Do you know your breed inside out?

Cherry Blossom

We often have loads of threads on here started by people who are looking for information on specific dog breeds, I'm sure by this time people are tired of repeating themselves over and over.

Starting in January I think it would be an idea to have a 'Breed of the week' - essentially a valuable information thread focusing on a specific recognised breed including information on the history/roots of the breed, common problems, health issues, and so on. It would basicly be a collection of general questions & answers, info, history, perceptions, opinions and experiences of people who own these breeds, have done a lot of research on them with the intention of owning one in the future or have some knowledge of them from some other personal perspective.

If you believe you have extensive knowledge of a particular breed it would help if you make me aware of this.

In terms of 'order', I think the best way to go about this would be to prioritise breeds by number of requests from people who would like to see a particular breed get a mention, this would mean priority could constantly change but that's ok, we go with whatever is currently top of the list that week. Even a thread with just one post can be extremely valuable once it can be easily found - the intention would be to have a list of the threads posted in a FAQ sticky.

You can post any thoughts you have on this or suggest breeds in this thread.

I am conscious of the fact that this is a general Animals and Pets forum and not a 'dog' forum. The vast majority of threads here are dog related though so I think it's keeping within the current traffic of the forum. I don't think we would have enough contributors to have individual cat/rabbit breed threads etc. but we can have 'catch all' threads in these cases if people want to suggest other species.

Disclaimer - This might work, and it might not, it will depend entirely on how it rolls once it gets started.

andreac

Id be happy to contribute towards Rotties. Im no expert but i do feel very experienced in the breed to help others

Themadhouse

I think it's a great idea to have individual breeds covered properly instead of bits in different threads. I can't offer anything with owning a cross breed but will enjoy the learning aspect.
If the enquiries for cats ever gets extensive I will volunteer for that!

magentas

Great idea AJ, I think it's really cool that you're actively encouraging threads and discussion and not just "modding" No offence to any other mod BTW!!
Seriously though, fair play:)

I'm not an expert by any means but I'm very passionate about my breed...border collies. Smart, loyal and affectionate companions.
So if I feel that I can add anything to the thread, I'd be more than happy to get involved and I'll look forward to learning from other collie enthusiasts and indeed the various other breeds. I really enjoyed reading a recent thread about GSDs and their origins...ended up reading about the breed online for about 3hours that night:o so this could be good reading!

Knine

I can do the Italian Spinoni & the Border Terrier.

falabo

great idea, Cocker5 and I can talk about cocker spaniels ...

Cherry Blossom

Might be best to let people volunteer for themselves

I'll count all of these as suggestions as well by the way.

Shanao

I can do the akita; have read up way too bloody much over the last two years

Zapperzy

Can't offer anything as I'v a x breed but would be interested in reading these.

cjf

I can give some info on the dobie! Great idea to do a thread not just on history etc. But also including what it's like to own and live with the breeds! Looking forward to learning more about the personalities and practicalities of other breeds I have no first hand experience with! Might finally decide on what mix my little Heinz 57 girly is! You can only get so much from breed profiles defo interested in the day to day of different breeds!

Cutie18Ireland

Pomeranians, Yorkshire Terriers, Greyhounds

Bannasidhe

jack russells.

mymo

I have a Tibetan terrier and a Lhasa Apso, guess they won't be near the top of the list, but I did do a lot of research and spoke to many breeders and show people before going for both breeds.
Happy to help if anyone asks.
I think peoples experiences of living with the breed would be great for people thinking of a particular breed.

mymo

Could you also add a bit at the start of the thread about cross breeds (we've had many), how if you know some of the heritage you can get a bit of an idea of the energy levels etc by looking at the breeds in its heritage.

westies4ever

i know a fair bit about westies

RitaW

I've 3 Irish Setters and 1 Red and White so I could a piece about them. I've a few articles prepared already on the breed.

falabo

I know a good bit about Whippets too, had one for 17 years !

SingItOut

I know a lot about Labradors

lorebringer

Cavaliers!

FoxyVixen

Akitas have already been mentioned. I'm no expert but have had one for two years so could add to that from what Shanoa has to say.

Cherry Blossom

mymo wrote: »

Could you also add a bit at the start of the thread about cross breeds (we've had many), how if you know some of the heritage you can get a bit of an idea of the energy levels etc by looking at the breeds in its heritage.

It would be one breed per thread but this could be added in to the post in sticky.

The problem with crosses is they can be the result of anything, if anyone wanted to start a thread on crosses that was clean enough to add to the sticky that would be fine. The problem is there's a high chance it would go off in all sorts of directions, desirable crosses would likely get a big mention which would probably lead to the thread getting heated. Posts can't be deleted without very good reason and threads that are contentious may not be suitable for adding to a sticky. (Just in case anyone is wondering why this is a pure-breed thing).

Cherry Blossom

RitaW wrote: »

I've 3 Irish Setters and 1 Red and White so I could a piece about them. I've a few articles prepared already on the breed.

Thanks for your input, people who post regularly on the forum are well known to everyone as are their dogs, so it's great to see readers of the forum come forward who don't post often for whatever reasons, otherwise we would be limited to the fairly small collection of breeds owned by known contributors here.

Do you think the Red and R&W's are similar enough to be doubled up together, how about other setter breeds - Gordon/English setter, would it be more feasible to have one huge Setter week than to split them all up?

FoxyVixen wrote: »

Akitas have already been mentioned.

That makes the Akita the only breed with 2 votes so far

deisedave

ya I would know quite a bit about cavaliers but my other dog is a cross so I couldnt add much for her. I have had jack russels as well.

Cherry Blossom

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

That makes the Akita the only breed with 2 votes so far

Short-lived - Jack Russels & Cavs now have 2 as well.

planetX

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

It would be one breed per thread but this could be added in to the post in sticky.

The problem with crosses is they can be the result of anything, if anyone wanted to start a thread on crosses that was clean enough to add to the sticky that would be fine. The problem is there's a high chance it would go off in all sorts of directions, desirable crosses would likely get a big mention which would probably lead to the thread getting heated. Posts can't be deleted without very good reason and threads that are contentious may not be suitable for adding to a sticky. (Just in case anyone is wondering why this is a pure-breed thing).

can you let lurchers in though please???? I have questions...

Cherry Blossom

planetX wrote: »

can you let lurchers in though please???? I have questions...

Yes, we can have lurchers, though I'm wondering if Lurchers, greyhounds and whippets could be grouped together?

borderlinemeath

Irish setters getting a second vote.

lrushe

I've had a few breeds over the years, by no means an expert but would have some knowledge on:
Rotties
Japanese Spitz
Chihuahuas
German Shephards
Jack Russells
Greyhounds
Fox Terriers
Dobbies

axle108

L plate GSD owner, 18 months old, i'll share his early years. Jrt 14 years.

chris139ryan

excellent idea of a thread. I could contribute about bull terriers, not an expert by any means but I know a bit about them

axle108

L plate GSD owner, 18 months old. JRT 14 years, mixed breeds.