Good dog breed for families

[Sammy3]

I just bought a Canaan dog & he's lovely. They're a great breed for families with children. I researched the breed ages ago but decided I'd wait till my youngest was at least 3 1/2 yo. That time finally arrived & I thought I'd have to go on a waiting list since I could only find a couple of breeders in England. But, I was lucky enough to find a breeder who had been let down by someone who was buying 2 of her pups. Because of this, our puppy is a bit older (5 mths) but he's great. We met his sister (the other pup that the buyer let down) as well & would have loved to get them both but that's just not possible.

Anyone looking for an intelligent, child-friendly dog should take a look at this little-known breed.

I had a look in this forum when I was deciding on a breed & found lots of other people in a similar position, so thought this info might be useful to someone.

Just be warned that he is about to hit puberty and become like a teenager; this is the time for nipping and destroying etc...

I hope you will get him trained because IMO that is the ONLY way a dog becomes a "great breed for families with children" ...

My mum had to help someone at the dog school today who has a 6 month old Retriever (another good family dog, no?) who is hand-shy; this means it's been beaten. It was beaten because it nipped the previous owners child because it wasn't trained. They then went OTT on their "dicipline" and got rid of the dog... it is curable fortunately but it is such a shame that the pup had to go through beatings just because it was being a dog

Anyway, apologies for the long post - just wanted to pass on my (patchy!) doggy info

Got any pics? bet it is really cute!

They are a very pretty breed, didn't even think there would be any in this part of the world, have you any pics of him?
IMO any dog can be a good family dog though, purebred or Heinz 57.

LewisFan, it's awful when people treat expect dogs to behave like people.

I already found a dog training class before I bought him . I haven't had a dog since I was about 10, so I read a lot about dog training/behaviour before deciding that now is the right time for our family to have a dog.

Canaan dogs tend to go through a period of insecurity as teenagers. So, rather than being destructive, they become very wary of anything new to the point where they appear timid. They're not actually afraid, just unsure. The breeder & numerous websites have explained this stage to me. The breeder is happy to advise me through this period when it happens.

I've taken some photos but haven't had a chance to download them from my camera yet. I'll post some when I do.

They look gorgeous - sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun!