<p>125?!
Can’t speak for rat terriers, but many great danes seem to have really sweet mellow temperaments. They are definitely prone to some health problems, and their life span is usually short, but-- there’s also something to be said for adopting an adult or older dog and giving it a happy rest-of-its-life.</p>
<p>I’ve never been around great danes much. I have always thought they looked like such noble dogs. I may have to go to Animal Control and take a look once they are vetted for adoption. I know if I go, I will leave with one! (hope it’s only one!)</p>
<p>Good luck.
My mother’s friend, a single woman in her 60’s inherited one when her daughter moved to a townhouse. It’s a very sweet dog, but gigantic. I didn’t even ask about the poops.</p>
<p>Yikes, I had thought about the cost of food—but didn’t think about poop patrol!</p>
<p>Rat terriers are not as hyper as the jack russells. Rat terriers are not really considered a breed, just as pit bulls are not. It is a general category of dogs, though I hear that there have been movements about getting a standard and having them recognized as a breed. They would certainly be easier in terms of dealing with the in and out put of the food than great danes. </p>
<p>I found that feeding dogs the premium dry dog food results in harder, well formed poops, easy to scoop.</p>
<p>Rat terrier might be a UKC breed.</p>
<p>What do you get when you cross a pit bull with a collie?</p>
<p>A dog that rips your arm off and then runs for help1</p>
<pre><code> (apologies to the majority of pit bulls)
</code></pre>
<p>Rat terriers were made an AKC breed two years ago.</p>
<p>I am a failed foster mom for dogs. EVERYONE I fostered I kept!! Apparently I am a successful adoptive mom tho… I love Great Danes but dont see many here and I couldnt afford the food. I have two senior schnauzers and a really senior english setter. I cant imagine my life without the fuzzies. I would probably go for the rat terrier… I love terriers. Big personality in a littler package.</p>
<p>Just saw in the paper that all the danes have all been taken by the Great Dane rescue–so I’m sure they will get good homes. The terriers are still being vetted.</p>
<p>As a kid, neighbors brought over a lost dog and my family kept it. It looked like a Rat Terrier. Back then, we were calling it a Toy Fox Terrier.</p>
<p>I would also ask careful questions about house manners, unless you’re up for a challenge. Oftentimes animals that have lived their lives in tiny runs or cages (i.e. forced to live with their own waste) can be tougher to housetrain.
I may be wrong, but I think that small dogs can be tougher in that respect in general – at least judging from personal experience!</p>
<p>ispf, I have had the same experience with the house training. My lab, shepherd, and boxer all trained so easily. My fox terrier and beagle remained kinda sneaky—at least their piddles are smaller;).</p>
<p>Just came from a football game today, and saw a rat terrier mix there. What a sweetie! He was good enough to be kept off leash. Talked to the owner who said that the only drawback that he sees with the dog is that it does have a lot of energy and therefore, requires exercise opportunities to match which is an additional obligation. That would be the deal ender for me as I just don’t go out for walks much and a couple of 20 minute walks a day is the max our family can do for a bet. Consequently we have always gotten dogs that did not need to be run or exercised a lot. I would have loved to have gotten a retriever of sorts, but I did not feel it would be fair to the dog.</p>
<p>My dad got a great dane after I was married. Very sweet dog, kind, friendly, but so active and big she would knock you down (hard) just trying to get close to you, or returning a ball. After my mom got knocked down and injured her shoulder, he found a new home for her with a family that already had a dane and wanted another!</p>
<p>I would not get a dog that I could not possibly control. We were gettting pretty close with our last two. A great dane that wants to take off while I hold the leash is going to have no trouble doing so. You never can tell what kind of temperment the adult dog is going to have, so I think it is important that the dog can be controlled. That rules out the danes, St Bernards, retrievers and other big dogs that I really like. It has been good that nearly all of us in the family has been able to walk any of our dogs.</p>
<p>Update on the rescued dogs. The dogs went up for adoption yesterday morning. I had planned to go out this afternoon and take a look. To my amazement, the morning paper stated that the adoptions began at 9am yesterday and by 2pm all 153 dogs available had been adopted. Kudos to the kind people living in this area!</p>
<p>mkm56:</p>
<p>That’s excellent that all the dogs were adopted. It can sometimes be difficult placing adoption dogs. What part of the country was that in?</p>
<p>It’s great they all found homes, but you can bet there are others waiting out there for you :)</p>
<p>Ispf, I’m sure there are! and they will find me when it is “meant to be”. ;)</p>
<p>ucsd, I am in western NC. Like other areas, economy and jobs are not great right now–we are in a big furniture industry area and much of the work has moved to China. I was so surprised and pleased that so many people opened their homes to these dogs.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that the pooches found homes. I wish our newspapers would print follow-ups like those!</p>