Good small boat dog

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Well, we ended up with a Havamalt, which is a “designer” breed, a mix of a Havanese and a Maltese.
We visited a breeder that specializes in these designer types figuring we would get something mixed with a Poodle. The Poodle usually brings in non shedding and intelligence into the mix. Maybe a Yorkiepoo, however we decided we really liked the Havamalt and he doesn’t shed either and is supposedly very intelligent as Havanese are often used as Circus dogs, which of course means easy to train and teach tricks.

Anyway Mikey as he is named has been a very good dog, extremely intelligent and extremely good natured, I have decided not to castrate him as he is a very, very friendly guy with a lot of energy, no mean streak at all.
He is great in the boat, taking awhile to come around to passages though and he will get a little seasick in rough water, but he is improving on that.

A Maltese doesn't shed nor does any breed having hair not fur. The distinction can be made in the hair never stops growing and fur reaches a length and sheds. The exception is my head.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Cadence

A Maltese doesn't shed nor does any breed having hair not fur. The distinction can be made in the hair never stops growing and fur reaches a length and sheds. The exception is my head.

Understood. A Havanese doesn’t shed either and is therefore consider hypoallergenic.
For those that are interested there are actually 23 breeds of dogs that don’t shed
https://blog.homesalive.ca/dogs-that...nic-dog-breeds

All things being equal having a dog that doesn’t shed on a boat is a big plus to me.

However it seems that the dog that gets the most publicity of not shedding is a Poodle, for whatever reason, and the Poodle is very often bred with other dogs for this, also Poodles are generally considered to be quite intelligent.

Just we really liked the personality of the Havamalt, if there is a downside to them it’s that they suffer from separation anxiety, they aren’t a dog you can leave by themselves, they are miserable if you do.
So he goes with us wherever we go, and if he can’t, like a Dr appt for instance, then one of us stays with the dog. We go to a store and I sit outside with him etc.

[NewBeginings]

Originally Posted by Greg Mason

I am with Delfin. I too have a purebred Lagotto and what a fit for the boat. Small enough to fit anywhere, fit enough to handle the ocean, and smart enough to know when to go and where. I have friends that had a Schipperke aboard, that owuld be my second choice. Not sure about the purebred health problem thread by the OP, sounds incidental and not statistical.

I used to only have purebred dogs: poodles, a basset hound, a rottweiler. Every one had recognized breed related health issues at some point...issues that each breed is known by veterinarians and breed clubs to be succeptible. When I was a kid, we only had mutts and they seemed healthier and lived longer, although I am sure that this is not always the case. Now, I prefer to have as much genetic diversity as possible in a dog, so to me, the muttier the better. Purebred dogs are created by inbreeding...by isolating and amplifying mutations to an extent not normally found in wild dogs, such as short faces, short legs, floppy ears, non-shedding coats. Such qualities aren't found in wild dogs because they generally do not have a survival benefit. Still, my mutt is very far from the wild type. He has qualities of a beagle and a jack. He has the fiesty temperment of a jack and floppy ears like a beagle. He has had chronic ear infections. Infections that would likey not occur if he had prick ears like a wolf rather than cute floppy ears that have been artificially selected for by humans. I still love purebred dogs, I just prefer mutts. I think there have been some benefits to artificial selection, too. It has allowed us to create docile, loveable, trainable companions, separating our dogs from wild animals. And, some breeds have been bred to protect, run fast, hunt and kill vermin, etc. I would think these traits would actually improve fitness and survivability. And, when you get a purebred, you have a good idea of what its temperment, size, and appearance will be like when it is an adult.

[a64pilot]

Mutts are often healthier, and it has a name, it’s called Hybrid Vigor and of course you’ll find arguments as to whether or not it exists in dogs.
Many breeds become popular and of course are overbred and done so for physical traits, and due to inbreeding etc there are health problems.
A few working breeds have been almost ruined in my opinion from being overbred.
The “designer” dogs aren’t purebred and I hope may exhibit some hybrid vigor, or at least that was my thinking.

We looked long and hard for a rescue dog and unfortunately it seemed most all were Pitts. Now the last Pitt we had was a sweet dog, great around children etc. but just way too big to fit on a boat, and they shed. Besides many countries won’t let them in, our vet wrote down on our Pitts paperwork that he was a boxer mix, when it was obvious he was a Pitt Bull, but he was of course trying to save him from the stereotype.
He was sort of a rescue in that he just showed up one day at the farm and wouldn’t leave.
I hollered at him, shot a shotgun in his direction etc, but he wouldn’t leave, so he sort of adopted us I guess.

However I don’t believe any of our pets were actually “wild” I believe every one of them was bred by man in some manner or another/
They may have come from wolves, but they are most definitely not wolves, many studies have been done that have shown that from birth there are significant differences between a wolf and a dog as far as how they interact with man.