Dog - greyhound a good option for babies/kids?

[Belgrano]

Hi
We're desperate to get a family dog and have two DCs aged 3 and 1. Plan is to have another DC in a few years so the dog MUST be not only child but also tiny baby friendly.

Anyone got much experience with greyhounds? From what I read they seem perfect - fairly amenable to short walks (ie. on rainy days!) but also like a run about when possible and apparently not too hyper in the house. I guess we'd need one that hadn't raced so we could let it off the lead to run without it trying to commit suicide chasing cats and birds across roads. We're able to walk it twice a day for at least half an hour a time and more at weekends and more on some weekdays.

I also want a dog who is chilled (or will grow up to be calm, obviously all pups are pretty hyper to begin with!) to contrast the kids and keep me sane! I'll be at home, so that's not an issue.

I don't want lots of dog hair everywhere, obviously there will be some but I don't want a breed that constantly leaves huge clumps, is very smelly or that has lots of hair on its face which gets all gungy with their eyes when they get older. We had spaniels growing up and I don't want one of them either because ours always had stinky ears due to the weighty hanging down aspect of the ear!

Any greyhound advice or other doggie breed recommendations welcome please.

We don't have a dog, but DP used to have a lurcher (like a greyhound but smaller) and she was adorable - very, very gentle and lovely. I don't know if this is true of all lurchers and greyhounds, but I remember ages ago one of my friends had a rescue greyhound which was also very sweet-natured. I think the recue ones can be a little bit sensitive and nervy.

i have heard that greyhounds are a great family dog. but i have no experience of them. sorry.

Rescue a dog. Please don't get a puppy, there are many hundreds of thousands of dogs out there that need a loving home like yours.

Other than that greyhounds seem to be becoming more popular in my town and seem to be very placid and laid back, although I have no personal experience. I can, from personal experience recommend a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, they are utterly bomb proof and love kids.

However if you go to a reputable rescue the will ensure your family and their needs are matched to a suitable dog.

Shiny - is your staffordshire bomb proof around kids? Wow, that's interesting, I thought they were the opposite - is that a misconception then? (Genuinely interested in your view, not being tongue in cheek I promise)
Thanks.

I used to live with a guy who had a cross lurcher/greyhound/whippet who was an absolute darling. He used to get upset being home alone all day (personally, I wouldn't get a dog if I was out the house 10 hours a day like he was). But apart from that he was really lovely, and great fun to watch zooming round the park when he was stretching his legs!

I don't have one any more Belgrano, but my previous Staff was and my father's friend swears by them and would never have another breed around children.

It's a massive misconception caused by the media and the look of the breed attracting the wrong kinds of owners. In the right hands a Staff can be a great dog, they used to be known as the nanny dog before they started attracting such bad press and are one of only two breeds recommended to be housed with children by the UK Kennel Club.

Greyhounds are lovely dogs! I work with lots of rescued ones and can't think of one who has ever posed us a problem. They are very gentle and laid back, and (IMO) make lovely family pets.

We had 2 rescued greyhounds when I was child - I still miss them 40 years later! I have friends with rescued GHs and they have all been the most gorgeous pets for families. I see loads on my dog walk everyday and they are all lovely in their own way. I would have had 2, but DH doesn't like them so ended up with the steryotypical labs (rescued). Love them to bits, but would have loved GHs or even a rescued wolfhound ( we had 2 of those too).

Greyhounds and Lurchers are known as the 100 mile an hour couch potato! They need at least 2 long burn offs a day: and by burn I mean really burn: when they run it makes your heart stop!

I would also usually say get a rescue, but with very small kids and babies, they have been bred for the chase instinct and will run after any small thing that moves. Very fast.

Yes, they are placid, but I really would remember they are sighthounds..

Our greyhound is definitely relaxed - he spends most of the day lying down! Catbus has it exactly. Ours is an ex-racer, he would chase rabbits or cats if allowed, but only if he sees them (how many times has he walked right past a cat because he hasn't looked up to see it sat on a wall). Any decent rescue centre will find you one whose personality suits yours. Ours goes to the park at least once a day and has shorter walks as well at least twice. The only "issue" I have is that he is totally devoted to DH, and isn't really bothered about me unless I happen to be the only human he's seen in a couple of hours. They're not exactly small, so ours has his own sofa, but he's very rarely in the way like a smaller "always round your ankles" dog might be, he couldn't be bothered! If you'd like a pet like this then go for it!!

