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?