First dog for young family....'show' Cocker Spaniel or Tibetan Terrier?

[Fillybuster]

Please don't shout at me - I'm just in the initial 'investigating options' stage!

We moved house last week and I have always promised the dcs that we would get a dog when we had more space. This is mainly because I am desperate for a dog....dh isn't keen but accepts that this has been on my wishlist for the whole 12 years we've been together....We live in London, but have a reasonable number of parks etc nearly...

We have 3 dcs (ds6, dd1 4, dd2 20mo) & are a 3 adult household (me, dh and aupair). I'm a WOHM but am at home at least 1, normally 2, days a week, and because of aupair, children, cleaner etc there is usually someone in the house for most of the day - the house is very rarely empty for more than 3 hours at any time.

Neither dh nor I grew up with dogs, but my dm and I got a show cocker when I was 23 and living at home - I did most of the puppy training, socialisation and cleaning up....so I've got some experience of that - she passed away last month and my mum is already searching for her replacements.

SO.....

a) I'm pretty certain we want a puppy not a rescue dog

b) We'd like a small dog with a bit of bounce (but not too much)

c) I'll be able to do 30mins walk once a day, and our aupair/children will do aniother

d) I will be researching breeders carefully & will definitely be getting an 'indoor' dog, who has been partially toilet-trained already from a known breeder (and will probably try to meet the 'parent' dogs as well)

So....what do I need to think about?

What do I need to know?

Please don't shout at me if I'm being hopelessly naive about this!

Another biased cocker owner.

I have a Tibetan Terrier and she is absolutely fantastic. Very lively and a great family dog, good with people but she is quite headstrong. We chose a TT as they don't moult (child with asthma) but she does need to be regularly brushed and her fur trimmed.

I love my cocker/springer cross (more cocker than springer). But I think the bounce might be a bit more than you're bargaining for

Thank you :)

I was expecting to be flamed for being irresponsible....

Thunderboltkid - that's a good point....I experienced that the other way round with our cocker - my dps weren't interested in backing up the lessons from training classes, but were happy to complain I hadn't trained the dog very well So yes, consistency will be important.

I don't remember our cocker moulting much/at all....

......ok, will request less 'bounce' By the way, I always read your name as ChickenShaveNoLips - I don't know why, but it makes me giggle every time :)

I love cockers but believe they need a bit more exercise than that? As for different carers, I have a pup who is looked after 2 days a week by a puppy sitter. I take pup to puppy class but the sitter and I give the same commands (though I think I'm more generous with treats!). I think my pup is benefitting as the sitter loves her and from my point of view it means I'm not seen as the only person who does fun things like walks and training. So I guess it would depend on the au pair - and you may have one who is just as keen on dogs as you are. ANother thought - your children are very young and it will be a lot for your au pair to handle 3 young children and a puppy.

There are a couple of lovely springer/lab cross pups on Many Tears website. These are both brilliant breeds for a family imo so could be winning combination

A puppy sold at the usual 8-10 weeks old will not be partially house-trained. You would have to start as soon as you got the pup and it takes weeks or months. Puddles and poos on the floor are not compatable with toddlers.

My dm was discussing this with a breeder who was talking about letting them go at 12-14 weeks, by which point they would be partially house-trained.

At the moment, none of the dcs is in the house during the day, except at the weekend - if we got a puppy I would spend the first few weeks working from home as much as possible (and make sure aupair was there the rest of the time) to get cracking on the early training. Iirc, it didn't take that long to get our last dog relatively well trained, barring the odd accident - so in theory we could get the puppy trained first, then deal with the toddler over the summer....

We have a 3 year old show type cocker ,he is the centre of our family and we love him to bits .when we got him our dcs were aged between 15 and 7,one thing I would mention is that like all gundogs spaniels do nip as puppies ,a lot and tolerance is needed ,which is difficult with small children .
I would seriously recommend spending time in the forum section of www.cockersonline.co.uk it is a mine of information on anything cockerand there is stacks of advice on managing the puppy stage with children etc

On the house training front Otto was very easy ,we picked him up at 8 weeks but his breeder had already started to give him the idea,and he was pretty reliable by 10 weeks ,in fact he had hardly had any accidents.I would recommend a crate and we put the crate inside a puppy pen which gives both puppy and children a break from each other.

Good luck we wouldn't be without our cocker!!

