My BIL said it best just yesterday: “a working dog needs a job and if they decide that pulling the stuffing out of your couch is their job, that’s on you.”

Not only that, but whenever there is a surge in demand for a specific dog breed, puppy mills respond by making more puppies available. This means more inbreeding, thus more dogs with genetic as well as behavioral problems are produced. Many people then decide that they can't/won't handle such dogs with these problems and abandon the dogs (shelters or otherwise).

Yup. We have a border collie and he is so sweet and smart, but if he doesn’t get at least two half hour walks a day (ideally hour-long) he will go nuts from under stimulation. And trust me, you do not want a dog as smart or smarter than a toddler to be understimulated.

My neighbors have two pit bulls, a lab and a shepherd-type dog I'm pretty sure is a Malinois. Don't walk them, don't play with them, just let them out in their tiny backyard and scream at them when they bark. I'm pretty sure if they ever get loose - and the fence between the yards is practically collapsing - the Malinois could easily kill someone. And it'll be 100% the owners' fault.

A border collie in a friend family had a herding instinct up the scale and even though they had lambs, she wanted to herd the family children together too 😂. A wonderful doggo but be sure what you're getting into. If I was getting a dog today, I'd go for the papillon. They need a lot of action, training and company as they're extra smart, but can do with normal length walkies instead of wanting to run around the county like most other working breeds

Had? We still have to tell them every day...

Corgis. People think of the Queen of England when they think of corgis rather than the VERY active herding dogs that they are. My Cardigan Corgi is 10 years old and he can still run & play for hours at a time. I got him a herding ball & I think he loves it more than me 😉

I have two dogs - a male APBT / Rottweiler mix and a female APBT. The female is dumb as a box of rocks (love her to death though) and her main mission in life is food and chewy bones. My male, however, is all Rottweiler in personality... and the smartest dog I've ever owned. They both love a good walk and a play, but I'm fortunate in that my boy thinks his job is perimeter laps along the fence in the back yard... he's seriously the best behaved boy and if he gets frustrated i just do some training work with him or let him outside to do his laps... makes him super content, lol!

All dogs need jobs.

Have had working dogs all my life and I can tell you that you will have their fur in your clothes, rugs, furniture, yard, car, well just about everywhere you go. I wouldn't have it any other way. FYI - tell your friends and family if they are looking at a large dog, that the overall costs will be a lot more than a small or medium dog.

"a working dog is a happy dog" not sure if its an actual quote from anyone but its true. dogs get depressed if they have nothing to do, thats why you shouldn't buy huskies and breeds like that unless you take 5 mile+ runs daily

Our Anatolian Shepherd (livestock guardian dog) has adopted Mom and our cats as his "flock", and he protects them zealously. He patrols the neighborhood when out for a walk, patrols the dog park as his adjunct territory, and has been known to be VERY reluctant to leave the park if he gets a lock on some critter outside the fence. When we moved into our house, we often saw foxes in the area. We got Ren, and no more foxes. (He actually saved one of our cats from a fox one day - we saw it.) Sadly, Sherry griped about groundhogs messing up her garden one time when Ren could hear. Now he has them on his 'enemies list' and considers them targets.

Also they shed a whole other dog every spring! You gotta brush them frequently, and they are ridiculously smart, and sound like foghorns when they howl!😂

Or "working" dogs, Australia Shepards, McNabs etc... require a lot of stimulation.

Is why I have cats. I have zero pupper experience and even less doggo experience. If I were to try to raise one, I'd likely be a terrible owner so I don't - especially as I have not enough time or resources to dedicate to them. Let good people who know how be loving owners and provide good homes. If I want one bad enough, I'll paint a picture and hang it in my hallway.

That's why I like couch-dogs. Couch-dogs just need a couch.

Just saw a Girl With The Dogs video where she explained that part of the problem with Dalmatians is that the 'piebald' gene that makes them spotted also puts them at high risk for deafness. This risk is slowly being reduced through careful, responsible breeding, but if you try to churn out hundreds of them in a puppy mill, you're going to wind up with a lot of deaf dogs.

And, IIRC, clownfish after Finding Nemo.

I used to joke I could probably collect my husky's shed fur in the springtime and card, spin, and knit a sweater.

I was a park ranger in New York City. Every time a movie came out featuring a dog, that breed would be the most common one we rescued. People would abandon them in parks after the novelty wore off.