Advice please- what kind of dog makes a Family Pet

[lemonstartree]

We have three boys (7,3 and 1)DH is about to become a full time Stay at home dad.
We are considering buying a puppy.

We live really close to the river and a few minutes walk from a park.

I think a labrador -

any advice

:)

i have a staffordshire bull terrier. my 17mth old can easily hold his lead and the dog wont pull him over. great with kids. had them all my life. used to show, now im a canine psychologist.

recommendation would be a staffie (obviously!).......but other ideas: pointer.

We have a border terrier called Tilly. She was so easy to housetrain it was unbelievable and I had trained her to sit, give paw etc by 8 weeks. She is a little bit mad in the garden though, charging about chasing birds, insects, rolling in flower beds etc, typical terrier. She is a lovely little dog but she will let you know if you go too far. If you try to disturb her when she's flaked out she will growl (more of a deep grumbling noise) at you but I suppose nobody likes to be disturbed when they are tired do they!! My neighbour bought a labrador puppy and they had quite a bit of trouble getting her trained as she was quite unruly and they ended up having to take her to puppy training classes but now she's trained she's very good. They have had to build her a pen in the garden though as she was digging it all up, but then again, my dog also does a bit of that too so I don't think any doggy is entirely perfect but they are all completely loveable. I think you probably need to think about how much excercise you can deal with and any potential health problems that certain breeds of dog can be succeptable to. Good luck with your choice.

My Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy (15/16 weeks old - I've lost track) has been so bloody easy I can't believe it! She doesn't mouth at the children any more (she's learnt very quickly not to), she chews a bit but not excessively, she doesn't pull too much on her lead (even though I haven't properly trained her), she doesn't demand constant attention and seems really content.

And this sort of easy going temperament is the reputation of Bernese.

They don't dig or jump excessively (so you don't have to worry about dog proofing your garden too much)

and only need a moderate amount of exercise....

I have two black labs who are amazingly 'child friendly', although we try to avoid it happening they will put up with ears, paws, tongues, tails being pulled / eaten etc. We are very lucky in having such laid back dogs. I would recommend buying from a breeder so you know exactly what the background temperment is. Although having bred labs, I can say that mum and dad's temperment is a good indication, but I've also had a puppy returned to us because they didn't realise that puppies would behave like puppies! What ever you get, the only way to get a chilled out calm dog is to be chilled out and calm yourself.

Any dog will be fine as long as you teach both dog and children to respect each other's space.