Dog breeds - which for a young family?

[legallyblond]

So annoying - I just wrote a really long post and it got deleted!

Slightly more briefly:

We are a young family (finally) moving out of our London flat to the country (yay!!!) and that means we can get a dog, which we've wanted for years. DH is a SAHD and plans to be for many years (all the time we have young children - we've only got one so far, so it will be another 6 or 7 years at least!), so there would be someone at home all the time for a dog, apart from the usual classes and shopping etc.

But looking for a dog seems to be a TOTAL minefield.... we are completely unsure as to what breed to go for.

We have no experience of being solely responsible for a dog, but my parents have a dog (rescue dog - lab cross) that we know well and have looked after for a week at a time (house sitting for my parents!). DD (who is 15 months) and my parents' dog are literally in love with eachother so no issue of her being scared of dogs or anything like that! That said, he is VERY tolerant of her (she naps on him!) so she would need to learn to give a new dog some space.....

But we are totally stuck as to breeds! Our, somewhat random, thoughts so far are:

Priorities:

• Brilliant with children
• Good with other dogs (ie my parents' dog - we are moving to be near them)
• Not too much grooming - I can handle brushing a couple of times a week and the odd trip to a groomer
• Not needing more than about 1.5 hours of exercise
• Fairly easy to house train (if this is even a breed thing - I guess it falls within trainability etc) as DH, while he is up for it, has not done it before
• Not massive, although not necessarily tiny!
• Obviously, we'd love a dog that doesn't bark too much, is afectionate etc etc, but I suspect that's down to us, not the breed!

Breeds (possibily all wrong!):

• Cocker Spaniel
• Cockapoo
• Border terrier (but we also want to get DD a rabbit, in a hutch - is this a problem? Also, are terriers ok with small children?)
• Lab or golden retriever
• Havanese (although they seem nigh on impossible to find and expensive)
• Minature labradoodle (ditto)

I am not averse to a rescue dog, but I wonder if that is suitable with small children....

So sorry to ask, but any advice or opinions (even "we have an X and s/he is great!") would be really, really appreciated.

& they both love ponds, water troughs, ponds filled with expensive koi carp, mud, stealing food & cuddles, lying near/ 1/2 in the fire or on the sofa (preferably whilst wet & muddy)

Yes, they'll walk as long as you want them too or as little as you want them too unless it is raining or 6am. My Greyhound actually has a Kevin-esque grunt if I wake her up for an early morning stroll and plods along behind me sighing heavily until I take her back to her bed

Ooh, yes! Puppy teeth! Like needles and very painful. Puppies tend to like chewing the younger members of the family, too. My youngest (8) was very unimpressed with Jasper until his adult teeth came in and he learnt not to bite. Worth thinking about with little children.

eric has looked like that pic before, he is a proper stinky bog monster.

Legally
Do go back and look at Bichons - we have a Maltese (which in French is Bichon Maltais, so closely related to Frisee) and they are difficult to tell apart. The Maltese have long straight hair and need grooming more often, I think.

We go to the groomers about every 8 weeks, and in fact I just started grooming her myself and am going to buy a clipper after trying one out recently.

My DH was not keen to begin with but he adores her now.

OMG that spaniel! And dooin...those legs all over the place. Now yer dachshund, he can sleep on his back without all that sprawl.

Seriously though, if anyone reading this thread wants a dog that doesn't need a lot of daily exercise but will happily walk miles at the weekend (and walks round muddy puddles whenever possible!) then a standard dachshund is perfect.

if the excercise is not a problem then I would definatly recomend a cocker, eric is the loveielst easiet to train dog I have ever come across.

yy totally agree with Chickens. Just re-read your OP legallyblondand see that you have a 15mo dd, imo I wouldnt have wanted to get any sort of puppy, and particularly any of the particularly mouthy breeds (labs notorious for this) with a toddler.
Also the 'teenage phase' where you basically have a puppy behaving like a soviet missile but in a grown dog's body and you have a medium-large breed dog, you will have small people knocked over a plenty. sorry.

adult rescue and you wont have to endure any of that stuff

I have just looked at Many Tears - thanks for the link!!!! Looks great! I will look properly when I am not arsing about at work!

Thanks again - I thought everyone would bite my head off and say, "oh, you have no idea, you shouldn't have a dog" for some reason

She is happy to curl up wherever she will fit and will accomodate smaller family members sharing her sofa

Adorable!

If I were you I would consider a young rescue dog. We got our lab when he was 1 from Lizzies Barn in South Wales and they matched him to our family perfectly. We actually went to see a different dog but they knew better and had Buddy waiting for us instead! His advantages over a puppy - he didn't jump up and wasn't too boisterous (we had a toddler) and was house trained. Took him to puppy training classes and we now have literally the perfect family dog!

We have a lab/Collie cross and he is completely gorgeous. Good temperament; good amount of exercise needed; great retriever (which means easy ball-throwing rather than having to walk miles every time!); easy to train; fantastic with all kids - lets toddlers clamber all over him but has fun bouncing about with the bigger kids. Size-wise, he's smaller than a pure lab (more collie-sized) and, although he's long-haired, doesn't need silly amounts of grooming. Would recommend this cross to absolutely everyone!

Seriously - this thread has been invaluable! I will definately be speaking to DH about a young rescue dog as opposed to a puppy. Many Tears seem to have lots of breeds, some already living with little children.

Are there any specific greyhound rescues?

Yes, good idea with a rescue dog rather than a puppy.

Daphne is incredibly gentle now, but when she was a puppy she was a bit nippy sometimes. Our DC were older so more able to understand the LEAVE THE BLOODY DOG ALONE shouts, but with a toddler, it would be much more difficult.

Love these threads cause everyone recommends their own dog and posts cute doggy pics.

Mme. Please note my retraction of lab puppy recommendation.

I would also never post photos of Elsie as a puppy as, as we all well know following research carried out and published in serious scientific journals Sparkle Magazine that there is no entity on this planet cuter than a labrador puppy. It's a fact and in the bible.

I believe it also says so in Baby Animal Top Trumps.

Maltese puppy

Let's see yer lab then.

ummmmm

Unfortunately due to an unforseen technical hitch I have no fucking clue how to find the photographs file on this computer all I have to offer up at this point is Elsie dressed up as a bee best not ask, and um Elsie as a pumpkin carving

so yeah.

you need to use your imagination and put a cute labrador in some snow with some mountains in the back like wot you have got.

mmhmm

www.thecockerspanielclub.co.uk/rescue_reps.htm

To rescue cockers see above

I think most breeds have breed specific rescue's.

Slubber!
That poor dog, how could you do that to her? she is fecking cute dressed as a bee though

If we're talking dressed up Lurcher puppy in a hoody is by far the cutest. Look how shamed the poor wee thing looks

disclaimer: that is not my puppy, nor would I dress my puppy up in a hoody. It got, um, lost once it was given to us

haha. I have a pic of Daphne in a jacket someplace.

I'd agree a young rescue dog might be your best bet. Many Tears seem to have quite a few older puppies that are with foster homes, so getting their basic training in, and you would be taking a dog that had proved to be OK with children and other dogs. It would be very good for you if the housetraining was complete or well underway too. You could also parade in a halo of righteousness as the circumstances some of these dogs and puppies come from are so sad........