Thoughts?

Try a Shiba Inu...

Basset hounds.

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Calm comes with maturity and training, regardless of the breed.

I don't know if they are calm but Manchester Terriers are neat looking.

mixed breed from a shelter.

And training. We got our dog from a shelter 12/7/2008. They guessed her to be 2 yrs old. On 12/14 I said to my wife I think we got the wrong dog. I can't keep up with her. She is pulling the leash so hard on our walks my ring is being embedded into my finger we might need to take her back. On 12/15 at 9:30 in walked a dog trainer we hired. At 12:30 out walked the dog trainer we hired. I had a dog I could walk, could control and who seemed happier. Now she is my best friend after the wife. Before training my wife could not walk her. Had trouble controlling the dog when other dogs passed by. Called the trainer back and within 1 hour we had a controlled dog. Trainer said the dog could be the poster dog for the shelter. All it took was the right training.

Biggest thing to remember IT IS A DOG not a little baby or little kid. Learn to treat it as a dog. You and your family are a pack to the dog. It needs to see everyone of you as being ahead of it in the pack order.  I have to keep reminding my wife IT IS A DOG it doesn't feel or think the way we do.

Training was by Bark Busters. We got the lifetime program it wasn't cheap. Unlimited training for the life of the dog no matter where the dog lives or who her owner is. The training is real simple they show you what to do and you have to do it all the time. Dog is never out of training. Yesterday was 5 months and from time to time she will still try to take over the leadership role. I have to put her back in her place in the pack.

Good luck

find a Cavalier Jack.....

We have two. They are a mix of Jack Russell and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.... The King Charles spaniel is a mellow lap dog breed to keep royalty warm....seriously.

The spaniel mellows out the hyperness of the Jack. But they still have the look of a Jack.

Here's the breeder: http://www.mulberrylanefarms.com/

female rat terrier

eta: wiki

The fallacy is in thinking that when you mix breeds that the desired trait of one will override the undesired traits in the other, when in fact, there is no way to control which gene is passed on to the offspring. Mixed breed temperaments are a crap shoot at best and while yes, your particular dog may have inherited the traits in this manner, there is no guarantee that the next puppy won't inherit the Terrier prey drive and activity levels instead.



I have no objections to adopting mixed breeds and strongly promote rescue from shelters where mixed breed temperaments and general health can be evaluated in person, but to suggest that intentional mixing of breeds will always produce traits X, Y, Z is misleading and unfair to the potential buyers.












 

Well, point taken.  I've got two cavalier jacks and one is more jack than cavalier - but he also looks that way too.  The other one is almost too mellow -  here's a pic




Here's the more active one..

We have two rat terriers, and while they like to play, they do more than their fair share of cuddling/laying around.  The male is probably the best dog I have ever had as far as temperament.

generally the larger the dog the calmer it is.

+1 on the little foxies!

My Boston Terrier is pretty mellow.

Very generally, perhaps, but lack of training, exercise and attention result in hyper dogs more than anything else.










 

Do you feed it Xanax?
My best friend (6'6") met one the other day and it was trying to lick his face and nearly succeeding.

Well, we have three "children" ~

French Bulldog (our first), just over a year old......he is pretty calm. When they want attention though.......they will DEMAND it.  hee hee hee  Will definately add these sweeties to my family again!

Rat Terrier, female.....she was a holy terror when she was young!  She will be 13 years old in July.  Took her about 3-4 years to finally calm down and become a "snuggle bug".

Boxer (I know you said small breed, but, I don't want to hurt her feeling by not mentioning her).

Can't beat a good American Pitt-Bull! Best dogs I have ever had! And despite what people say out of my 3 none have ever shown any aggression to anyone or any thing!

Just get a cat. They don't bark and they sleep 18 hours a day. You don't have to walk or entertain them.

Otherwise get a Real Dog like a Lab, not some nasty little ankle biting yaping over sized rat. .

My brother has a Basset Hound.

I don't think you can get much more laid back.

Two 10 month old girls out for a romp in the mud.


A seven year old soaks up the love at an event.


5 month old and learned to come, lead, sit when I stopped in his first 5 minute lesson


Fetch a tennis ball ?? It took 3 mintues to learn

Long tailed North American Shepherds. Interesting, very interesting.

Also commonly called Mini Aussies.

The first two that popped into my mind were the Pinschers and the Basenji

Pinschers (Austrian and German) are a 'generic medium sized farm dog'  This is actually where the Schnauzer came from, it is the wire haired version of the Pincsher.  Germany and Austria have always been inteconnected with a shared border, the Austrain Pinscher seems to be the German Pinscher that was allowed to cross with the local dogs before standardizing itself.  It is a tad bit larger.  Pinchers were expected to protect the farm from intruders, chase away foxes, take care of rats, drive the livestock, keep an eye on the kids, and be a general purpose asset to the farm.  As such, they don't have the 'dig dig dig BITE!' attitude of terriers nor the 'bark and chase' attitude of the beagle and other hunter-houndy type dogs.

Another option is to go with one of the varying Spaniel options.  I think the cocker spaniel has been overbred and most you encounter are going to be a bit crazy in the head, and tend to need a ton of grooming  (English Cocker Spaniels are not as bad as their close cousins the American Cocker Spaniel).  There are other spaniels that are just great breeds IMHO.  Spaniels are bred to be gundogs that work close to the shooter, so that makes them genetically a bit more person-centered and less likely to go tearing all over hither and yon. They also tend to be small-medium dogs.  Except for the aforementioned cocker spaniel, most require very little grooming.  A bit of brushing now and the is all that is needed. Check out the Brittany Spaniel (although some folks say it isn't a true spaniel) as well as the English Springer Spaniel, Welsh Springer, French Spaniel, Russian Spaniel, and Field Spaniel.  There is also the Sussex Spaniel and the Cumberlain Spaniel, but they are short legged dogs like a basset hound.



German Pincher is the middle one, bigger one is a dobie, smaller is a miniature pincher


You may think Doberman when you hear Pinscher.  Well, the Dobie was created mainly through the German Pincher line, think of the basic recipie as  1/2 german pinscher, 1/4 rott (for size) 1/4 greyhound (for speed and to make the dog thin and agile, basically counteracting the Rott blocky body).  There were some other breeds thrown in there too, but those were the main contributors.


Austrian Pinscher
most tend to be reddish tan with white but other colors are found too  These are probably 35lb dogs + or - 5lbs for a healthy animal.  Bigger than a beagle but smaller than say a German Pointer, definately smaller than a lab or german shepard.





German Pinscher, generally black and tan like a generic doberman, but also found in nearly all red.  These would be about the size of a large beagle, 20-30 lbs, few reaching 35








I think the Red ones are VERY striking dogs