Advice Please :)

It has been just about a year since we had to put our bigger dog down (R.I.P. Buddy) and i have wanted to get another for some time, but problem is i can't decide on a breed. Luckily i was recently visiting some friends and i fell in love with their OES. He was like a big sweet teddy bear and now i am thinking that i might want to get one for my family. We already have an 8 pound yorkie/pomeranian mix though and i wasn't sure how that would affect a Sheepdog. Will they be able to get along? Do OES's do well with other dogs?

I would love to hear your advice.

Respond to this topic here on forum.oes.org

The only dogs I've ever had are sheepies, however many of the forum members have OES and smaller breeds like Maltese so they'll probably be more helpful than me.

Right now I am puppy-sitting a sheltie with my 2 OES and they are fine...Last week I had a little rescue Yorkie here for a few days with no problems at all.

What I would see as a problem is a puppy OES with you little dog. I would recommend you get an adult OES, if you do, that would be more settled and may not play so much. Some adult dogs don't really play with other dogs, anyway, so that might work better.

I have 2 oes and a toy poodle. Poodle is 3 years my oes are 16 months and 7 months. The poodle rules.... Blue does tease her but he just wants her treats. No fighting nothing they get along great. My mom had a min schnauzer(2) she does not like big dogs at all at first we thought she did not like Sami.... but she does not like BIG dogs period.

Your advice was great especially the one about the toy poodle. As for mocha (my little dog) he LOVES big dogs in fact he thinks that he is one sometimes. lol

Actually I was more afraid that the OES wouldn't like him and "Bosley's Mom" said that maybe getting a full grown one might be better. The thing is though that my son really wants a puppy that he can help raise himself. Do you think if i got a puppy it could learn to like Mocha because i am pretty sure that Mocha won't have a problem with it?

Hi,

I'm sorry about the loss of your Buddy.Hugs to you.

All three of my dogs were gentle and loving with a little 4 pound Chihauhau I fostered. I remembered one Dog Rescue was horrified I would have such a little dog around my three big dogs. I know my dogs however, and since they've all lived with cats, kittens and bunnies and some were smaller than Austin. They were always aware of where he was and even Panda, my sight impaired dog never accidently stepped on him. He was his best buddy.

I think you'd have to weigh both sides, regarding getting a pup or adult dog. While each individual dog has to be judged on their own merit, generally OES are very loving of other creatures and don't have a strong prey drive. They are herders and do have this intinct to "round things up" which is sometimes annoying to other animals and amusing to humans when they become the ones hipchecked and rounded up.

Panda and Austin

Merlin and Austin

Just to answer some questions you may have. Generally the older pre-existing dog in the house is the Alpha dog (top dog) so if you get a pup I'm sure Mocha will let him/her know he's in charge. A pup will generally be more submissive to an adult dog (in this case the yorkie) and while a pup may play a little too rough for a small dog, the Yorkie would let him/her know to back off by yelps or growls. Pups that are well socialized generally follow the doggie rules and will learn from an older dog.

Good luck to you and I know a few members have their OES live with smaller dogs and cats.

Marianne

You gave me exactly the information i was looking for thank you so much!!!

P.S. The pictures were adorable! It is so nice to see creatures of all sizes get along so well.

I have two OES and a Yorkie Mix.
They all get along great. In fact our Yorkie mix thinks she's an OES.
She mimmicks everything they do. :lol:

Especially the running. Though she is always a few steps behind.

Anonymous wrote:

:?: It has been just about a year since we had to put our bigger dog down (R.I.P. Buddy) and i have wanted to get another for some time, but problem is i can't decide on a breed. Luckily i was recently visiting some friends and i fell in love with their OES. He was like a big sweet teddy bear and now i am thinking that i might want to get one for my family. We already have an 8 pound yorkie/pomeranian mix though and i wasn't sure how that would affect a Sheepdog. Will they be able to get along? Do OES's do well with other dogs?

I would love to hear your advice.

Welcome to the forum, I hope you'll register and join this community of the Bobtail obssesed! May Buddy live forever in your hearts and joyful memories.

