First family dog?

[gotelltheoldmandowntheroad]

Husband wants a German Shepherd, he also likes XL Bully and Rottweiler.

I am open to a dog but...

small house
do not want fur everywhere

We have two cats already so would look into getting a puppy.
We have a big garden and both often work from home so wouldn't leave him alone.

I know about having dogs, had them before, but not too keen, I'm a cat person. Husband and child are keen. Husband spoke about "family protection" but ultimately we are animal lovers but that seems to be a factor for him.

My questions are:

Dogs that won't add the least to my cleaning burden (that's my bag)

Safest around the child (from puppy and trained)

Perhaps that a non-dog person might like best?

Given he's mentioned those three breeds, which would you go for? Child is 6.

@Madwife123 terriers are my favourite. They seem to have a devilish sense of humour and I love their cheekiness. Mine have been trained (as all dogs should be IMO) with a leave it command. Basically means ignore what you are looking at and keep moving. None of it's hard, it's just consistency.

I think everyone has been saying the same thing above. Breed is a small component of what makes a good dog. The ONLY way to get a good dog is to invest a lot of time and effort. Train, socialise, exercise, play with and involve the dog in your daily life. If you can't do that, chances of a stellar dog are very, very small irrespective of breed.

standard poodle. PROS. can be protective of their family.. do not shed..Easily trained and very smart.. house dogs..hate being outside for any length of time without their family CONS cost of grooming... and they are bed hogs and couch hogs. They can be clingy. may I present...my idiots lol

oops. not sure how that happened with double photos.. sorry about that

Lagotto or Portuguese water dog would be my suggestions. Pretty big, don't shed and great family dogs.

Personally what your husband wants is my dog but he ain't having him.
The worlds laziest and sweetest Dutch Shepherd. Loves everyone to bits, very protective of children ( sleeps under our 10yo's bed every night to keep an eye on him). They are super healthy ( outlive German Shepherds by a few years at least), and scare the bejesus out of anyone who comes to the house uninvited just by his size , look and enormous bark.
Most are not lazy like ours though and require a lot of exercise.
Otherwise perfect.
Here he is.

Shepherds shed alot.
Our rottweiler sheds alot.
Bully and Rotty both prone to drooling.

I'd rule out all for cleaning factors alone.

Temperament of Rotty is excellent for a family dog. GSD are very intelligent and easy to train but also easily bored and quite destructive as puppies if not stimulated.

Shame he won't go for a lurcher as they're the perfect family dog - so low maintenance!

Don’t get a dog unless you love dogs. Don’t bring a large, powerful breed bred for hunting into a house with small children.

We have a classic ‘child-friendly’ medium sized breed and you’d think (I did) that he would be much less work than he is. He is very child-friendly... He’s also territorial, protective, a bit nervous, clingy and wilful. Our training helps with those traits, and he’s not aggressive but I would struggle with anything more powerful (an XL Bully would be an absolute no).

You also have to think about how other people react to big traditional guard dog or hunting breeds. You have to adjust your behaviour because people will want to avoid them, especially people with small children, other dogs, people who are frail or elderly. Do you have absolute confidence that you could hold back an overly enthusiastic XL when it wants to ‘say hello’ to a toddler in the local park? I know I couldn’t.

‘No dog should be pulling on the lead, big or small. Train them to walk alongside you with a loose lead.’

This is of course true, but it takes so much time to get this result (fine - don’t get a dog if you don’t have time), and does the OP really have/want to invest it? It’s not even like the DH can just do the training - dogs behave differently for different people and you have to do it yourself.

I personally wouldn’t get any of those breeds. Especially bully XL. Don’t want to tarr all breeds according to the actions of a few but they’ve been in the media a lot lately for mauling owners and children to death. You need experience to own these strong breeds. If you must have any of those breeds I’d go for German shepherd. I know a couple who are so well behaved and so chilled. But again you do need to be experienced for any big dog that’s capable of doing harm. The problem with the bully and breeds like it, it can be the gentlest dog in the world but if it snaps it can kill in seconds due to the sheer size of it

Dogs shouldn't be used for 'protection' in a domestic environment. Even young highly trained police dogs can be impulsive and dangerous. Please don't get a big dangerous breed with children and cats. A big dog like the ones suggested are a job to care for. Hours of training and walking per day. More suited to a retiree.

What a stunning dog 😍

Lagotto or Portuguese water dog would be my suggestions. Pretty big, don't shed and great family dogs

We’ve just been looking after a Portuguese Water Dog this weekend. OMG I’m in love 🥰, I thought I was a strictly Labrador/Greyhound person, but no 😁. I haven’t looked but I imagine there’s not a great deal of breeders in the UK though?

Interestingly this popped up on my Facebook feed

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11111675/Australias-worst-breeds-dog-attacks-revealed.html

Pic of bite stats from the link