The "easy dog" and "hard dog" thing

[Beanie]

I dunno, in truth it's so complicated. I can tell you what most "pet people" want, but then there are some that are surprisingly tolerant or that put up with some crazy ****. I'm always shocked when their dog has eaten a couch, bitten a family member that lives in the household, or still regularly poops inside, and they're like, "oh oops, meh." LOL 0_o And they don't want to use a crate either... Go figure.

I do agree with this. Some people are just really crappy trainers or they don't care so they have a total terror of a dog. Friends of mine have one right now. I'm pretty sure once they have kids the dog will go bye-bye though, because he's kind of a nasty piece of work and he will probably bite the kid in the face, and I don't think they'll stand for it. Another friend of mine has one that likes to eat everything under the sun, but I'm pretty sure he actually does hate the dog and he says "no more dogs ever again" after it dies.

OTOH I wouldn't say that's necessarily a happy life for the dog or the owners. The former mentioned friends are stressed out about the dog but not enough to actually do anything, just complain about it. And the dog isn't happy either. As for the latter, well, I think the dog is happy as a clam actually LOL, but my friend sure isn't. You'll be hard pressed to convince me people actually like having their furniture destroyed LOL. I think people just don't know how to deal with it, or don't even realize they CAN deal with it, so they just... let it go. But it's not always a good situation for the people or the dog even if they put up with it.
So I do think there's still some weight to evaluating "is this a dog well suited to the average pet home?"

I guess the badge of honor would come in as "if this dog were left to his own devices he'd be eating couches - BUT HE'S TOTALLY NOT. YAY ME!"

 

[Moth]

:rofl1::rofl1:

I met a couple Basenjis at some dog event around here and one of them just looked intelligent. Human intelligent. It was fascinating but slightly disconcerting. I'd love to meet Watson some day.

I have yet to meet a basenji that is not clever...most of them like to use that intelligence for mischief or even outright evil

You should totally meet Watson in all his glory

 

[casey82]

I agree that easy is subjective. I find dogs that have major stranger danger very difficult and would not choose to live with a dog like that.


I got my dog wanting to get into dog sports. I didn't get him from sports lines. I didn't really know what I was doing when I got him. I've learned a ton. I have been talking about a second dog since I got him, thinking for some reason he wasn't going to be enough dog to get very far. He's too easy. He's totally proving me wrong. I think he's going to pretty much excel at whatever I ask him to do. He's got a fantastic work ethic, loves to learn and doesn't mind repetition. I would totally reccomend him and his breed (in fact I have) to first time dog owners. He'll run laps outside, will hike for miles, swim and go for as long as you want. He is very chill in the house. If he doesn't get a lot of exercise he will bring toys to you to throw for him but he's not obnoxious.

He can be nervey with children and men but is fine with anyone when properly introduced, but I think he'd be fine for someone who just wanted a dog to hang around the house and chill with them.

 

[Dizzy]

I think dogs are as easy as you want them to be..... And one persons easy is another persons hell!!!!!

We think Fred is easy, has been a good puppy, is fun etc etc...

But I know full well that in other hands they'd hate him. But when you love something, it's easy isn't it

 

[Gypsydals]

Ivan as a puppy was ideal as far as what most pet owners look for, so was Peewee for that fact. Neither one was destructive, quite easy to house break. Peewee is still ideal, although hes getting a tad bratty in his old age. Ivan as he has gotten older has become a hard dog. He is very people selective and situation selective. He can like you and love on you outside of the home. But you walk into the house and he becomes this snarling/barking dog who is telling you to go away. He tends to run though life like a bull in a china shop. He has one speed and thats fast, why walk, when you can run is his motto. If he can't figure something out, he just bulldozes his way through it. He loves me to death, and tolerates the others in the family. He is by no means a family dog. He can be super smart, yet dumb at times. His impulse control is well not there.

 

[GipsyQueen]

I think dogs are as easy as you want them to be..... And one persons easy is another persons hell!!!!!

We think Fred is easy, has been a good puppy, is fun etc etc...

But I know full well that in other hands they'd hate him. But when you love something, it's easy isn't it

Ugh yes. We love Zora to pieces and think she's not too bad, but I think she would have landed her little tail right back at the breeders with someone else.
Trainer said she's lucky in our hands.

