small dogs- dog friendly

[Wentsworth]

I'm currently an au-pair for a lovely family in Australia. They have a 5 year old boy and a girl who just turned 3 2 weeks ago.

They're really keen to get a dog, and specifically-medium want a small dog as they (mum in particular) thinks they'll be more "child friendly." I grew up with golden retrievers from birth, and have tried telling her that plenty of dogs are BFGs! But she's dead set on a small dog.
Unfortunately she's also a little too into the look of a dograther than its suitability. like she is really keen on a spoodle (think we call them cockapoos back in England?) but from what I've heard they're very energetic and quite tricky as puppies.

Ideally they are looking for a small dog with a calm nature. But also "cute" (I suggested a pug or bull dog but no, not cute enough!!)

Mum is very keen on a dachshund. Anyone know if they're "child friendly"?

Any general input or advice would be really appreciated!

The one I know is very child friendly but she’s a handful as a puppy and very destructive when left alone initially. Calmed down much quicker than the cocker spaniel though!

Lhasa Apso ate very cute, friendly and loyal so good with kids. They need brushing every day and regular trips to groomers for bath and trim.

Any dog with the right socialisation can be "child friendly". But this also requires the children to be "dog friendly", it's not just the dog that needs training. If the three year old in particular is going through a "grabby" phase, like my three year old nephew, that's how children get bitten.

Small dogs can be packed full of energy. A dog, especially a young dog, will only be "calm" after they've had a chance to burn off energy and had lots of mental stimulation with games. It's only the oldies who'll wake up chilled out. She needs to take exercise into consideration.

Dogs like Dachshunds and Terriers were bred as working dogs originally. Dachshunds know how to use their voice too. I found two Standard Dachshunds, who are surprisingly large, in my garden last year - they'd chased a cat from 5 doors down, it's still a mystery how they got under/over that many fences.

Poodle crosses, while cute, are likely to come from dodgy breeders. I've seen lots of puppy farm raid reports come out of Aus so that's definitely a problem over there. A breeder who cares about either Spaniels or Poodles wouldn't intentionally breed a mongrel.

I have a shih tzu. She doesn't bark, bite and plays gently with my baby. She is very affectionate towards the baby. The dog is great around toddlers as well. However, we have trained her since she was a puppy (I was pregnant at that time and my cousin is a dog trainer). I would assume that most of the Shih tzu are of a calm nature as my sister had one with her baby with no issues.

There is a way to train the puppy to not get aggressive during grabby phase. Our shih tzu doesn't move when baby grabs her and waits quietly for me to intervene.

Small doesn't necessarily mean child friendly and cockapoos I know are all full of energy and never seem to calm down. Lovely animals but I agree with you about bigger dogs, I've known Great Danes that were the softest most affectionate and gentle creatures.

Certainly in the UK, cockapoos are almost exclusively puppy farmed. Given that the first half of the crucial 16 week socialisation period is spent with the breeder, it matters where they come from a great deal. There are also issues around resource guarding that are increasingly emerging, which comes from the cocker side of the family (and dogs with significant resource guarding problems aren't suitable dogs with young children - the dog could bite if the child went too close to the dog while it's eating for instance). Cockapoos are also frankly nuts.

Pure poodles are less problematic and, if given a teddy bear cut, look very very similar to cockapoos.

Try to steer her away from any breeds like pugs and French bulldogs because, while fashionable, there are massive welfare issues around their ability to breath (brachycephalic if the technical term) and they struggle even in UK heat so Australian heat would be unbearable.

Dachshunds are, erm, not a good choice. I say this as someone with a Dachshund cross. They're notoriously stubborn (and tricky to house train), yappy, snappy (I did see it claimed somewhere that they were breed most likely to bite, not taking into account severity). They also have delicate backs that can be permanently damaged if a child picks it up.

Given the choice of leaving my child in the company of a great dane or a Dachshund, I'd pick the great dane...

Must it be a puppy? Would they consider a rescue dog? That way they'll be past the worst of the puppy stage (puppies are all arseholes - fact. It's a good job they're cute) and will know what the dog is like with children.

I'd be looking at breeds specifically bred as companion / toy dogs. The UK Kennel Club website has a breed finder quiz which can be a good "first sift".

I'd go for a great dane over a daschund any day too

I had daschund as a kid. It was very protective of myself and my sister, however, it was very loud.

Why not a miniature poodle?

DH had a dachshund as a child, and we've had two (all short haired standard). The current one is quite calm (except if there's someone at the door to be barked at obviously ) ; the previous one was frankly a bit neurotic (had a traffic phobia so would only walk out in the country) but fine with DD (he was 3 when she was born and she adored him but wasn't allowed to pick him up and always knew to be gentle - and wasn't left unsupervised ). The one DH had as a boy was ok with his family but sounded like a bit of a bastard far from 'calm'.

Our current dog was 10 months old when we got him from his breeder (kept for show/stud but developed alopaecia) - this was great as he was house trained, well socialised and his nice character was clear.