Give me your expert opinion on my two final breed choices

[Pollycazalet]

Am doing lots of research and think I may have narrowed possible dog down to lurcher and poodle.

Here's my criteria - what do you think? A good match?

A dog which needs an hours walk a day plus one shorter one but can do longer at weekends.

Good with kids -ours are older 11 and 14 and want at least the older one to be able to walk the dog independently.

Minimal moulting and smell - don't mind grooming.

Smallish in size as our house is not huge and garden is tiny.

Cat friendly or at least not cat aggressive!

We are all out three days a week from 815 until 4 so the dog would need to be walked by a dog walker/ friend.

Bright and easily trained ( not sure if this is so much a breed thing as character thing though)

Don't really think I can cope with a puppy so might want an older dog.

maybe get two rescue dogs who dont want to be seperated. that way theyll have each other when youre not there

Thanks to all those suggesting rescue centres - much as is love to give a home to an unwanted fog I have researched and we wouldn't be approved as we don't have an adult at home every day.

It's a shame as I think we could give a dog a very living home, despite our working arrangements.

Loving! Not living. Altho it would obv be living with us

Dog! Not fog. Blimey think I need to stop posting

It still might be worth asking. I didn't think I could rescue as I have a two children under 8, but in the end the rescue looked at our individual circumstance and agreed to let us have our ddog. Another rescue I called also said they liked to judge everyone as an individual. these were both smaller independent rescues, not the larger well known ones.

Unless you do rescue then you probably have to look at a puppy don't you? (I might be being dense though!)

Look at smaller locally run rescues who have dogs in foster homes they are more likely to be Flexible. If you dont want a puppy you will be limited to buying a dog from the likes of gumtree and that is not a good idea at all!

EGLR knew we wouldn't always be at home and were happy with that we would use a dog walker when both out

I am confused you don't want a puppy but you can't get a rescue so where are you planning to get the dog from?

An adult dog will not necessarily come ready trained and ready to fit into your family ideal of romping with the kids.

All dogs smell, all dogs moult or will bring mud etc into the house, the dog will not get company from being left with the cat.

Leaving the dog for 8 hours three days a week is a long time - there is a reason the rescues will not rehome in that situation.

Many dogs will find this hard, many dogs will show behavioural issues because of this, many dogs will then have to be rehomed - rescues have been in the business a long time and have seen this happen time and time again (partly why the rescues are so full) - yes there are exceptions but most dogs being left for this length of time is too much.

I will hide the thread rather than read all the comments by people that leave their dogs and say they are fine, they may appear fine but they are not! Just because others do it does not make it healthy or appropriate for the dogs.

If you want scientific evidence of the effect of dogs being left alone:-

dogs.channel4.com
Blackwell, E. J., Casey, R.A. and Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2006) Controlled trial of behavioural therapy for separation-related disorders in dogs. Veterinary Record 158 (16): 551-554
Butler, R., Sargisson, R.J. and Elliffe, D. (2011). The efficacy of systematic desensitisation for treating the separation-related problem behaviour of domestic dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 129, 136-145
Scott, J.P. (1967). The evolution of social behaviour in dogs. American Zoologist, 7, 373-381.
Nagaswa, M., Shibata, Y., Yonezawa, A., Morita, T., Kanai, M., Mogi, K. and Kikusui, T. (2013) The behavioural and endocrinological development of stress responses in dogs. Developmental Psychobiology, 9999, 1-8.
vetbehaviour.info/dogs/14-separation-related-behaviour/15-preventing-the-development-of-separation-related-behaviour-in-puppies.html
BehaviourVet WordPress blog: Left ‘home alone’: a welfare issue for dogs

I wouldn't have a lurcher (cat issues) & I wouldn't have a poodle either - very intelligent, very needy.

In fact, I would have a dog at all in your circumstances. I don't think it's fair - dogs like company & if you want something that doesn't need a lot of exercise - or maybe you don't want to spend time walking ? I really don't think you're in the right place.

Taking of breeds, we have a rescue cav, who, after a little training, is excellent with my cat (hates next doors neighbours though ). However, she would hate to be left alone & we never leave her for more than 5 hrs. My DH works at home. If we want to go out for the day, she goes to the dog sitter.

Yes, people do leave their dogs but I wonder if a placid, cat tolerant dog would cope with this ? What's the hurry ?

Poodles are extremely intelligent. As lurchers are usu ally a cross of some kind they will moult. We had one whowas brought up with cats so she was absolutely fine with ours but out of the house cats were fair game!

Have you considered a bichon frise or airedale terrier? Both non shedding. I'd think a bichon might be a good match for you as quite laid back compared to poodles. We got a dog from a breed rescue - might be a good route and most dogs are fostered rather than kenelled. Dogs are very capable of being left alone for a few hours a day and it's preferable to being left in a rescue.

I wonder if there are any studies regarding dogs being left alone for 4 hour stretches compared to those in rescue?

Greyhounds are short haired, shed very very little, generally don't bark, require 20 mins walking twice a day (will go longer if you like), many are cat safe or cat trainable and many are not big. If you look at www.ourgreyhounds.co.uk you will see they have just rehomed one called Mini who is tiny.

Ours is rarely left but we had a family birthday meal tonight and in total he was alone (with tv on ) for 3 hours. He was fine but its rare hes left.