What is your favorite dog breed and why?
Mine is border collies, based on one I had many years ago, named Laddie. He was not pedigreed (none of my pets have been), so he might have had another breed in his family tree somewhere, but he looked pure border collie. Got him from the Humane Society when he was 2 months old. He was tri-colored, white, black, and a rich sable color.
The best all around dog I ever knew. Protective, playful, excellent hunting instincts without any training, well mannered and rule-abiding, very intelligent, huge vocabulary, and able to make his own judgments about danger. (I never let my husband take him hunting bc I feared a stupid hunter would shoot him for a fox).
Most memorable and amazing thing that Laddie did. We were at a public park on the Lake Erie shore next to the mouth of a large creek that empties into the lake. It was early spring. The creek was just stocked with coho salmon and several fishermen were checking it out, tossing Velveeta cheese to watch the fish jump.
We were chatting with a young couple who had their 18 month old daughter with them. I had Laddie on a leash. None of us, except Laddie, noticed the girl wander toward the creek bank, which had a 30 foot drop and strong undertow from the lake.
Laddie barked so ferociously, while tugging HARD on the leash, that I looked to see why. None of us could have reached the child in time. Intuituvely I understood Laddie's intent and dropped the leash. He raced to the girl, knocked her down, and sat on her until her father reached her. Meantime, the mother was screaming in fear.
When the father picked up his daughter, Laddie trotted back to me. The father offered us $50 for saving his child. We said the dog did it, not us. He said, "But you gave the command." I told him that I said nothing, just let go so Laddie could do his thing, and that Laddie was not a trained rescue dog, only a pet.
The father could not believe that an untrained dog would recognize the danger and take action on his own. But, border collies are instinctively herding dogs. Laddie saw a young "human lamb" going astray and went after her.
I have had other dogs that I cherished, but Laddie has always remained my favorite.
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They have their own 
I was about 6 yrs old.
They are so beautiful, sweet, and smart...and they always want to be good. They own a special place in my heart. 💖
That said, I really love all dogs! 😁
Thank you for this wonderful thread! 
I am sure from my avatar, it is pretty obvious that my favorite breed of dog is a Scottie.
I got my first Scottie when I was in elementary school. FDR was my hero and I wanted a dog just like Fala. I now have my 7th Scottish Terrier. They are not a dog for everyone. They are little persons and are possessed by total dignity. Intelligent does not even maybe begin to describe a Scottie. Each and everyone of my wee lassies and laddies that have owned me -- and believe me, it's not the other way around -- has amazed me by some trait or trick or instinct he or she possessed. My beloved Scottie I lost nearly three years ago was a certified hearing assist dog. She was amazing. A friend helped me train her and there was nothing she missed. She road in a special basket in my car next to me. Her main purpose was to alert to sirens. While at times I could hear them -- when wearing my hearing aids -- my problem was I could not tell the direction from which the sound was coming. Mags would howl and turn her head toward the source of the sound. This was a blessing when I was in downtown LA or other areas with tall buildings which blocked my view from seeing the source of the sound. In a parking lot after we got out of the car, she would pull me to the side and away from cars I was not able to hear that were approaching from the rear. At the grocery store, she road shot-gun in the top portion of the basket because I could not hear the "beep beep" of the large motorized carts if they came at us from the rear. Mags would alert me immediately.
Fiercely loyal, sturdy wee doggies -- the females of the breed are especially loyal to their homes. They will defend their territory to the max. My late husband, who loved HUGE dogs, found my Scotties to be "a big dog in a small dog's body."
Being loved by a Scottish Terrier is an honor!
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They just want to be with the person they love and who loves them.
What a sweet story!
He wasn't about to let that sweet little lamb go over the iff! 😍
They are funny and smart and pony-sized lap dogs. 
I love their energy and mischievous personalities.
My sister had one. Her name was Ruby and I just adored her! She was almost human.
She didn't like everyone, but if she loved you, she was so affectionate. She's been gone a few years now, but I will never forget her. She was so smart, loving and had such a great personality! I miss her so much! 
You could be right on the smell, he sniffs the middle of the patio doors where the glass doors meet to verify what he is seeing outside and he does do this with the caterpillars also.
I love her just from her pic.
Too bad that I have no photos of Laddie to share. That was back in the 1970s. We had pics of him swimming in a creek and on land waiting eagerly for us to toss a stick. A funny one of him looking exasperated at our "new" 2 year old hound who had not yet learned the house rules.
But they got lost over the years through divorce, moving, remarriage, moving again, etc.
I have occasionally seen photos of border collies that resembled him somewhat, but not often. White face blaze, sable and black blend around the eyes and ears, shaded (black tipped) sable (reddish, not tan) on the shoulders, back, flanks, and tail. Everything else white. His coat seemed to glisten in some lighting, and dirt never stuck to him. Just rolled or flaked off when he groomed himself. He was stubborn about cleaning his own paws and coat after being in snow or dirt, like a cat. Would not let me clean him off. But he let me clip his claws with no trouble.
Very expressive face and eyes, but his default look was happy, eager, and alert. Only downside was a LOT of shedding. Had to vacuum often. I thought his undercoat would make good yarn if I knew how to spin it. 
That dog lived to fetch a ball. He would play fetch until he was incapable physically of running anymore without a rest and you wouldn't know he was getting to that point until he just plopped down. We had to limit the number of throws and ration out his play time.
You couldn't say "ball" anywhere in the house without him going nuts. So we started spelling out b-a-l-l. Within a couple of days he figured out what that meant as well. We would use other words in place of ball and he figured those out. You could speak to him in a normal conversational tone and he understood countless commands. You could also use previous commands with words he understood and he would usually figure out what you wanted him to do. He would actually watch TV with us and had some sense of what was going on, and would occassionally bark or growl at other animals on the TV. His favorite movie was "My Dog Skip" and he would sit still and watch the entire thing.
He was huge for a border collie at 80lbs and that was after he lost weight. He was overweight when we got him and we had to slowly ration his food to get him back to a normal weight.
Then one day he got into the trash and ate some chicken bones which gave him pancreatitis which killed him. I miss that dog just about every day.
I've had one that had papers. Three that were mixes from either the animal shelter or a rescue group.
They've all had great temperaments. Laid back. Got along with kitties. Not into chewing things up. Loyal. Playful. Maybe not the smartest, but all very sweet.
We had one--all black that I think was Golden and Black Lab mixed--she looked like a black Golden Retriever. Tanya was smart. And she had a nose.
Years ago, when we lived in Nebraska--where she was adopted from the local animal shelter--we had a 3 story house. I hired the window washing guys to come clean out the gutters one fall. After they left, one came back later that afternoon and asked to look around the sides of the house. He'd lost his wallet--he thought on our job--and it had all the cash in it he needed to make rent. He walked the perimeter of the house, but didn't find it.
The next morning I was looking out the kitchen window and saw Tanya with something out in the fenced pool area. I went out to see what she had--hoping it wasn't a dead animal--and guess what! It was the wallet! I looked inside, and yes, there was a lot of cash!
I called the guy who'd left his number--just in case--and when he arrived about an hour later he had a box of Milk Bones as a reward for Tanya.
Good girl!
Here she is, sitting on the diving board at the Nebraska house. No, she never went in the pool.
Incredibly smart and loyal. They make terrific lap dogs but are also very trainable, as in agility training.
Our Bailey is the sweetest pup!
The family also has a Boxer, a Puggle, and a Coon Hound. Love them all, each for their unique reason.
Thought there'd be many more posts about these sweet furbabies.
