no heating) & so Benji wasn't really used to human contact.
We had to rehome him, he went to a really good friend & breeder who has created a wonderful home for him. He is much happier with all of her dogs (she has around 30!).
In return, the friend asked if we would like one of her young pups.. George. Again, it was love at first sight and after getting him & Sox to meet up.. We took him home later that evening.

I have always had a soft spot for Border Collies & Spaniels.. And to be honest, I couldn't imagine having any other type of dog

Heyaah.

I currently have a Shih Tzu and he is called Romeo. I also have a mongrel called Sandy.

Romeo- We got romeo as a kind of house pet because i had always wanted a little doggie becuase we'd always rescued big dogs like alsations, rotties and huskies. We rescues bigger dogs because where we used to live we had a massive garden that was right next to a field and then we bought the field and turned it into a kennels and run area for our dogs. We had 3 great danes at the time so they needed room to excersise. Then we moved.

Sandy- Sandy is a rottie,whippet and alsation cross. She is the only one left of the dogs we rahabilitated she's old now!! xx