Advice re getting a puppy (Eurasier)

[Abc123abc456]

Apologies for the long post and if a lot of this has been covered in other threads.

Looking to get a puppy, will be a first time owner (as an adult, had one as a child but not in charge)

Am moving house so will finally have a garden which is why I have held off getting one before.

Potential issues are I have a baby (under 1) and normally work full time.

Baby is why I want a puppy rather than an older rescue I don't know the history of.

Re working full time would take time off when getting the puppy to settle and then look at dog walker/day care. Realistically is this practical/fair on the dog?

Having looked at the Kennel club breed quiz one of the suggestions was the Eurasier, medium sized, approx 1 hour exercise per day, supposed to be good with children. Does anyone have any experience with the breed and children?

Any advice/suggestions welcome.

[Sharpandshineyteeth]

You will be told it’s cruel and not to do it but a lot of people do and have happy dogs.

[KingOfDogShite]

Friend had one. Nice enough dogs if you like that sort of dog. Lots of hair, lots of slobber, used to get poo stuck around it’s hair bum that had to be cleaned every time it went to the toilet. Didn’t live very long. I wouldn’t have said it was a medium sized dog either, it was a large bulky dog.

Getting a puppy when you have a 1 year old and work full time is a recipe for disaster.

[Gingerninja4]

Medusa has one hopefully she see the post

[Takingontheworld]

Will it go to daycare everyday?

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

IME walking and training a young dog when you have young DC is bloody difficult even if you're not at work full time. Do-able, but hard work: there will be days when you have to sacrifice your only down-time to take the dog out. If you're planning another child at any point, think very hard. And I'm normally all in favour of people getting dog, but if everyone is out of the house all of the time, I'd really think twice: I don't think it's fair on a young dog. Settling a puppy isn't a matter of a few days: IME experience it takes a couple of months including house training.

Aside from that, eurasiers are nice-looking dogs but VERY fluffy. I've only met one and it seemed like a lovely dog. I think you'd need to meet a few and get an idea of their type and temperament before going with them as a breed.

[Abc123abc456]

I work Mon-fri so would need daycare those days which is my main concern. Although I have seen one which does puppy daycare which seems to have good reviews.

Those who mentioned having a baby is there an age at which you would say it is more reasonable? Realistically by the time I've moved house, had the chance to meet some dogs of the breed which I would definitely do before making a decision and then spoke to a breeder who is likely to have a waiting list I imagine it would be a while before I could get one if I did decide it was feasible.

[Booboostwo]

This is a very tough set of circumstances in which to get a puppy.

How long do you plan to take off work? Most puppies will take a lot longer than a couple of weeks to settle. Day care have to be a thousand percent trustworthy as they will be effectively raising the puppy for you and you will have to live with what they do for the next 15 years. What about socialisation, training and puppy classes? How will all that work practically with a very young child?

With regards to your DC it will be very tough having a toddler who won’t be able to understand any rules or boundaries and a puppy who won’t care about any rules or boundaries at the same time. Realistically DCs need to be over 6yo to make things easier for you while you focus on the puppy.

Finally why Eurasier? If you must have a breed that needs intensive grooming go for a Spitz. At least here are more of them. There are very few Eurasier dogs which raises questions regarding inbreeding and at the same time the breed is gaining in popularity which is a magnet for puppy farmers. The worst combination really for managing to identify a decent breeder.

[Windyatthebeach]

How many hours a day would your ddog actually see you?

[Floralnomad]

I’d have a think about the practicalities of a toddler and a dog , wouldn’t it be lovely to just be able to let your toddler out in the garden without having to check for dog poo , have a paddling pool that’s not been jumped in or peed on by a dog , be able to just go out to farm parks etc without having to worry about who is looking after the dog . We didn’t get our dog until our dc were much older and past the needing to be entertained / go to a theme park every 5 minutes stage .

[choosesoap]

5 days a week daycare is going to cost a lot of money and you wont really see the dog much. it will need to be full daycare if you're at work full time especially if it's a puppy who cant be left long at all.
Your weekends will also be very limited to where you can go and how long you can go out for so it will restirct the fun you can have with your v young child.. I'd wait until the baby was 5 years plus and you were either working less hours or from home frequently.

[vanillandhoney]

Full time daycare will cost you probably in the region of £500 a month.

Even a walker for an hour everyday will cost you about £200 as an absolute minimum. But puppies shouldn't be walked that long so you may not find many walkers willing to take them.

You could always pay someone to come and do puppy visits - I'm a dog walker and offer this. It's £5 for 30 minutes but if you're out all day you'll need someone to drop in 3-4 times so you may as well fork out for daycare.

If you work full time it will not be cheap.

[Veterinari]

Regardless of which breed you choose, please read up on dog body language, safe dog-child interactions etc and ensure you can effectively supervise all interactions and physical separate dog and children for undisturbed feeding, sleeping etc.

