"Less common" dog breeders?

For those of you breeders, specifically those that specialize in less "common" breeds (Not a Black St. Bernard, Alambre Ibizan Hounds, I'm looking in your general direction), what drew you to your specific breed(s) and what breeds do you specialize in? Just curious, I love not having the same breed as everyone else in my neighborhood and clearly you guys do too.

Rare breeds are certainly welcome too, Peter, very interesting info!

For me the answer is actually rather silly. I fell in love with Bull Terriers (the look of them anyway as I had never met one) as a teenager. I LOVED Rick Springfield and his breed of choice was (and still is) the Bull Terrier. He often had his dog on his album covers and I knew then in my little 12-13 year old heart that I just HAD to have one.
I didn't actually get to make my dream into a reality for several more years. Quite frankly I could not afford one and it is a pretty closed group to try and get into the door of. Well it was then anyway. My first B.T. was a deaf male that we named Beowulf. He was a great dog and taught me alot about the breed and about life with deaf animal as well. After Beowulf came Gypsy.. A perfectly healthy perfectly bully B.T. in every way... the rest is history!
~Tyed~

sorry..missed this one! Honestly this breeds amazing personality is what won my heart..they are loving, comical, intelligent and very clean.. cannot imagine life without one of these silly dogs in it..they always make you smile Report It

eh.. When I lived in Minnesota my Bernese were relatively uncommon...

Now that I live in the Seattle area, they're quite common.

What drew me to them was their temperament, size, work ethic and DRY mouth.

I wish you had left this question a little more open ended to included rare breed owners too.
I am in the process of obtaining a South African Boerboel... what drew me to the breed was the temperment, ability to be a guard dog and yet great with family. also, though it is short haired it has a high tolerance to cold and hot weather and could even live outside if it has to. In Boston where I live, it gets cold and stays cold for a long time.. so I wanted a dog that could stand it.
I wanted a large working breed, but not an english mastiff as they were just too big and too slobbery. Boerboels do not slobber, but are of the Molosser family just like the English mastiff. In fact boerboels are also known as African Mastiffs.
So, I guess it is less of the fact that no one has heard of a Boerboel, or that no one around me has one, and more of the fact that this particular breed encompasses all my wants and needs in a dog. Trust me if I could have found my wants and needs in a more common (cheaper!!!) dog, I would have gotten it. Rare Breeds are not Cheap lol.
Though I am not a breeder, only a soon to be owner.. I thought this question was interesting and wanted to answer.
Also, Im starring it!

We actually got our first Basset by accident - a relative didn't want him any more.

I've had other breeds, and mutts too, but the basset personality matches best with mine, and I like their appearance too.

I loved big, hairy dogs and have always loved the water work. We had draft horses when I was younger, and these dogs seemed to be very like those horses. Calm and even tempered!!!!! I love doing all the things that these dogs were bred to do.

I have always loved Bull Terriers too!!!

I don't breed, but i do have a very rare dog called a Schipperke. LoL, everyone is always like "Hes a what? Never heard of the breed"
I love him to death!