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.

op i know its greyhounds again but look up on facebook greyhound rescue and co-ordinated emergencies they have dogs on thier site that are definitely child friendly theres one on their page today they have some fabulous dogs and rehome country wide

Another one saying have a look at sighthounds (lurchers, greyhounds, whippets, podencos etc).

Not all of them have developed prey drives; it depends on each dog. My old boy had zero interest in anything small and fluffy and was fabulous with small children because he was incredibly gentle. My current girl has a so-so prey drive in that if it looks particularly interesting she'll have a cursory gallop after it but it needs to be a truly exceptional squirrel to make her want to run! However my current young boy has a crazy prey drive and chases everything - fine for us as we don't have kids and we do have a very secure garden. He loves kids but wouldn't be suitable with small ones because he is so enthusiastic and bouncy.

Oh and PM me if you want a greyhound rescue recommendation as the one I support re-homes all over the UK and I've previously assisted with a greyhound going north of the border!

I will definitely be opening my laptop and looking at all places suggested tonight...honestly what amazing advice and suggestions from you all, thank you so much. Summer holidays start at the end of June for us, and so I'm going to start doing some trawling of the centres in person instead of looking only at their websites over the coming weeks as it would be great to have the summer to settle a new member in although this is said with very cautious optimism given I am over a year down the line.
Poster who high lighted dog running out on the road after something while child holding the lead, that sent shivers down me, really good point.

Also, as I said, so lovely to hear about the absolute joy dogs bring. Ive never had dogs and I'm a bit worried about my family rolling their eyes and saying "haven't you got enough on your plate" and not understanding. But then, it'd like my son's childhood to be better than mine, that's part of the point. My eldest is liked and has friends at school, but he's definitely introverted...and when I asked him who his best friend is last week, he said a boy who he went to nursery with and hasn't seen for three years. I obviously text his mum and asked to meet up after this. What I'm trying to say is, I think a dog would help him with connect.

In answer to your question about working outside the home, I work five days a week but only one of those days away from home. I looked on Borrow My Doggy to find someone who could look after my dog on that day, and spotted some friends listed there as potential borrowers. They now look after her one day a week and are her second family 🙂 They occasionally have her at weekends or when we’re on holiday too. We’ve been really lucky that it’s worked out so well.

I've occasionally wondered if a small part of the reason for not allowing children under 5 is the relatively high chance of someone having another baby, and wanting to reduce the chances of the dog being returned because a dog and a newborn together are too much - and that newborn will inevitably go through the grabby toddler stage even if the existing 4 year old is sensible.

To the PP in the houseshare, I do have a certain level of sympathy with the rescues, although this is predominantly because I've seen that situation go wrong for a dog before - when the adopter of my DDog moved out of her flatshare and left him behind, the remaining flatmate was ill equipped to deal with him and it was only sheer good fortune that I moved in instead.

There's also the issue of the sharing of responsibilities - there may be a fear that dog care could go the same way as the cleaning rota in your average houseshare.

On the other hand if it's one person who is very clearly the owner and responsible for everything, I can see the advantages of a dog living in your household as opposed to a single person household in terms of company.

Yes houseshare poster....I definitely sympathise, it sounds like the dog would have a good home in terms of someone always being available to look after. I suppose though the issue might be in the longevity of the set up?? As house mates tend to move out, and the situation may result in the dog being returned?? However, if one person is appointed as dog owner, the dog would presumably stay with the person regardless.

If it’s still about try Lily’s Border Collie Lifeline. They’re UK wide and advise which dogs are suitable for rehoming with children.

I understand it to an extent, but there is nothing in any of the guidelines or rehoming regulations that say you can't adopt if your studying. Especially as the dog would be well looked after and cared for and there is no worries about paying for pet insurance and vets bills or grooming.

Plan is for us to stay in the house we're buying. We'll all be here in this house at least five years or so because we've all got graduate jobs/study lined up. The dog would be registered in my name and I'd be responsible for it and caring for it on a day to day basis. If I decided to move out the dog would move with me because of that, but there is no immediate plans to move and five out of the six of us are experienced dog owners so more than able to train and care for a dog. It's not an impulse decision we've made, we have thought about going the puppy route but it's better to rescue if you can.

