To expect to be able to re-home a rescue dog when I have two children?

[Wadingthroughshit]

Two children, We live in a rural area, have front and back gardens, my youngest starts school this summer, my eldest is nearly nine and I work PT. There are kennels are dog walkers in our area which are reasonably priced. We are a quiet home, there isn't much comings and goings. I think a dog would be hugely beneficial to all of us, especially my eldest who can be slightly anxious.
But, I have been looking for over a year, and I have not been able find dogs at any of the rescue centre which don't don't state 'adult only or older children'. I absolutely understand there is a reason for this. Should I give up looking and give in to buying one? We'd quite like an older dog, well, not a puppy at least.

I haven't actually owned a dog before which I realise puts me at a disadvantage, but I hasn't children before I had them and turns out I'm pretty good, well they are still alive wink!

That’s a very good analogy though. I can guarantee you, you would have had a much harder time raising those children if they were adopted having been removed from their parents as they would have experienced all kinds of trauma that impacted them.

Staffs, border collies & lurchers are all great dogs.

We have a staff x bordie collie and I know your not meant to have favourites but he’s mines. He’s such a sweetheart!

Definitely try smaller rescue centres and id second the greyhound/lurcher reccomendations. They are fantastic dogs and the ex racer greyhounds are very calm and low maintenance who are good around children.

We were told that they wouldn't rehome if you had kids under 10 (ours were 9&11, I worked pt) we got a puppy from a farmer (collie), all he wanted to know is that we could give him a good home

I can guarantee you, you would have had a much harder time raising those children if they were adopted having been removed from their parents as they would have experienced all kinds of trauma that impacted them

You can guarantee no such thing. All adopted children are different and not all of them have been impacted by trauma.

@RainbowWaffles So possibly I am being a bit unreasonable in expecting to rehome a resuce given that analogy? I don't completely understand the reason behind rescue centres not being keen on rehoming to small children homes, safety. But perhaps instead of blanket ban, things may be assessed on circumstances.
I have just received an email back from one dog rescue, saying that on occasion they will have puppy litters which they will re-home to small children homes, but these are rare and quick to go. We live in Scotland.

Honestly, get a lurcher. Lovely dogs.

Easy temperament, like to sleep, have zoomies twice a day and that's about it.

I'd love to give a dog a second chance

One of my best friends has always had greyhounds and absolutely adores the breed, so I will look into this more.

Ps been on list for a female rescue collie for two years now and none have come in, kids now adults. All local places have are staffies it seems

Definitely try a breed-specific rescue, especially as you say you might like a Labrador (excellent choice!)

We got our darling Lab through a Labrador rescue charity, our children were 5 & 8 at the time. The dog had lived with small children previously without any problems so they were happy to rehome her with us.

You might need to wait a bit longer for the right dog to come up, but it’s worth the wait ❤️

Zoomies ! Love that!

Chris Evans got turned down same reason he was talking about it last year. Don't take it personally

Do not buy from ads on gumtree and such like. These are mostly puppy farms not reputable breeders.

This was the reason we ended up buying. The labs don't even make it to their websites and get rehomed to childless people.

We got ours from the Dogs Trust when our Dd's were 2 and 4 months old. They recommended the dog to us. We had him for 14 years. He was never aggressive in all that time.

Facebook will be your friend with this. Type in any combination of dog rehome (yourtown) spaniel needing home lab rescue (yourtown) you will get somewhere

Definitely look at lurchers and greyhounds. I know many people with these breeds and they are lovely dogs. Usually don;t want that much exercise and love sleeping!

Have you actually spoken to a rescue? My collie was in a centre that didn't rehome with kids. He came to us when my daughter was 2. We committed about 6 weeks of going once or twice a week to work with the centre introducing him to the child and getting her to be really noisy to check his reactions. 5 years later, I'd say it's the best thing we did

We spent more than 8 months trying to get a rescue dog, my husband is the son of a park ranger so grew up around rescue dogs as his dad often took in strays that couldn’t be re-homed. We were both pretty confident in being able to rehome.
However, I wasn’t Ed to try for a baby in the coming year, and every dog had numerous issues where it stated ‘no babies/ young children’ - some of the dogs were 4 or 5 and could even walk on a lead properly.
Then we found often a new dog would come in, that looked suitable, but it would be re-homed before we got a chance to even look, I got the feeling a lot of Regina g centres have lists with people waiting for specific breeds and unless you’re in the loop you don’t stand a chance.
We ended up getting a puppy! She’s 9 now! Later in life we will definetly rehome but with young children I think you need to know the history.

Honestly, get a lurcher. Lovely dogs

This! I only have lurchers now and only ever will. They're the best!

We had an older rescue lab (a month off 10 when we got her) pre-children and she was brilliant. We never found out why she was no longer wanted, which the rescue pretty much said was the case, but can only assume because she was on meds and general lack of interest as evidenced by never walking her (overweight but soon lost it). When I got in touch and said I wanted an older dog (lab specific rescue) but didn't mind whether it was a dog or a bitch, colour not important although I liked black labs they practically bit my hand off. Older dogs and black dogs are harder to find homes for so maybe there's a similar dog waiting for you. She was fantastic with kids too btw. Loved them and very patient and gentle.

If you are in Scotland OP, go to PINS (Podencos in Need Scotland). Fantastic dogs, horribly treated in Spain but so loving and sweet, my boy is a joy every day (you do need to be patient though as they have been treated badly in their younger years and can take time to settle).

Try the RNIB - there are always pups that fail to become guide dogs, I sponsored one. He now has a job as a trainer, he is the excitable dog they have to react to.

They often have dogs who can't pass the exams and need rehoming. Apparently the written exam is hard.

Our first dog was a rescue from the local council pound. The volunteers there were really supportive and helpful.

Did you grow up with dogs? If not could you volunteer to walk dogs or help out to show willing?
Remember, everybody who has a dog had a first dog as we all have to start somewhere.
A puppy takes a lot of effort to train so putting the same amount of effort into a rescue doesn't seem unreasonable. Just remember they may be a little shut-in to start with and you need to be patient (and so do the children).
I agree that you should try smaller rescues. Is there a spaniel rescue group that you could approach directly?