What breed or mix breed of dog you have had shocked you?

What breed or mix have you had that has broken stereotypes? How did it surprise or even shock you with what you didn't know about the breed once you had it in the family?

We should of course research a breed before hand. But with shelters, and other sources, the ways and means of how some of our four legged family come to us just isn't always 'by the book'.

I've had several surprises. One was a doberman. She was sweet and gentle, and I didn't really know any of that about the breed. She was a puppy from my vet's dog. I learned very quickly how stereotypically *wrong* mainstream's views of dobermans were. Since then I've had two more.

The latest shocker is my weenie girl. Yes, a dachshund. Talk about breaking stereotypes, this sweet girl is fire and vinegar and super cuddly too. I'm on a dachshund group on face book and we talk about all this, so at any point, you may say, say what??? But it is all true about weenie dogs.

Most of them are brave hunters. My girl will kill and eat small prey, and everything pretty much that is not human or another dog *is* prey to her. They are pretty tough little critters. After all, they were bred to take down badgers. Many men on the group hunt with theirs.

My weenie girl is as good a watch dog as any of the dobies were. Sure, she would not scare anyone, but hey, they would be wise to be afraid of her.

Of course, they are fragile in that they have the long back and don't need to jump very far, and when you pick one up, and put to the floor, you have to have a short distance to set it down rather than a bigger dog making a leap himself. These things are just natural to most of us tho that fell in love with the breed once having one and we just do supportive things for them as second nature and think nothing of it.

Any breed you fall in love with is like a potato chip, you can't have just one.

What were your pleasant surprises?

I think the most amazing dog that I have ever had was my Gladiator Doberman, Bruno. He had been trained as a guard dog before I got him; so naturally, he was a super good guard dog; however, Bruno also just loved people ! When I would invite someone in to the house or yard, then Bruno knew it was fine for that person to be there; so he was "off-duty", so to speak; and his true, affectionate personality would then come to the surface.
Usually, Bruno would walk over to the visitor, sit himself down beside where they were standing, and then just lean his whole body right into the person's leg, and gaze up at them; he was actually just begging to be petted.
On cold winter evenings, Bruno and I would sit on the floor in front of the fireplace, and he would lean himself right against my shoulder. We looked like a couple of sweethearts cuddled up by the fire.

Bruno was extremely smart, too. One day, a mouse ran through the kitchen, and I shrieked "MOUSE ! ! " In came Bruno at top speed, and he started sniffing along the cabinets where the mouse had hidden. He understood that word, and anytime you said "mouse ! " , Bruno would go and start looking for one.

Aww how sweet. I have a special fondness for dobies. And yes, I do for sure know that dobie 'lean'. Thanks for sharing. I love that. Our dobies demanded affection, like any dog does when are stroking them and stop, nudge nudge nudge, doing everything they could to put your hand back. If that hand ever quit, nudge nudge nudge to get it moving again.

Our dobies weren't mouser's especially. But I have a middle girl right now, the chairpai and husky mix that is an awesome mouser, as good as a cat. She just can't get into places cat's can.

We now have a little Blue Heeler/terrier mix, and she is a fantastic little mouse-catcher ! She loves to play, and thinks that she is the family guard dog as well.
The possum comees around sometimes at nite, looking to see if there is anything he can eat, and Tootsie will run out and bark at him, too; but she doesn't hurt him.
Probably a very good thing, because those opossums have extremely sharp teeth, and if the possum bit Tootsie, it would be a very bad bite.
So far, the worst hee has done is curl up into a ball and "play possum"; so he doesnt seem to be agressive at all.
Wee don't have any mice here, but when we lived out in the country in that trailer house, it had lots of holes big enough for mice to sneak inside, and every now and then one would come running across the kitchen floor, and Tootsie would usually catch it and kill it. [/font]

I like to browse Craigslist's pet section. I have seen an array of mixed breeds that seem weird to me, but lately I've seen more and more of those mixed breeds. One in particular I saw that I have not seen elsewhere was a Chihuahua pitbull mix. The pitbull was the Mama. Seemed so weird to me, but the babies were adorable. On one of my Facebook dog pages, someone posted about a Westhighland Terrier getting a Rottweiller pregnant. That seems weird to me, but I bet the babies are precious.