Which dog breeds are good for hot dry weather? (Arizona like)

[Egbert]

From what I understand, dingos eat babies.

That argument is still going on. I can't even remember how long it is since Azaria Chamberlain disappeared and yet the matter is still subject to debate. I hear there is a court on about that matter going on now.

The dingo might eat Oerdin! Oerdin might eat the dingo! Who knows which would be eaten if there were such a meeting.

[Uncle Sparky]

Pugs are small and short haired.

[Supr49er]

Do you keep your dog inside or outside?

[Uncle Sparky]

Do you keep your dog inside or outside your pants?

Fixed and you will be, too!

[LilyRose]

any dog with short hair, lighter colours

[Dinner]

All the small short hair breeds will be good. Short hair obviously keeps them cool while being smaller means the volume to surface area ratio remains better for cooling themselves off (larger dogs have more volume to surface area and so lose heat more slowly and thus are better for cold areas). It's the same reason small children get cold very easily while adults feel fine.

That said, who would want a yappy little dog? Buy a real dog, damn it.

[Dinner]

I was just going to suggest basenjis.

I had a basenji mix when I still lived in Ann Arbor; great dog.

Pure breed basenjis are dumber than a box of hammers. Go for a mix or mutt as they will be both healthier (less inbreeding) and more intelligent and thus easier to train.

[Ming]

If you want a larger dog.... there is always a Saluki. The Saluki, also known as the Royal Dog of Egypt and Persian Greyhound is one of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dog

[Dinner]

Clearly those dogs are terrorists and cannot be trusted.

[Dinner]

Dingo.

Should do well in arid climate but may have a tendency to eat sheep and calves which may not endear you to the neighbours.

Not to mention the neighbor's small children but even if the neighbor doesn't like it that still might improve the neighborhood.

[regexcellent]

Posters should be prevented from necroing threads that are more than some number of months old unless they have a minimum number of posts. I'm tired of this spambot thread necromancy.

[snoopy369]

To be fair, the spambot does have a good suggestion. German Shepherds do very well in the desert. Labs are pretty popular, though a black lab will be pretty darn warm in the direct sun; but they can tolerate it fine. In general any dog that's not super-long-hair will do fine. I had a Labrador while living in New Mexico, and knew people with collies, dachshunds, german shepherds, at least. Not many small dogs; partly this was the 90s and so not so many small dogs like today, but also partly being more rural/west, people tended to need a dog that matched their ride; ie, a Ford F-150 or whatnot. A pug in a F-150 looks plain dumb.

[snoopy369]

Also, why not make use of this thread. I will probably get a dog in the next month. I live in near-Chicago suburb, with a small back yard (50x25 or so), and three cats (well, hopefully three, one's off galavanting about the countryside right now) who are all supposed to be indoors cats. So it has to be a dog that is okay either living outside in a small yard 24/7, or is okay indoors in a small house (3BR, 1400 sq ft plus a half-finished basement). I am a lab person myself, but there's no way a lab would do in this house; but I do want a dog who will probably go run after a ball and bring it back if I throw it, and am happy to give a walk or two per day as needed. I also have a 1.25 year old. Finally, I would like to adopt the dog from a shelter, so any breed I chose would need to be fairly readily available (basenjis look cute, for example, but are probably too hard to find).

So, I'd like suggestions, not for what one breed I should get, but for what breeds that are commonly available at shelters (or breed-specific rescue organizations, I have nothing against them certainly - just not breeders), that I should consider, and more importantly what to NOT consider. I suspect it will eventually come down to me and my son (and my wife, though she cares less about the pets) finding a dog at the shelter that we like, but I'd definitely like to be able to rule out dogs that are definitely not appropriate to this type of household (understanding that every dog, particularly every mutt, is different).