Rehoming a dog when you have children

[Bouncearound]

I'm sure this has been discussed at length on here but we are really keen to adopt a dog and having real difficulty.
My dc are ages 2,8 and 12, I work part time so only out for a maximum of four hours twice a week and finances aren't an issue at all.
We've passed a home check for two rescues (one local one national) but there just don't seem to be any dogs available that suit us. We initially thought a greyhound would suit us so fostered one for a little while and found it just too big so we would like a fairly small dog.
We don't want a puppy or an 'old' dog but are having real trouble finding one... Only other thing is that my mums dog is petrified of Staffys so would prefer not to have one of them.

I'm not planning on buying one from anywhere other than a rescue and puppies aren't an option- are there any avenues I haven't considered?!
We are just south of Birmingham if anyone has any suggestions!

How small do you want?

If you liked everything about the greyhound other than the size have you considered whippets? Or small lurchers?

There are a couple of whippet specific rescues which rehome nationally; Just Whippets Rescue and JR Whippet Rescue.

There are quite a lot of lucher/sighthound specific rescues up and down the country, many of whom will rehome nationally.

We had a home check through GRWE so we were open to lurchers or whippets but the greyhound was a small one and we still found it pretty big. Although it wasn't an issue in the house, we couldn't fit everything in the car when we were all in it! We did see numerous lurchers when we visited the rescue and they all seemed bigger than we anticipated.
As to how small we want, I'm not too fussy. Possibly the smaller the better but being good with the dc and behaviour etc are more important.

I was given a Jack Russell 3.5 years ago. A year later I had my dd. He is a very chilled jack Russell (doesn't bark & loves my dd and all her toddler buddies) and is the perfect size for our small house. With the right training, jack Russell's are smart, good listeners & a great pet for little ones. I totally trust him around dd. I got given him by a family who 'didn't have time for him anymore' and found him on gumtree...worth a look.... People often give pets away if their lives are too busy. Sad but true

If there is a breed you like then most will also have a specific breed rescue. I think sometimes it does take time for the right dog for you to turn up. Have you tried rescue centres farther afield? There may be more choice if you start looking a bit further away.

Black Retriever X rescue are excellent. Facebook

We've adopted from them with 3 children aged 5, 7 & 9

Thanks. I haven't resorted to gumtree etc as want a rescue with back up etc in future. I've gone pretty far afield but a lot of the smaller rescues are hard to locate! Will check out the link, thanks.

My current lovely dog came from B'ham Dogs Home. Yes they get a far amount of staffies but they also have many other dogs who come in too. Staff do NOT place a dog up for rehoming until they have got to know them and have a good idea of their temprament. They also offer a three week return and have a dog behaviourist support. Might be worth contacting them and asking if they have any potentially suitable dogs who would be a good match for your home situation.

The RSPCA Bham have dogs who come in from time to time who are loved family pets whose family circumstances have changed and the RSPCA have stepped in to help rehome to another loving home. Again ask them.
Pattering Paws covers the West Mids and foster homes its dogs sowill know which dogs are happy with younger children.

I got my gorgeous working cocker from RSPCA. Fully trained (to the gun - not that we work her), too.
It was pure coincidence - we were actually in there browsing for cats, weren't planning to start looking for dog for few months till dh started working from home (we found her so he started earlier than planned!)
She was not available for re homing when we were in, so dh phoned first thing the next morning, and they reserved her for us if we could get in to meet her in the next few hours - they took numerous calls about her in the mean time.
So I'm convinced you can find the right, smallish, family dog, from your local rescue centres - it might just take a bit of time, luck, and regular visits!
Good luck.

Wythall Animal Sanctuary - Coco.

My PILs have had two dogs from Wythall, both lovely.

Also try EGLR and Lurcher Link. They might not have the right dog straight away, but will be able to match you up with one that suits your family when one does come in. Many rescues don't have all their dogs on their website, so it's worth enquiring. Something Whippet sized might suit.

Another vote here for EGLR. We have an adorable dinky lurcher girl from there - she is so small she walks underneath our greyhounds' tummies. Quite a lot of lurchers have whippet in them so come in pretty small and neat, and EGLR have a nice feature on their website which allows you to search by child friendliness. All their dogs are kept in foster before adoption so there is always a good deal of knowledge and understanding.

Try The Animal House Rescue - we were all set to adopt a toy poodle from there until it became apparent she'd need to be an only dog. They're brilliant :)

I'd say just keep on trying. We had to keep on visiting rescues and asking about dogs for about 6 months before we found each of ours, but eventually dogs did come up which fit exactly into our home. Ds2 was only 2 years old when we got ddog 1 as well.

Ddog1 is a whippet and we did look at a few small greyhounds when searching for ddog2, but felt they would be a bit big (or rather ddog1 seemed to feel they were). Eventually we found ddog2, who is a whippet/greyhound cross (we think) and is only about an inch taller and 4 kg heavier than our whippet. Both were from well-known national rescues

We rescued our dog via Balkan Underdogs; he is amazing with children