For varying reasons and circumstances we have quite a range of breeds in our house to go along with our 3 Bobtails (Martin Zephram, Virgil Tiberius and Dawn Eline) and for the most part all get along very well. Our smallest is Gidget, a chihuahua who often bosses around everyone except our very dominant alpha male Virgil. Next up on the size ladder is Josephine, a Papillon who constantly plays with everybody including Virgil but only under supervision with him. Jeffurry is a Bedlington Terrier who avoids Martin and Virgil but adores playing with Dawnie as they were puppies growing up together - he can't quite figure out how she got to be so much bigger than him though. He also plays with Brigham quite a bit - oh only about 30 lbs and 10 inches of height differnece between those two. Finally Brigham and Farouk are Afghan Hounds, taller but far lighter than the OES who get along with everyone other than Virgil.

So basically everyone gets along with everyone with the common exception being deferrence (not fear or fighting, but respectful deference) to the dominant alpha male. Pretty much standard pack heirarchy and a result of Virgil being such a strong and driven leader. Oh and by the way all our boys are intact so yes there is a ton of testosterone running in this pack! If it were all girls or some of the boys were neutered life would be rather less "intense".

If you choose to get a much larger dog such as a Bobtail do your research and visit as many kennels as possible and choose a non-dominant dog. Also remember that OES are generally considered to be more demanding in care and understanding than many breeds. They are not the "right" breed for everyone even as a second or third breed. And that "big sweet teddy bear" takes a lot of general care, grooming and mental stimulation to keep him at his best. This is a smart breed that does not take boredom well - they'll invent their own pass times which could be a challenge to control or even correct if left to there own whiles for too long. In the end "most" sociable large and small dogs can live together very well but it takes care to select the right dogs (as individuals as well as breeds) and good training and supervision throughout their life but especially when introducing them to each other and early in their lives as pack mates.

As ever don't hesitate to ask further questions.

Thanks and Cheers

Carl

Guest - let me ask you an important question - how old was the OES that you fell in love with? 4 years ago we spent a month dog-sitting for the OES of a family member. He was the perfect dog for us, so we decided to get one of our own, from the same breeder. Here's the problem - our perfect dog was an 8 year old OES! OES puppies are a whole different story

. Big, fluffy balls of energy. At three years old, our Bailey is still a wild, playful, energetic , manic goofball. I love him :hearts:

, but he is not what I thought I was getting into! So, if your experience was with an grown up dog, you might want to rescue one about that age, or experience a puppy before jumping in.

Our Sami think she is a poodle. I Swear. Blue our 7 months is real big but all puppy you do forget sometimes. How old is your son? You do have to work on the nipping and rough play fun when little but they play hard. Last week my husband telling me to get on floor and play with them... thats what they want.... ya right, no way well he did. And it was a told you so David got a tooth scratch on his forehead not a bite just all them got cared away. Silly fool. But I did have to teach my son not to play like that when they were smaller AND NOT to RUN down the hall even now he will have 3 dogs running after him they think its fun :roll:

I never see my son move so fast. So I guess we are training the family not always the dogs.

Bailey's Mom wrote:

. Big, fluffy balls of energy. At three years old, our Bailey is still a wild, playful, energetic , manic goofball. I love him :hearts:

, but he is not what I thought I was getting into! So, if your experience was with an grown up dog, you might want to rescue one about that age, or experience a puppy before jumping in.

Excellent point and just what I was going to mention, Sue. It makes a huge difference!! Every time I'm out with the wigglebums and people think they're so wonderful and well behaved and they just have to have one, I never forget to tell them that they didn't come that way. It takes years of patience and training to arrive at this point. Just be prepared.

Anonymous wrote:

I had a Beardie before Patch and loved her - if the Bearded Collie rescue had responded before the OES rescue I might have had a Beardie instead of Patch. BUT, I will always have an OES rescue from now on - I would recommend either breed. They have incredible grooming responsibilities so be ready for a lot of work and/or expense. But well worth it -

Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:

Custom Search

Please contact our Webmaster with questions or comments.

Please read our PRIVACY statement and Terms of Use

Please contact our Webmaster with questions or comments.
Please read our PRIVACY statement and Terms of Use
Copyright 2000 - 2012 by OES.org. All rights reserved.