 

[Kootenay]

Of my three, only Jasper would be suited to your average dog owner. He's pretty mellow and doesn't require much, he likes to sleep most of the day. He has his annoying habits but I don't think it's anything a normal dog owner couldn't deal with.

Yarrow has such an extreme fear of strangers that I think most people would simply not have the patience to manage the life that he requires. I have to totally rearrange my life to suit him on a regular basis. On top of that, he has other challenges that would probably be too much for a lot of people.

Onyx, well, she is a Malinois. I love her and wouldn't change much about her, but in a different home she might very well be a holy terror. She gets SO much mental and physical stimulation with me that she is actually very easy to live with, she sleeps when we're not actively doing something. But I think most pet homes wouldn't provide her with enough to do, so she would find things to do on her own. Plus she is so hyper aware of everything I could see her having the potential to be reactive to stuff, I am very aware of all her interactions.

I mesh really well with my two more difficult dogs (not because they are challenging, but in spite of it), I mean of course I love Jasper but we don't have quite as deep of a connection for whatever reason.

One plus of having less challenging dogs would be ease of having other people take care of them. It is really hard for me to ever leave Yarrow or Onyx with anyone! Mostly just because I am freaking out the whole time. Jasper is super easy to leave with just about anybody, I really appreciate that about him.

 

[frostfell]

kootenay, is that typical of ANCD or is yarrow the exception?

 

[Kootenay]

kootenay, is that typical of ANCD or is yarrow the exception?

Well, it is definitely not ideal for an ANCD. Some seem to be shy, some not at all. Yarrow is the shyest pup from 2 litters with the same parents (Cola x Cinnabar), others range from very outgoing to somewhat timid, but none quite so shy as Yarrow. I'm not sure why he is the way he is - I certainly spent a lot of time socializing him as a pup and throughout his life, but it is just slow, slow progress.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

I also think it matters on what you're looking for. I love my independent dogs. Others would not. I do not want a velcro dog. I love noise, and many other do not. I don't mind shedding. Etc.

In terms of personalities of individuals, Bubbles could go anywhere. Pen could almost go anywhere (though he was given up to a shelter when he was a year old because he was deemed "untrainable" so I don't know what that's about) as long as they would have been willing to deal with the RGing/dog selective issues. Jari could potentially go anywhere. Though he is a VERY busy puppy (even with tons of time I've put in to training a settle/off switch ) and is becoming a bit reactive (all happy "OMG I WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU" reactive, though, which is way easier to deal with than the fear reactivity that Kimma has), so some would not want that.

Kimma definitely could not just go "anywhere." She was a terror of a pup, and not just because she was my first dog. She was/is reactive, has anxiety issues like crazy (including SA), is a bit of an escape artist, and is definitely the most aloof of the four (which I honestly don't mind though). Her life is basically about management, even with her making HUGE improvements in every aspect over the course of her life. I never know what might trigger something, however, so I always have to be watching our surroundings. Add to that her energy level and intelligence (she requires more overall than Jari does), and she's just a lot of dog in a tiny body

 

[Sweet72947]

In some ways, Norris is easy. He isn't high energy. A good run once or twice a week at the dog park (or long walk) and he is good. He will start to get a little cabin fever if I haven't gotten him out. Norris doesn't have any food aggression or dog aggression, he's very food driven, and he's happy to chill on my bed while I type on the computer. Norris also doesn't care about my guinea pigs. I keep their door open to keep the room aired out, and he just ignores them most of the time. If Norris tries to stick his head in the cage, I just tell him no and he leaves them alone.

But in other ways, Norris is hard. He is constantly hoovering stuff off the ground on walks (and its not always edible, I had to pull a little rubber tire from a kids' toy out of his mouth once), he can't be left alone without a crate and or he will chew things. He doesn't *just* chew things to pieces either, he will eat the pieces. So he can't have stuffy toys, and he can't have blankets in his crate. I am happy I discovered Primo Pads on another forum. Norris has something comfortable to lay on that he doesn't try to chew! Norris also the most impatient dog ever. It comes from being allowed to do whatever he wanted for four years. I have actually gotten him to sit-stay briefly when I set his food down. But if I make him stay too long he will start whining and even bark in frustration. Norris is also quite high strung. An unfamiliar noise and he will jump and try to bolt. This can get challenging on windy days. Norris can also be very needy and he wants to be pet quite a lot, but I like that. There are a lot of things an average pet owner would not like about Norris, but they aren't anything I can't deal with.