I love our TT to bits, but having trained 7 or 8 pups as a volunteer socialiser have you thought of waiting until your DCs are older? having a pup is a lot of work in the beginning. our TT is 6 months now and a bundle of fun, but very cheeky too.

cockers are fantastic and beautiful. my neighbour breeds them, she has 3 females and all are so sweet. only thing is, have you heard of cocker rage or rage syndrome? it has affected alot of cockers and springer spaniels. also have you looked at clumber spaniels? theyre great dogs, very loving and can actually be good guard dogs! aswell as tibetan spaniel? and japanese chin which is the japanese equivalent of a spaniel (they are absolutely adoreable) tibetan terriers were on our list when we were looking for a small dog to join our family along with our big dogs. ive met tibetans and its true they are very sociable and loving. in the end we got a shihapso (shih tzu x lhasa apso) and hes the perfect match x

We have a show cocker, she's 8 months and amazing. She's brilliant with my two, 5 and 3. She is, however quite nippy, though we've mostly trained this out of her. She also constantly steals the kids toys and takes them into the garden. She chews and digs too. Not trying to put you off at all, just telling you some of the downsides!

She has about 45 mins of walking a day, but this is over the common or through the woods, off lead. She gets a real run. Will up this to about an hour when she's about a year old.

We researched breeders for ages, took us about 6 months before we found one that we liked.

She's an active, clever, happy dog who LOVES people, other dogs etc.

We don't regret getting her for one second, but she is hard work at times!

I adore our cocker. Nearly 6 months old. Quick to train in all aspects. Fab size for young family IMO.

Ours is a little black one with a white bib. Called Beau.

My boys are 5 years and 11 months. Pg with third. I'm a sahm, dh works lots of hours.

My only advice would be make sure you definitely have enough time and space to walk pup.

Beau now has a 4-5 mile run with my dh in the morning. A mile to and from school in the afternoon. And normally two miles in the evening. I admit I think it's a lot for such a young pup, but she loves it and she doesn't show any signs of tiredness. I think she is a secret springer really

It really is like having a baby again with the training and chewing and clearing up. But she's a fab dog.

Good luck and I was the opposing partner re the dog-and I love her to bits!!

Ooh and she's a show not a working cocker!

I do some dog sitting and one of my regulars is a Tibetan Terrier, he is the most stubborn, bloody minded dog I have ever met and I have since read up on the breed and this is fairly typical. He is aldo deeply affectionate and very loving and I adore him but I wouldn't call them a novice breed. They are also pretty rare in the UK, I would expect a very long wait for a puppy and for them to be pretty expensive.

There are many back threads on here about finding a good breeder, 'maybe' meeting the parents doesn't really cut it, I would hunt some out and have a good read.

Also check out some of the puppy threads for a reality check of living with a pup, it is very very hard work.

I am not being dismissive by sending you to look at older threads, I am just very tired

misslala1987 have you actually read about cocker rage? Ive read a bit (im chosing my cocker in a couple of weeks) and its not common and it can occur in any dog. It was thought that it was to do with the inbreeding of the American cocker (hence the name cocker rage). However if you google cocker spaniel you will get americal cockers. Like somebody else said the cockersonline site is fantastic. And there are lots of threads about "cocker rage" or other silly things people will say as soon as you say you are getting a cocker.

I think that's way too much. You might be setting yourself up for joint problems later. Ours is 8.5 months and has 45 mins, I agree that it should be 5 mins per month.

this is an old thread ... i love my tt to bits but really shes my parents dog and i would not buy a tt puppy. if its mindless obedience you want get the cocker, a tt will want you to give it a list of reasons why it should do what you want. like someone else said, they are bloody minded and incredibly stubborn and our dog who is now about 15months is a proper handful. relatively difficult to train too i definately wouldnt recomend a tt as a dog for inexperienced owners

VERY bias in favour of show cockers, i used to have a black one,he was a wonderful dog.

I have a working cocker (7 months) and friends have Tib spaniel (which someone suggested). Personally I would go for cocker, I'm pregnant and am so looking forward to baby & puppy meeting! He is literally the soppiest dog without a snappy bone in his body.
The Tib spaniels are abit more hard work in that they can be grumpy (friends have had loads so not basing this on one dog) and snappy.

I have never heard my dog growl in irritation the way terriers can do, even the nicest ones (I used to have Jack Russell's and love them so not biased honest!) and just cannot imagine it happening even with worst tail tugging.

Temperament is all in the breeding, with a working cocker it's easier to find a reputable breeder and as they're bred to be eager to please and loving & insanely active! it makes them great if demanding pets but if you meet the doggie parents that will help.

With children I think spaniels are perfect. Ignore cocker rage it's an American (& exaggerated) problem.

On the point about exercise, I'm afraid it's true, too much does cause joint damage.

I'm taking our working cocker to one on one Gundog lessons (we're both learning but he definitely knows more than me!!) & trainer said long walks not necessary until joints fully formed.

Great piece of advice from trainer.... Dogs have much smaller brains than us so an intensive half hour of training in the garden is as tiring as a half hour walk. & gives a better behaved dog!

Our dog is getting 2 half hour sessions of outside training and exercise daily (plus general bits of training inside too) That does help tire him out, last night he took himself to bed 2 hours early!