Dog Breeds Rated for Feistiness

Discovery.com ^ | June 26, 2008 | Jennifer Viegas

[TASMANIANRED]

I love seeing pics of your dogs..

[brytlea]

Is that ruby laying flat in the grass? ADORABLE!

[brytlea]

Mine are kinda like the Anti-Feisty!
susie

[tiredoflaundry]

*doggie ping*

[tiredoflaundry]

The Wowzer Schnauzer "Lady" Her most patient brother "Buster"

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I am owned by a Rat Terrier.

Our Rat Terrier doesn't think he has completed his daily terrier work until he has been flipped several times by both our GSD and our mid-sized classic mutt. The Shepherd has figured out ways to handicap himself in order to keep the wrestling match even with someone about 1/5 his size. It is most entertaining to watch.

[BunnySlippers]

Cuties, both of them.
Chis are so affectionate and smart.

[Cailleach]

took these ith phone...quality is crummy...

[arizonarachel]

What a beautiful picture!! Did you take it? Great composition!

[Darnright]

They left out this dog, he's definitely a member of the most fiesty group of them all:

He's a Mountain Feist, you see. Squirrels are his game, and he plays for keeps!

[cva66snipe]

I am owned by a Rat Terrier.

Me too. Or as they used to be called a Fiest :>} Some persons still know them as such and call them that.

[kalee]

My brother had one also. lol
My brother got him to be protection for his wife and child when he was in the field or deployed. They had him for a while when one night my brother came in from the field and realized the dog was outback in the yard for his nightly potty break. My brother thought it was his chance to test the dog so he crawled along the fence and popped up to surprise the dog saying BOO! My brother was still in camouflage from the field. Big Surprise! He scared the dog so badly it went running; yelping and whining for the door.
So much for guard dog, he was a big overgrown baby. Sadly he died of cancer at age 11, he was loved and is still missed.

[BunnySlippers]

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

One of the more impressive feats of dachsund-dom, was a male dachshund who managed to impregnate a full sized female German shepherd.

This utterly mystified the owners until they saw the dachshund chasing the shepherd around the yard, nipping at her back heels, until she lay down to protect them with her front legs. Bam.

I was reminded of the old joke about a circus dwarf who was accused of raping the circus fat woman. When the judge asked her how in the world, she said he used a bucket.

The judge said it was ridiculous, that she could have kicked the bucket out from underneath him any time she wanted, so found the dwarf not guilty.

However, looking at the grinning dwarf, the judge had his suspicions. So he told him about double jeopardy and that he was safe from prosecution, but the judge still suspected the dwarf had done it, so he asked him how.

“I used the bucket, just like she said, your honor. But I didn’t stand on it. I put it over her head and hung on to the handle!”

[Verloona Ti]

Chihuahuas and Dachshunds scored higher than average for aggression directed to both humans and dogs, putting them towards the top of the list.... "Small size very likely plays a large role in the development of fear-based aggression among some breeds," Duffy explained. "Smaller dogs may feel more threatened by other dogs and people -- a perception that may be well founded."

I've owned smooth and longhaired dachshunds, and chihuahuas. The real reason little dogs are mean is because their humans laugh at them when they growl and snarl, and thereby encourage aggression. When , say , a rottweiler puppy growls at either a human or another dog, his human is apt to scold or even smack him to discourage such behavior. But when a dachshund puppy growls at even his own human, the response is apt to be,"Ah, isn't that cute? He thinks he's so fierce. Look, now he's raising his hackles at me-isn't he just adorable when he's mad? Come here, let me pick you up and give you a hug-awwww, he just severed my jugular vein! He's getting to be a big dog!"

Little dogs just aren't taken seriously when they act aggressively-and maybe it irritates them, to be laughed at when they're trying to intimidate.

Incidentally, the smooth dachshund is the true dachshund. They are proverbial for being aggressive, manipulative, domineering, and too damn smart for their or their human's good . The longhaired dachshie was created by breeding dachshies to spaniels-they are the sweetest, gentlest, most submissive of dachshunds. (I also think they're not as bright.) The wire haired dachshund was created by breeding the snausages to terriers-they're said to be even worse than smooth dachshunds in terms of aggressiveness and personality-I find that hard to believe.

[bannie]

You can't count her: She's rabid.

[Verloona Ti]

There's an authentic case of a dachshund who mated with a female great dane, and sired a litter of 'great dachshunds'. She was asleep, and he took advantage of the situation.Apparently she never even woke up. The puppies were only marginally (about 3") shorter in the legs than a true dane, and their ears were a bit floppier. One can only wonder if their activity levels and personalities were like those of their dam..or if they were...giant weiner dogs in behavior, which is a terrifying prospect.

Somewhere in the ancient FR articles is an account of a weiner dog who took on a german shepherd and an irish setter. the dachshund lost an eye and needed 20 stitches; the setter needed almost 100 stitches-and the shepherd needed to be euthanized on scene by the police responding to the disturbance because the cute little dachshie had gotten underneath and disemboweled him.

[Joe 6-pack]

"The Shepherd has figured out ways to handicap himself in order to keep the wrestling match even with someone about 1/5 his size. It is most entertaining to watch."

I know what you mean. My ex had two Maltese (Malteses?) that were full grown when I got my Shepherd at 7 weeks. As a puppy, he started playing with the Maltese as "equals" and as he rapidly grew, he seemed to adjust his energy level accordingly when dealing with them.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

What's up with that?

[mupcat]

(as I look at my downstairs carpet and little tufts of hair all over it).

LOL, well, at least you can SEE it easily with the tufts, not so with some other breeds like the Pugs---no tufts there....