[IreneWinters]

I have a Eurasier. She’s lovely, but she wouldn’t be happy around a toddler. They’re supposed to be be family friendly , laid back dogs, and to a point she is, but she jumps at loud noises, hates the sound of babies crying on tv, and was snappy when she was younger (she’d go straight to a snap with no warning growl either which scared the crap out me on occasion).

She is the most stubborn dog ever. She’s smart and loves learning new tricks, but when I ask her to do something, I can always see her weighing up whether it’s worth it or not.

The fluff isn’t a huge problem. She moults a couple of times a year, and the rest of the time there’s very little hair coming out. I end up with more dog hair on me after 30 seconds saying hello to a pug at the park! She’s a bit of a diva and doesn’t really like to get wet and muddy (not sure how typical that is of the breed though). She’s happy with an hour’s walk a day, and isn’t climbing the walls if she has to miss a walk for a day. She doesn’t drool at all.

She loves to be close and will follow me around the house all day. I call her my furry shadow. She’s not a cuddly dog though, even though she looks like a big fluffy teddy bear. She’s a magnet for small children when we’re out, but she doesn’t like to be grabbed and fussed.

There were, I think, only two or three litters born in the U.K. the year we got her. All the puppies had homes long before they were conceived. So you’ll be in for a long wait anyway.

My DC were 10 and 12 when we got her. Any younger would have been a nightmare. I strongly suggest that you wait until your DC are older.

[Abc123abc456]

Time off work I generally don't use much of my annual leave so could take 2/3 weeks and may be able to add some wfh to that, I just wouldn't be able to permanently wfh.

In terms of picking a daycare there were a couple from a quick search on FB that I could see had good reviews and more importantly were liked by people I know so I could get feedback I trusted if I go down the daycare route. I have had a look at cost and would sit down and look at my monthly finances before making a decision I just wanted to decide if practically it is possible first.

In terms of puppy classes me and DD father are not together so she spends some days/nights with him so would look for classes that fit with that.

I had been thinking it would be good for her and puppy to grow up together and do the more difficult stage of both at the same time and get it out of the way although that may have been overly ambitious, so I can definitely see how waiting may be wise.

In terms of time I would see the dog per day realistically 1 hour before work (whilst getting ready and including a walk) and then from 5.30 - 11/12 so another 5/6 hours in the evening. Despite my best intentions I very rarely go to bed before then. and then most/all of the day at the weekends.

RE breed I did the questions on the KC website and Eurasier was one of the breeds it showed however I would be open to suggestions on breed that were medium sized, wouldn't need more than 1 hour exercise per day, not particularly difficult to train, good with children and wouldn't struggle with daycare (I appreciate the last three are very dog rather than breed specific)

I would absolutely read/ discuss with a trainer safety aspects and my current thinking is upstairs (bedrooms and bathroom) would be dog free and kitchen would be baby free and where dog could sleep feed undisturbed (all separated by baby gates. I am aware there will be a lot more to it but am still at very very early research stage.

@irenewinters that is very interesting to hear as it sounds like she is a lovely dog but not very keen on young child or an easy first dog to train. As they are so rare in the UK yours is the only one I've heard about. It may be another breed is more appropriate as while I'm willing to wait, ideally it wouldn't be for another decade.

[tabulahrasa]

“Time off work I generally don't use much of my annual leave so could take 2/3 weeks and may be able to add some wfh to that,”

About 8 weeks is realistic for housetraining... as in, it could be less than that, could be more, but that’s the shortest I’d allow for it...

You should also be aware that some dogs will never happily go to daycare.

“Those who mentioned having a baby is there an age at which you would say it is more reasonable?”

School age is better if they’ve never lived with a dog, they’re old enough to be reliable about not harassing a dog and old enough to understand and behave appropriately when the puppy is still in the manic bitey phase.

[Booboostwo]

In terms of getting the difficult stage over together it depends what you think is easier: two singletons a few years apart or twins? While with twins you do get the difficult bits over together, those difficult bits make for some very tiring years. A puppy is a lot like adding a baby to the mix. They disrupt your sleep, they are needy, they require all of your attention, etc. while they do grow up faster than actual babies, you also don’t have the same emotional commitment to a puppy so it is more difficult to tolerate the massive disruption to your life at a time when things are difficult anyway.

[choosesoap]

@Abc123abc456

"In terms of time I would see the dog per day realistically 1 hour before work (whilst getting ready and including a walk) and then from 5.30 - 11/12 so another 5/6 hours in the evening. Despite my best intentions I very rarely go to bed before then. and then most/all of the day at the weekends."

take out those hours that your child will need your attention too as you wont be walking/playing with your dog whilst feeding/putting to sleep/playing with baby.

[frostedviolets]

I wouldn’t have a dog, of any age, of any breed, with children under 4 or 5 or so.

Very young children don’t have good understanding of personal space, they are rough, loud, unpredictable, have quick and erratic movements, they leave toys lying around then go mental when dog gets them, they leave food lying around abandoned then go mental when dog eats it or worse, they actively feed food to the dog that they shouldn’t be eating.