We have 2 rescue greyhounds and have had them 4 years, ours are perfectly fine with children but vicious with smaller animals (and fluffy toys!). I think this is fairly standard for the breed, they don't have to be ex-racers to want to chase stuff, it's instinctual.

We got them from battersea and they had been the ambassadors for the centre for a while, being taken to school fetes etc as they are so good with kids.

They have dispatched a few things in our garden and elsewhere so do need muzzles on most of the time when out. This of course made me very wary when we had a baby after having the dogs for a few years, but with any dog you wouldn't leave them with a baby anyway, no matter how trusted they were. They have never shown any aggression towards a child of any age, or to the new baby when it suddenly appeared in our house.

DD is now nearly 2 and loves them (dogs are now 10) and they are very patient with her, generally just make themselves scarce if she looks like she might be about to bother them.

They are very sweet dogs and need barely any exercise contrary to popular myth, although ours are fairly old now I guess. We do have a large garden so they have a few runs round that a day. They go a lot quicker when there's a cat at the end of it.

They are very clean dogs - keep themselves well licked and their bits tucked away. They don't slobber (big deal for me!). They can have problems with their teeth though and get smelly breath, but I expect that's the case for lots of dogs.

Agree with earlier poster - please don't buy a puppy, there are literally thousands and thousands of greyhounds that need rehoming. Also if you get an adult dog you don't have to worry about housetraining them.

Wonderful advice on both Greyhounds and Staffies. I've fostered both and wouldn't hesitate to do so again if I could (3 dogs of my own atm so no chance).

I can't agree more with the advice to rescue - hundreds of healthy, friendly dogs get put to sleep each week for want of homes.

One word of warning though; because they are very often ex-racers who have been kennelled all their lives quite a few adult rescue Greys DO need housetraining. That's not the end of the world though and is easily achieved and the rewards are well worth it.

Why not speak to a couple of Greyhound rescues and let them guide you? Some will have blanket policies about rehoming with children but by no means all, so ask around.

Look for a rescue which will homecheck, which is for YOUR benefit as much as the dog's and will ensure as much as is humanly possible that the dog is matched to your family and any potential concerns on either side are ironed out ahead of adoption. Also ensure that the rescue neuters, vaccinates and microchips before adoption and which will insist that the dog is returned to them if you cannot keep him, even if that's 10 years down the line.

HTH

Val (independent network rescuer and rescue volunteer).

Greyhounds are lovely dogs - bloody lazy though! almost as thought they worked for a living and by the time they moved in they feel they have earnt a rest.

Just my penneth worth re getting any dog actually.

Perhaps get a whippet as their smaller size means more folk will want to pet-sit and that's a real bonus (they come in all sizes acutally), plus smaller dogs live longer too. We got our first dog - not a GH sadly, 3 years ago when DC 7 and 5 years old. Although it's wonderful in many ways to have a dog, we have found it is quite a lot of work with young children. You have to walk it come rain or shine, sometimes you end up dragging miserable children around in dreadful weather who just dont want to be in the park. A dog-walker on an ad-hoc basis for those days is fab but is around £10 per hour here.

The poop-a-scooping is arduous and I've rushed out on occasion and forgotten poo bags which is dreadful in a built up area, dealing with one without bags has obvious pitfalls (I couldnt' leave it there either like some do -grr) so being organised is a must. Holidays - we added £320 to kennel her (ouch!) So kindly family or neighbours are needed to sit where possible, and that's where having the right size and breed of dog helps; no one wants ours (she's an English Bull Terrier)she's gorgeous, great with children tolerates them sitting on her and pulling her ears etc but looks mean to some (boo hoo).

Oh and not like us, get a dog with hair that matches your house. Ours is white and our house is dark (what idiots- we vacuum every day!!!) Lastly puppy-trainig nearly killed me, I'd advise getting one no younger than 6 months old that's had it's jabs and can walk about already with some good basic training in place. There's tonnes of good about having a dog too but that's often all people thinks about, like we did and we have struggled, so better to be prepared. Good luck with it

my mum has a rescue whippet/lab cross, and she is so chilled out. She runs like she's never going to stop, she's great off the lead and great with small kids, big kids and all. We had a jack russell when I was a baby, but my aunty took him on as he started getting agressive with me. He was fine with bigger kids, but wasn't fond of babies. We've always had dogs. A Wolfhound, Lurcher, Greyhound, Whippet all are rescues. All have been darlings to handle.

I don't have a dog, I work long hours and so does DH, we might in a few years, but it's not fair on any animal being left home all the day.