My understanding is a whippet is different from an Italian Greyhound in that it is the in the middle size between an Italian and full size greyhound. All greyhounds and sub sects of same are great dogs, no doubt.

I think she is referring to a vizla, which is a great animal but doesn't fit the criteria she is looking for either.

As an aside, any animal that comes into our home is a super duper lucky dog. PavBall is asking these questions because she is looking for as good of a possible fit for us as she can, which is the responsible thing to do.

My law partner brings her dog to the office, PavBall wants to do the same, which will be interesting. South Louisiana is a super (almost ridiculously) hot place, about half the dog breeds in existence would not be happy there in the climate, so that eliminates a lot of the larger calmer dog breeds from her criteria.

Rescue dogs are wonderful, no doubt. People who adopt a pet are doing a great thing for the animal and themselves. Dogs are, however, slaves to their genetics in many ways and it is important to have a good fit - that is the most fair thing to the pet and the family.

Two of my favorite dogs I see every football season (they literally have not missed a home game in six years!).

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I agree with this 100%. Add to that the weather in Louisiana mandates many breeds not be considered at all.

I agree with this as well but she's concerned the pitbull mixes might be dangerous or unpredictable, I disagree with that but recognize they have that reputation so I'm not trying to dissuade her from the view.

Just as an update, we are now taking a bunch of these different surveys and reading through the results closely. There is a lot of data out there and we are planning to take our time with this ten plus year decision. We did not know surveys like this were available online and they are all very informative.

PavBall came to this group for the questions because we spend so much time on Pinside and know so many of you through here and the shows and what not.

I'm also surprised how good of a match the surveys feel we are with schnauzers, basically any type of schnauzer or sub sec of same seems to fit us well.

I am an experienced dog owner but this decision is ultimately PavBall's so I want her to find the perfect little friend for us.

So true! She wants one that is easier to de-flea than me I guess.

Oh my, I hope PavBall doesn't log back in and see that. That's simply awful!

I'm a big fan of this breed.

If it looks like your avatar image then I think we'll take a big pass on that one!!!

And the winner, who joined our family today, was the Standard Poodle.

Please meet the newest member of our family, Megatron:

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We agreed no dog on the couch, we've already rethought that position. He likes it up here.

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Here is how I have to drive to work now with Megatron, he's decided this is his seat in the car:
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We considered one. We also considered, heavily, a Black Russian Terrier (which has a lot of Giant Schnauzer in him).

We visited with several breeders though and they felt we were not a good fit for either (at this time) with a small child and one strongly recommended a Standard Poodle to us (which was advice we took).

By the way, for those wondering what Megatron is doing right now, I took this picture under my desk 60 seconds ago (he comes to work with PavBall and me every day):

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