 

[sassafras]

Easy to live with and easy to do stuff with (train/sports) can be really different things. Maisy is one of the easiest dogs in the world to live with, but she can be very, very difficult to do stuff with. She can be reactive to strange dogs but otherwise she's dang near perfect and could live anywhere. Pip needs management at home around the other dogs, although I don't exactly consider him hard to live with. But he's so shy with strangers and new places that I wouldn't even try to do any sports or really any more classes at all with him at this point. But as an only dog he could really live with anyone.

Squash is the opposite, he can be as annoying as sh!t to live with but he can be a real a dream to train (although he has a mischievous streak that I admit I adore). Unless he's with Maisy and SHE reacts to something/someone, he gives no effs about strange dogs or people, has no environmental sensitivity/fears that he's displayed so far, and will try pretty much anything if I effectively communicate what I want. His biggest problem is focus, and he's maturing out of that nicely. But he's not a dog I would send home with my mother, lol.

 

[Oko]

For some reason this thread has stuck in my mind, so I'm answering now.

Feist is super easy, to me. The nice thing about border collies is if you give them enough exercise/brain work, they have a lot of built in easiness to owning them. I could (and have) put in the same time with Wesley that I've put in with Feist, and I'd get totally different results. She wants to look to me, check in with me, isn't super keen on going to visit dogs, will turn herself inside out to try to figure out what I'm asking of her, is so so so focused on me constantly, and if I actually say 'hey!' in a sharp voice she'll cut out what she's doing. So for me, she's what I consider quite the easy puppy. However, when other people meet her, they're like 'Uhhhh wow that's quite the puppy you have there', and if my family members watch her by the end of the day they're like 'TAKE IT BACK WE DON'T WANT IT.' So yeah, different definitions of easy. Personally, I'd find having a laid back dog/not insanely biddable dog hard, because I want to go and do stuff, and train stuff, and be nuts with my dog. So yes.

 

[PWCorgi]

I have been thinking about this kind of thing too, this and the herder energy vs. terrier energy as well.

Siri has taught me a lot about what I want in a dog, which is essentially her. I want lots and lots of Siri's. I DO NOT want a velcro, in your face dog. She likes being with me, but if I am busy, she finds her own things to do (whether I like them is a whole different story, lol, but whatever ). I love that she is stable enough to take just about anywhere, noises don't scare her, she generally ignores people and other dogs, and that she has energy with a side of energy-sauce. She is teaching me that when I thought I wanted a serious, biddable sport prospect, what I really care about is having a take anywhere pet who will have a heck of a good time playing agility with me. She is 98% off-leash reliable, but still wears a long line because I worry too much that her prey-drive will get the best of her someday.

She's a lot of fun to train, but it has to be in short bursts, you can't take her out and expect her to focus for 2 hours. Not that I could train for 2 hours anyway, but she isn't ever going to be that border collie that wants to work for you for 6 hours straight. She doesn't tire from mental stimulation, and even as a puppy I could take her to an agility trial and she would take everything in, and just never crash afterwards! She doesn't ever put so much effort into thinking that it affects her physical energy level, for better or for worse. She prefers flailing over thinking which I find hilarious. I mean really Siri, how many times are you going to gut punch yourself with the tip of a cone before you stop trying to do handstands on them? :rofl1:


For me she is the ideal dog, and I find living with her to be easy, though some days she frustrates me beyond belief I wouldn't change her for the world.

Most people who spend time with her though, ask me how I can live with her busy-ness. Frodo sleeps most of the day. Siri takes small naps and otherwise spends most of the day running around, checking in on the rats, getting the zoomies, finding stuffed toys to play with. She's busy, but not bothersome to me.

 

[Tortilla]

I think most people would consider Seamus super easy because he's incredibly low maintenance. He doesn't like to go for walks, he doesn't really get into trouble, he never barks, has virtually zero drive .. if he had his way, he'd sleep all day. Of course I exercise him and make him go out, but he hates it. He's super easy to live with because he literally doesn't do anything.

To me, he's been a challenge. He doesn't seem to have an 'on-switch,' so training has been challenging. He's not food driven, not toy driven, not praise driven. He's just not .. motivated. To do anything. I have to keep training sessions incredibly short and interesting (and positive) in order to get his attention at all. It's hard. In this sense, things that normal people probably consider 'easy,' I consider difficult.

