I previously posted about what dog would be suitable for our young family (quick recap: stay at home dad - dog would be alone for max 2 hours a day often less, I work, DD is 16 months but dog savvy obsessed and will be more so soon as we are living for 5 months with my parents' dog, house with utility room with direct access to secure garden which backs onto fields for walks etc, first time owners but grew up around dogs, no other pets but my parents' dog for socialising every other day or so....) and got GREAT advice, including, brilliantly, details of Many Tears rescue.
Its a bit premature as our new house won't be ready for 5 months, hence staying with my parents (but we like to plan!), but, based on all your brilliant advice, we think we'll eventually get a rescue dog from Many Tears, ideally one who is just out of real puppyhood (a year or 2 old), proven in a foster family with children and is housetrained. We are however happy to go to training classes etc and do clicker training for recall and anything else. We think a collie/collie x type wouldn't be suitable as we won't be doing agility training etc, but are not too bothered about active dogs like spaniels as DH is prepared to do a good hour and a half walk a day plus games at home/in the garden, albeit I suspect that actually a slightly less active dog would be even better for us, one that could do with, say, an hour on a really bad day.
Its very early, obviously, to really think about this (I guess we'll be applying in 4 months or so), but do you have any reccommendations for really good behaviourists/classes in Exeter AND any other advice or suggestions?
Honestly, all advice welcome!