Man, I have a serious soft spot for boxers. Good friends of mine down here have one and she is a cool dog. High energy, and she can be REALLY stubborn at times, but she’s a good dog.
The only down side to boxers is the drool; just from the jaw/face structure.
Personally… I have to agree with Minglor; I have a Yellow Lab and he is the best dog I’ve ever had/known. Once I loose this guy (which won’t be for a long long time as he’s not even 3 yet); I’m getting another Lab.
If you can, rescue one. Shelters are jam packed, and rescues are full. It’s too bad your parents feel that way about pit bulls, because the majority of shelter dogs are pit bulls or pit mixes. But, I know the feeling, my parents have told me many times that they could probably never watch my dogs “even though we know they are wonderful, we’re just nervous”.
Personally, I’d choose a Boxer or Boston Terrier over a Doberman or Rottweiler. Dobermans are so inbred in this country now, they can have major health problems. And I personally don’t really like Rottweilers, aside from a few I know.
Good luck finding a dog 
It’s nice that you want to find a friend for your current dog. 2 make it so much easier!
Obligatory photos of my girls, photos taken by theblue:
People that don’t think that certain breeds are more prone to dangerous behavior are morons. You’re right, the 1 year you spent training that dog is definately more important than the lifetimes of instinct or… I don’t know… the fact that IT’S A DOG!
No, you’re right… training will make any animal perfectly predictable
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[flamesuiton]
A Chihuahua with bad breeding is just as prone to dangerous behavior as a pit bull or rotti with bad breeding. The difference is in how much damage one can do.
A good owner spends a lifetime working with their dog (not just a year of training). They learn to read their dog’s body language, they learn what may trigger bad behavior or spark bad situations. This should be true of any owner, whether you have a Chihuahua or a Great Dane. Nothing bothers me more than the idiots with the little dogs with bad attitudes and their “oh he’s small, so it’s ok!” approach.
I love the fact that I can leave my 4 month old on his mat on the floor and our 4 year old boxer just lays next to him while I shower. He is a great dog.
My lab is HORRIBLE with drool. His jowls are massive and the water just sits in there and drips like a mofo. lol
I love labs too, probably the only type of dog I will ever own as well.
Weird; Mine doesn’t drool at all; he drags water from the water bowl around after he drinks, but otherwise nothing.
Yeah, sometimes chip just has these HUGE goobers coming off his jowls. They hang like 6 inches lol. Not that often though. The water drinking is the worst. You can’t go within like 4 feet of his water bowl with socks on.
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I am with you on this one for the most part.
I’ve never met an agressive Great Dane though. They are known as gente giants for a reason. Some dogs are more prone to agression than others. The end result often comes from the training (or lack there of), but even sometimes with great training, there will be instances where dogs will just be agressive for whatever reason.
I’m definitely not against people owning them at all. My original point was just to say, that if you were shying away from pit bulls due to agression, then you should also be shying away from rotweillers. Their size and strength makes them VERY difficult to control.
I had a Rott/German Shepard mix and he was AWESOME! Very smart and loyal. I would love to get another large dog, but my wife isn’t really into those breads. I’m trying to get a German Short Haired Pointer now.
If health is a concern think about finding a mix. There’s a genetic phenomenon called “hybrid vigor” that means that mixes are generally healthier than their parents. Plus pure breds can have inbreeding problems.
Dogs as security is kind of sketchy IMO. A well trained dog shouldn’t be aggressive towards anyone. If you want security get ADT and a gun and good habits about locking doors and not leaving out boxes that advertise your new flatscreen. But if you do want a dog for security, the best security dogs are little yappers. Honest. A would-be hamburgler won’t bother with a house that has a yapper that gets set off at the slightest sound within 5 houses. Granted having a 120 pound rotty greet you might work too, but the odds are pretty good that you’ll never need your dog to actually fight for you. If you get to that point your dog will probably just get shot and then you’re still screwed, and you have a dead dog.
Fry’s right, you definitely don’t need a “bully breed” dog to scare people away. You should see the look on the UPS guy’s face when my 100 pound chocolate lab is ripping barks in his face. He’s a lab, he just desperately wants to lick your face lol.
I was using Great Danes as a size comparison, not necessarily a temperament one
And yeah, my pit bulls would be the WORST guard dogs ever. THE WORST. But they do sound and look pretty scary
All 3 off the boxers I mentioned don’t drool at all, except for the water bowl. lol.
Watch what you get from a shelter. my mom got a boxer there before we got her a pup, she had it a week or 2 it was nice and palyful then one day she was giving it food and it snapped on her and bit her had, Her blue healer INSTANTLY attacked the boxer. He is VERY protective of her.
EDIT: In with fry on the little yapper dog, my dad has this little IDK WTF it is it barks and a mouse farting 3 houses down. The good thing is, his bark is distingtive (sp?) I can tell when he is barking at a stranger or barking at someone he knows or something thats danger to him. His bark then sets off my boxer or as my vet calls him arnoldswtrzaboxer
Lots of great info in this thread!!! I’m glad it’s not turned into a breed-bashing session like a lot of them do.
Totally agree with the protection thing, It’s not good to have aggression towards anyone. My Lab is a HORRIBLE guard dog, he just LOVES anyone who will pet him (We say he’s like the friendly dumb dog from the movie Up). My Carolina Dog on the other hand is very pack-orientated and isn’t necessarily aggressive with anyone, but is protective of the “pack”; She looks to me on whether to accept someone into the house/pack and even then it takes time for her to warm-up to anyone. She’s very much a hierarchy based dog.
Also completely agree about what’s been said about the small breeds. People do NOT train them properly because “it’s cute”… when in reality it’s just bad owners.
^You’ve got a dingo?
Me? Yup! that I do!
The problem I have with this, is that this dog is probably in a shitty owner situation, and has been allowed to develop bad manners. I’d be willing to bet that this is a person who got a “cool” dog, not realizing what type of work it would take to train/exercise/control it, and it’s gotten out of hand. Might be a really difficult situation to handle.
If I were you, I would bring your dog over to meet all of the dogs you’re considering bringing in.
^thats the plan… shes an elderly lady, lives on 5 acres, she has 2 other small dogs, and the rott, the assisted living shes moving to (well her sister is) doesnt allow big dogs… esp not rotts.