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Top 5s

I wanted to write about my top 5 cat and dog breeds. In honesty, I love dogs and the only group of them I don’t feel particularly strongly about are the Toy breeds. Likewise, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat that I didn’t love.

Unless otherwise stated, pictures are from a search on Google, filtered for finding images licensed for reuse.

Cats

1) Korat

Korat cats are just perfect and gorgeous. Their blue-grey coats part in an interesting pattern, they have lovely ears, lovely heads and lovely eyes.

2) Havana

Not only do they come in a lovely choccy brown colour, they have those ears.

3) Oriental Shorthair

For some reason I spent much of my life thinking this was a category of cat instead of an actual breed. But they have the components I love: that head shape and those big pointy ears.

4) Egyptian Mau

They are dotty and have beautiful eyes.

5) Nebelung

They are just so ethereal. I’m not normally so keen on long hair on a cat but Nebelungs look like they could be fluffier Korats or Russian Blues, they’re just gorgeous.

The cats I like all have things in common; aside from pointy ears and triangular heads, they are all described as being more sociable than the average cat and wanting to be around people a lot. I can’t testify to any of that but I do know, from being around other people’s cats, I get super bummed when they wander off and don’t want to interact as much as a dog would.

Honourable mention:
Sphynx

They have the ears and head that intrinsically appeal to me, and they also give me a bit of a Tomb Raider (1996)-vibe that for some reason makes me want to have one in my house.

Dogs

1) Northern Inuit

My very own fluff-butt, Freya.

German Shepherds may as well share this spot too, because crossing with them created the Northern Inuit breed and you can see how Shepherd-like Freya is sometimes.
I like the fact that, though described as “wolfy” dogs, they don’t really look like Huskies or Malamutes or other dogs of that category. In fact, they look a lot like German Shepherds who have had the regular tan area swapped out for white. (German Shepherds do come in other colours though, Liver ones are gorgeous).
I love NI personalities. They are very cheeky, but also very loving and physically affectionate.

2) Groenendael

Let’s not beat around the bush; they have big floofy manes and are very pretty.

3) English Setter

Despite an appealing dotty coat, the English Setter is on the list of Vulnerable Native Breeds at risk of going extinct, perhaps because people prefer the block red colour of an Irish Setter instead.
I definitely need to have an English Setter in my life at some point.

4) Corgi

There are multiple kinds of Corgis and they are all cutie patooties.

5) Maremma

I had the fortune of meeting a big, white, fluffy Maremma sheepdog when I went to Discover Dogs in 2015. They are gentle giants with sweet faces.

As you can see I usually love pointy ears on a dog, but floppy ears definitely don’t deter me.


Honourable mention:
Chocolate Labrador

These have grown on me more and more while I’ve been waiting for my dog from Canine Partners.
For some reason I like animals that are the colour of chocolate.
On my first ever assessment day at CP, they asked what my preferences were in terms of breeds and colours, and I said either a German Shepherd or choccy Lab would be ideal. It’s much more likely to be a Lab because those are the dogs they use more often than not.

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