Any Welsh Terrier owners out there? Can you tell me about them please? (Schnauzer as a back up!)

[deepdarkwood]

We are in the process of convincing DH we need a dog - and went to the Discover Dogs event earlier in the year as part of the persuasion! We all fell absolutely in love with the Weltos - a breed I had previously assumed was a miniature Airedale . We talked to owners on the stand for a while, but they were not surprisingly super positive, and reading around the breed I have serious suspicions they are sadly not a good dog for us.

Our context:

• first time dog owners (both had dogs as kids - in my case a number of challenging breeds!)
• very small back garden (think yard)
• I work from home and walk most lunchtimes for 40mins or so - I will need to build up to leaving the dog a bit, but can certainly be home based to start with
• preteen/teen children - not other pets currently
• I do want a dog we can exercise in the park as well as on walks - i.e. where we can get recall good enough not to worry.

My worry is that a Welsh Terrier:
a) will be hard to train
b) may not be a good off lead dog
c) may just be a bit too much like hard work

My back up breed is a mini Schnauzer, so pretty similar in looks, but (I think) an easier option!

That's interesting, sofato5miles.

Do you feel that both your mum and this other family have put the training time in/have good rules in place? The impression I get is that terriers in general will walk all over you IF you don't establish and maintain clear boundaries.

My mum has been to all sorts of puppy training and he is incredibly well socialised with dogs. But he is a little indulged. We staued thete for a week in the summee and he was great if she was in the room bit not if she was out of it.

The friends, tbh, i don't know.

Sorry for typos. Very fat fingered on my phone!

For cuteness overload

Awww sooo sweet. Really one of the best behaved dogs I know is an Irish Terrier. I do think we can get too hung up about terrier terribleness.

Would try to out-cute you with a photo but I fear that my puppy is so distinctively gorgeous that it would out me. But OP do have a look at Welsh Terrier Guru on Instagram and you will be lost forever...

Just come back from walking the schnauzer and bumped into a Welsh terrier. They had a great run round together. No aggression on either side.

not helping, not helping!

Here's our stubborn Schnauzer, she might look like butter wouldn't melt....

Gorgeous. Ours has just been evicted from DH's spot on the sofa and now having cuddles

Oh my goodness people you are really, really not helping - they are all gorgeousness. Is yours a black & silver BestisWest?

Another schnauzer vote here! Ours is 6 months and an absolute joy. She's super cuddly, really confident around other dogs, but very receptive to their behaviour, doesn't leap all over dogs that don't want to play with her etc. I've had big dogs all my life, but DP wanted a schnauzer and I am so pleased we got her.

Yes, he is black and silver. He gets a lot of attention as most people haven't seen one before. Here he is after a trip to the groomers. He's normally much scruffier.

we love our Airedale not a WT but just saying he's great on or off leash.
does occasionally dig but more of a biannual event than daily or weekly.
excellent with children.
he has been well socialized and is very very good with other dogs.

BestisWest - what a genuinely stunning dog! I must say, my personal preference is either black or black & silver for Schnauzers - although I know it isn't the classic look.

Although yours is supercute too, Snarky - she looks all snuggled and content!

OuttoPasture - thank you for that too - I love, love, love Airdales, but sadly too big for us where we are now :-(

Agghhhh, I now want ALL the dogs!!

This is my Scottie. We have had six and she is perhaps the most 'spirited'. Excellent guard dog. For the whole village. Detests other black bitches (bad experience with a lab). Loves visitors. Good with children. Moderate exercise requirement. Will hunt anything that moves, including waves in the sea.

Definite sense of humour.

Thanks deepdark, we think so, she's black and silver too, just in dire need of a haircut (and a bath)!

Look at Cash! Not a Welshie but close

Oh my gosh, I want Cash (the dog, though £s would be good too). I could have a little and large pair of black-and-tan-gorgeousness.

Cos that would go down well with my DH...

My parents have owned irish terriers, welsh terriers and wire haired fox terriers. In my experience it all depends on the breeding as our first irish was outstanding with children even toddlers but our last one was a biter and was euthanased at 3 years on the advice of the vet after it went for my mum unprovoked, it did just turn on her and she needed lots of stitches to her hand. (still my favourite breed). The welsh was adorable, friendly, good with children and other dogs, unlike the irish 😀 and still behaved like a puppy uptill his death at 15 years old. Our fox was a rescue so was not as child friendly as the others and she liked nothing better than a good scrap with other dogs. I am a terrier fan, they are a nice size and weight dog but you do need to put in some training to get the most out of them, which is the same out of any dog but our terriers unless they knew who the boss was they would off happily stuck two fingers up at you and fucked off if they could!

Although I always had family dogs growing up , when we got our first family dog we got a 15/16 week old puppy from Battersea , he's a patterdale terrier X ( prob with a JRT) and is the ultimate working terrier . He's 6 now and he has pretty good recall and is allowed off lead on beaches and at selected local fields / heaths , he's not trustworthy around livestock , anything small and furry , birds or any type of hole he can get down so he's not allowed off lead in wooded areas or near lakes . He goes off lead every day to chase his tennis balls . He's a fantastic family pet , very loving , particularly likes children and the elderly and easy to train even though I'm pretty sure he's quite thick as dogs go . He's very good with dogs smaller than him / same size but has a thing about bull breeds as he was attacked by a staffy and when on lead doesn't like husky types or big yellow dogs but we are working on that .

Omg how gorgeous is Cash! I really can not have an air dale though . Thank you all (esp for the gorgeous photos!) this is really really helping. I do love patersons too - we met a gorgeous pup in the park and he was the best behaved little thing ever.

I am beginning to feel this is a possibility as long as we are a) absolutely determined and persistent with training b) lucky ;-)

Not got one myself , but my boy ( lab/ springer x) has one that's hos friend. My boy is very large lab size and his welshie friend loves a run/ chase/ wrestle & repeat session, he also runs up to 10 miles a few times a week with his owner, off the lead( not on the road, obs, his owner is into fell running.) Fantastic little dog.

What did you get?

Long time Irish Terrier owner here, but know lots of welshies. I find the Welsh a bit more excitable than the Irish. They are reasonable good with other dogs and fine with kids provided they are treated with respect and given space (the Irish are kid daft, their kids are their whole world). I also find the Welsh to have higher hunting instincts, so their recall can be a bit hit and miss. If I couldn’t have an Irish I would choose a welshie, I think they are incredible little dogs.

Oh and here’s my current Irish boy, just because 😁