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What sort of dog?

9 replies

Flightattendnt · 02/10/2009 18:11

This may not happen for a while yet, because the kids are still small and everything feels rather chaotic right now - but we would like to get a dog at some point, that is ds is dying to have one and I would be glad if he had a 'friend' as it were.

I'd like to plan ahead and have some idea of what kind we would suit, especially if we adopt from the local rescue place.

These are the criteria:

  1. I don't like exercise so yes, a walk a day, huge garden, we're here most of the time, but please no 10-mile runners!


  1. We have other pets - one middle aged cat, two guinea pigs, three rabbits and are going to get some chickens too in a while. I am guessing a lurcher would eat the rabbits? Is there a dog that wouldn't?


  1. I am not fussed about fur, but have never had a dog so would need a housetrained one who knew not to wee everywhere...I might also need to do a training course, becuase I am so clueless. Is there any type that is 'easier' to learn to train, as it were, for a cat person?


Many thanks for any ideas.
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Flightattendnt · 02/10/2009 18:12

Oh and most importantly the ds's are 6 and 2, we are thinking of maybe in a year or two? Or is this daft?

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spugs · 02/10/2009 21:53

My lurcher didn't chase any thing and she was a lovely dog, quiet, loving and didn't need much exercise. Id say either a lurcher or a grey hound. Some greyhounds can be rehomed with small furries its worth looking into.

I don't think your mad I have 2 dogs (7 mths and 4 mths) and 3 dds 18 mths, 3 yrs and 8 years. We manage fine.

House training isn't as bad as it sounds, a lot of dogs pick it up quickly especially the adults. As for training courses look into good dog trainers n your area, I go once a week with my 2 and its great. Lots of help and advice.

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RacingSnake · 02/10/2009 22:08

I have a very intelligent and gentle border collie X, great friends with our cats, licks the guinea pigs and rabbit and I would trust her totally (but got her as puppy with other animals alteady there). Trouble is, they do need a lot of exercise.

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valhala · 03/10/2009 01:18

A Greyhound! Believe it or not I have met some which are cat friendly!

This strikes me as a fair idea as they are the laziest beggars on this earth! They don't need miles of walks but just a couple of short bursts of energy type runs and the will lay on the sofa, legs in the air, snoring.

They are also incredibly gentle with humans on the whole and very rewarding to own. So many are discared by racing owners when they are no good for the tracks and so many are PTS as a result (or horrifically abused). You could do a lot worse.

I don't speak as a Grey owner, I have a Lab and a GSD, but have fostered Greys and see a lot in my volunteer work in rescue. When you do come to a time to choose a dog, the website "Lurcherlink" would be a great place to go to for advice and for locating the perfect dog, if you should be interested in a Grey or Lurcher, be that one of their own rescue pooches or one at a rescue elsewhere.

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valhala · 03/10/2009 01:19

Sorry for the typos! Lets try "they" and "discarded" instead of "the" and "discared", shall we!

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BiteOfFun · 03/10/2009 02:07

A little terrier like I've got on my profile- sturdy, no bother, small, but still a proper dog IYSWIM. Ideal for kids.

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Frrrightattendant · 03/10/2009 06:31

Oh thankyou all, some great ideas and advice.

I will definitely look at greyhounds/lurchers then - we saw a lovely lurcher when we went to get the chicken ark, in fact you can see him on the Forsham website!! Sadly he wasn't for sale but she recommended them. She said they would eat bunnies though! I'm glad they might not.

Will get in touch with our rescue place and ask them, too. I think they will maybe suggest a suitable dog. I'm glad you can get training courses, as we would really need to learn - I grew up with cats and haven't ever had a dog, or that kind of 'leader/follower' role thing to do - well, apart from ds1, who is certainly half puppy.

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Frrrightattendant · 03/10/2009 06:31

Bof I will find your other name somewhere and have a look!!

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spenthen · 03/10/2009 17:30

Our new rescue lurcher has shown interest in our chickens but is happy to withdraw when told "no". I wouldn't trust him near them on his own though. He gets very excited when he sees pigeons when we're out - though won't look twice at a pheasant. Weird. But cats and bunnies - oh dear oh dear oh dear!

Generally he gets two walks each day, about 45 mins each time but was perfectly happy with shorter walks when one of the kids was ill last week. When we're at home he does truly breathtaking top-speed laps of the garden (was a bit scary at first til I realised he was in full control of stopping distances etc!). Inside the house he just curls up and sleeps for hours on end. He was housetrained from the day we got him (he'd spent about a month in various dog-pounds so we didn't know what to expect). Smooth haired, doesn't seem to do shedding so that's nice.

He came from a mixed rescue and the lady in charge said she would not consider rehoming most breeds in homes with small children (our youngest is three). But she doesn't worry in that regard with lurchers. So lock up yer bunnies and put a lurcher on your list!

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