Puppies need house training which can be a nightmare with young children, as can the young pup’s tendency to chase and bite people.

[frostedviolets]

I’d also say re daycare, that often the people running them are fellow dog lovers who yes love and take good care of the dogs trusted to them but have no actual qualifications re dog behaviour.

I have a dogcare company near me who are very very highly recommended, insured, good reviews that I have sent my dog too before.

She has always had a lovely time there and the ladies are absolutely lovely but they are just dog owners/lovers, they don’t have any formal qualifications.

They regularly put up videos showing the dogs and I have seen some footage where the lack of understanding of body language and safety was very evident.

• overly rough play with no breaks
  
• allowing jealous behaviour
  
• poor recall
  
• allowing a dog to repeatedly hump another who after trying avoidance started lip curling and air snapping.
  
• scattering treats for a group of dogs who don’t know each other well
  

The last two really made my blood run cold when I saw them.

Had the dog in the video humped mine I am confident she would have bitten him.

I have always taught my dog not to eat things found on walks incase they are poisonous or dangerous in some other way, I think it extremely irresponsible to scatter food for this reason alone.
Secondly, the result of scattering was a scrabble of unknown dogs pushing and shoving each other to try and find food.
That to me, is just asking for resource guarding.

So I’d be really, really careful with daycare companies.
They are often no more qualified than you or I

[Takingontheworld]

Exactly what we found frosted. Made me too anxious!! I adjusted to wfh in the end, not ideal for me and not possible for everyone but needed imo.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

TBH in my extended family a lot of children have grown up from infancy with dogs. They've been taught to respect them and there have been no issues. You can do it, you just need to be aware of the pitfalls. And a baby, a dog and no immediate adult back-up will be hard. Baby has flu: how to walk the dog? Four year old has chicken pox: how do you walk the dog? Those are the issues that concern me.

[MultipleMum5]

I had one. She was perfect.

I’m still grieving her, she was put to sleep at 16 months old in April.

Please do make sure the parents have extensive health checks. Mine had severe patella luxation in both legs due to deformed knee grooves. There are some not very nice breeders of Eurasiers out there.

She was an amazing dog and losing her has been horrific.

[dontdisturbmenow]

Your a single mum of a baby working full time? Isn't that hard enough? Why add to the stress? Are you confident you will able to give it the attention it deserves?

Or do you just want a dog to amuse your baby? You might be fantastic person with Tons of energy and live to give, if so, go for it, but otherwise, don't do it. Puppies are hard work and need much commitment if you treat them as they deserve.

[vanillandhoney]

I think by getting a dog at this stage you're signing yourself up for at least two years of very, very hard work, stress and tears. Sleepless nights, cleaning up wee and poo from your carpets, monitoring your DD and the dog for every waking minute of the day. I'd think very, very carefully before signing yourself up for that.

Dogs are HARD work, especially as puppies and teenagers. They bite, they mouth, they scratch. They will bite your clothes and rip holes in your jeans and your socks. If they bite or mouth you, you will bleed and it WILL hurt. Their teeth are like little razors when they're little and they often don't finish teething until 6-9 months of age.

You will need to keep the pup away from your DD for probably a good nine months. You won't have another adult there to help you so all interaction will need to be monitored by you. So if you leave the room, either DD or the dog has to come with you. You can't leave a dog and a baby together unsupervised for even a second. All it takes is for DD to poke or grab the dog in the wrong way and the dog to turn around and bite her.

And like a PP said please be very careful if you go down the daycare route. You might need a council license but you don't need any formal qualifications to open a daycare. You don't need to know anything about canine first aid or dog behaviour or body language to work with dogs - it's a very unregulated industry. I'm a dog walker but I didn't need any qualifications to start up - I chose to do them myself. Anyone can set up a dog walking a pet sitting business - it's not licensed and there are no restrictions. It's just something to be aware of.

[suziedoozy]

I have a 16mth old plus 2 small dogs (border terriers) and I have to be honest it is flipping hard work. Whilst the dog walkers weren’t working it was challenging wfh, toddler & dogs. I had both of my dogs from puppies and both were exceptionally hard work - although excellent preparation for a baby. They are mature (9&8) now and very laid back and amazing with the baby but there is no way I would get a puppy with a toddler based on my experience.

I would wait until your daughter is at least 4/5/6 until you get one. I am planning on getting my daughter a dog when she is old enough to know how to behave & able to look after it. I don’t know what age this will be - my niece is 6 and despite growing up spending time with my dogs is not to be trusted with them for a second because she pulls at them etc.

Mine cost just under £300 a month for dog walking between 3 & 4 times a week plus one costs £90 a month for allergy injections.

Add the almost £1000 I pay for 3 days a week childcare it becomes a very expensive business.

I love dogs and am delighted my daughter is growing up with them but spend most of my time being hawk eyed when they are in the same room

Today I was walking them at 5am because of the heat having left toddler with my DH.

Clearing the garden of mess before she goes out to play is an issue despite them having 2/3 walks a day.