@Wadingthroughshit, we'll be here awhile with postgrad studies work but the plan is that the dog would be mine and move with me if/when I move. There is no chance of the dog being returned.

We don't really want to go the puppy route and it's not a good idea to rehome dogs from places like gumtree or preloved we're a bit stuck.

I gave up. The breed rescue I contacted wouldn't talk to me until my DD was 10, even though that was 6 weeks away. They'd had dogs on the list for months.

Rescues can't afford to be sued. So they don't let families with young children 'adopt'.
Makes you wonder how damaged those dogs are, when people can get dogs from abroad with no problem.

Try dogs trust they have lots of dogs suitable for different family types

Our local greyhound rescue rehomes with children! We haven't got children yet, but our two are exceptionally good with our friends children of all ages, and my younger family members. They're quiet with them and curl up next to them (I'll try and attach a picture if I have one! Mine love small humans and are very gentle. I've basically just come to say they're a super breed and I wholeheartedly recommend I also grew up with Labradors and love them too although mine were greedy

Here are my two

We contacted a local rescue, they have a process of fostering the dogs among families with children and cats to see how they get on. If it's not well theyll move them to a foster without until theh find suitable adoptive families for them. My girls were 7 last year when we adopted our bouncy 1year old black lab. Hes gorgeous and our house would feel so empty without him. I had grown up with dogs and hated not having one. They came out and looked at the house but mainly the garden which is very long, wide and secured with enclosed fields behind it. They were wary of the girls age to start with but when I explained they had grown up around my mums golden retriever and SILs flat coated retrievers they were more than happy for us to adopt. I'd originally applied for a different dog but his foster family had fallen in love with him, they rang me on the Wednesday informing me of our dog who had arrived with them that day, I picked him up the Saturday. I was so excited I forgot to even ask his name on the phone to begin with! He had never been walked, had no training, but was the most loving boy in the world. We managed to get down the basic manners at home, but had a behaviourist in to help with lead work as he didn't react well to other dogs. Alot of it is down to them wanting to be in charge of you, so once we knew how to combat that it's all been great! Wish I could share a photo but I worry it could be outing as hes very well known where I live and on my other SM. Good luck, you will find your baby!! X

@Wadingthroughshit
Just came in to say that I’m so glad you are thinking and researching this, it is so important, and will mean you give your future DDog a great home.
I have just spent half an hour looking at BlackLabradorX !

We rehomed our lab aged 1 from a private home. Best thing we ever did - she has a great connection with my two DC (now teenagers) and it’s great to see. They were 8 and 11 when we got her, and both love her to bits ( although I still do most —all— of the looking after! Good luck with the search!

Have looked tirelessly at Dogs Trust, and have never seen a dog suitable for children, however, as pp have said, I need to go and visit the centre and may have more luck that way.
Our gardens are a good size but stone walls are only about 3ft high.

@Fairydogmother11...very cute !! Thank you for sharing !

I looked for two years and I just got a new puppy two weeks ago bought from a breeder. Best thing I ever did

Our gardens are a good size but stone walls are only about 3ft high

All rescues will look for a "secure garden" or want to know your plans if you have no garden but i do think those walls are very short and may not qualify as secure. We needed a minumum of 5 foot fences when we rescued our greyhound, which I think is fair enough.

Back garden has fences, front has stone wall, a very quiet road, then big field opposite. Oh dear so this may be another obstacle?

If I'm honest my little Jack Russell could clear 3 foot with no real effort, so I'd expect to be told that you need to add some additional fencing on top of the stone wall

X posted with your latest update @wading

If you put the dog out in the back garden, what's the lowest fence height it could access ie could it get into the front garden? Are there any gaps in it or bits where a dog could push through? Thinking of DF's fencing, which is so crap on one side that the remarkably nice NDNs garden has become known as the secret garden - as in, "oh bollocks, PestDog is in the secret garden yet again"

I'm sure plenty of people have insecure front gardens but entirely suitable back gardens and rescues are unconcerned.