 

[RetrieverFever]

I think the "easy" vs "hard" dog thing is silly when it's used as a badge of ridiculous ego. I do, however, think "easy" vs "hard" can be used to explain to inexperienced dog owners what may suit their needs better or worse. For example, my field bred golden is what I'd call an easy dog. He's well mannered, very easy to train, a lot of energy and drive without being high strung or neurotic. He needs a two mile run and hours of swimming to stay that way though (which is no problem for me because I don't work, I have time to spend on maintaining his needs). When his needs are met he's a very easy dog. Would I recommend a dog like him to an inexperienced owner? Probably not, because he wouldn't be easy peasy if his needs weren't met.

 

[AllisonPitbullLvr]

I would like to trade in my hard dog now please.

 

[ihartgonzo]

Obviously Merlin is that way because he's from a GOOD BREEDER who breeds sane dogs, you selected a breed that fit your lifestyle, and raised him right! That's ideal!!! & I'm sure Merlin wouldn't be as cool of a dog if a busy, uninvolved family bought him... or a crazy person. Crazy people create crazy and difficult dogs, I've learned.

Fozzie is ultra cool. Like cooler than a cucumber. I know that's because I heavily socialized and trained him from day one. If the "average" person adopted him, I think he'd be a fat, reactive, food aggressive brat. He'd still be really cool but I know he would be the dog who is barking and carrying on at every passing dog, like most Corgis.

My rally class/trainer would comment on how laid back and boring Fozzie was and how their dog aggressive, reactive, tense Pit Bulls were so much more fun. I beg to differ. That's not my style. The class was all Pit Bulls, except for Fozzie and one other Cardigan, who was ridiculously reactive and would have bouts of 5 minute barking fits. Like, WHY is my dog being made fun of!? And my laid back dog beat them all in trials, because he is rock solid. The trainer actually told me to put a prong on him to make him faster!!! NO thanks! No wonder your dogs forge like mofos. I think some people create difficult dogs for entertainment and drama in their lives, honestly. I have enough drama in my life... I like to have stable, cuddly, good dogs to come home to.

OTOH sport people have made all sorts of comments about my spastic Border Collie. How it's so "easy" for me because I have a BC! Umm, yeah, a BC with intense drive that I have spent years desensitizing and counter conditioning after punitive techniques made him dangerously aggressive. Yes life is so easy with a crazy BC. He basically trained himself! Lol

 

[ihartgonzo]

I DO NOT want a velcro, in your face dog. She likes being with me, but if I am busy, she finds her own things to do (whether I like them is a whole different story, lol, but whatever ). I love that she is stable enough to take just about anywhere, noises don't scare her, she generally ignores people and other dogs, and that she has energy with a side of energy-sauce. She is teaching me that when I thought I wanted a serious, biddable sport prospect, what I really care about is having a take anywhere pet who will have a heck of a good time playing agility with me.

I feel the exact same way!!! And this is why I will never have another BC. I love Gonzo to def, but it's not the breed for me, and Fozzie has made me realize that. Gonzo follows me everywhere - even at 14 years old, he gets up in a heartbeat and is at my heels if I go to the bathroom. D: He's making me trip and fall when I don't realize he's right behind me and I'm trying to make a bottle while holding my son. It's just not my favorite thing to have expectant eyes always watching me from somewhere. I love independent dogs now, Fozzie will come over for a cuddle several times a day, the rest of the time he's chilling and could care less about what I'm doing if it doesn't involve food. He also is unphased by any situation or noises!

I would want a JRT but I need a big dog!!! My worry is that German Sheps are just as velcro as BCs. :/ I'm honestly considering a Husky.

 

[SizzleDog]

I agree with the folks that say "easy" and "hard" are subjective. What's easy/hard for me isn't necessarily going to be easy/hard for someone else.

I think all of my dogs are exceptionally easy to live with, despite not all of them getting a tremendous amount of training and exercise. Oddly enough, my "hardest" dog gets the least amount of work BECAUSE he's a hard dog. It's easier for me to take the girls places because I don't have to worry about shielding the public from them. With Jayne, I always have to be careful since he's a big dog with a big temper... short fuse... and very little bite inhibition. But that's a different type of "hard" than a "hard" dog that's hard because of its energy and drive.

My "easier" dogs are more fun. But my "easy" dogs still have a decent amount of drive, some level of DA, and are quite guardy.