Kellys Kennels

[dimsum123]

We are totally novice potential puppy owners. We are considering a cross breed puppy from somewhere such as Kelly's kennels but have no idea if this is advisable and if not then where else to find a suitable puppy.

Neither myself nor DH have ever owned a dog before. We have 2 DCs age 12 and 15. Ideally we would like a family dog, small to medium size, minimal shedding and cute!

We have a friend with a Yorkshire Terrier who we are all in love with (well me and the DCs) but DH would like a slightly bigger dog.

Please help. Any advice at all will be gratefully received!

www.kellyskennels.co.uk/pups/cross-breed/

“Again re grooming, I have no idea what's typical or average?”

With the type of dog you’re talking about (yorkies etc) daily brushing and a professional wash and cut every 6ish weeks. (You’d only need to wash them yourself in between that if there was a particular reason they needed washed, as in, I have a short costed breed, he gets washed about once a year)

Try a rescue OP

Many tears are a rescue mainly for puppy farmed animals. These will be bitches at the end of their breeding life, or older, unsold puppies. Many have never lived in a home or with humans, and it tends to be a requirement that you have an older, stable dog for the rescue to learn how to “dog”, rather than live in a shed and push out puppies.

If they do have puppies they tend to have issues. The last yorkie pup they had had been bred so tiny “teacup” that it couldn’t regulate it’s blood sugar.

@dimsum123 well y'see that's where we are different cause I fell in love with a bald 8 year old greyhound - best dog ever. Greyhounds are amazing animals but if you want a toy sized fluffy pooch then maybe not. I couldn't imagine ever owning one of those.

Angel small paws have quite a few older yorkies, bichons etc that have been given up because elderly owners can’t care for them any more. There are lots of older dogs that end up in rescue because of circumstance.

There are a lot of designer crosses in rescue too- particularly “poos” where ignorant purchasers get them home to discover they aren’t actually hypoallergenic or non shedding. Or they’ve simply underestimated how time consuming puppies are.

I mean this in the nicest way OP. But before you even start looking at potential dogs to actually adopt please do some reading and homework in relation to what is involved in having a dog in the family as you sound as if it's all very new to you. And puppies are harder work than you would imagine.

Yorkies can be sweet little dogs. They look cute and because they're small and you can pick them up a lot of people treat them like babies: dressing them up in silly clothes, bows in their hair etc - not suggesting that's what you might do - but these are dogs that were originally bred to be sent down mines to catch rats, they're tougher than they look and need to be treated in the same way any larger dog needs to be treated in respect to training and socialisation.

Even the cutest looking dog can, and usually will, become a nasty snappy yappy monster if not properly socialised or trained.

Thank you very much everyone, this has all been very helpful.

I am going to get in touch with Battersea and take it from there. Useful to know the cute ones get snapped up very quickly so don't make it onto the website, and also that not all the dogs were there because of mistreatment. And yes we will go for an older dog rather than a puppy. Thanks again to all of you.

missbattenburg
thank you for the link to the petition - have signed and passed the info onto doggie loving friends
I did not hear anything about this petition before but good to see it has reached the 100,000 mark.
I feel the only way to stop this horrendous trend is licensing of breeders and education of the public (sadly there is a lack of understanding amongst the public about how cruel puppy farms and backstreet breeding is if they only see the fluffball puppy as the end result).
OP - not getting at you personally as you are wisely doing your research

Personally I would never recommend a puppy for a first time owner, they’re so much work and it’s easy to get totally over whelmed.

Ohhh sorry just saw your last post DUH

Puppies are very time consuming. I put it akin to having a new born baby.
I am another who suggests getting on board with several rescues. Puppies do come in but they really not advertised as they have lists of pre approved rescuers.
Older dogs are lovely
I am also one who wants to take home all the older boys and girls home

Personally i'd think twice about getting a puppy unless one of you is home all the time for the first month. We have one and it is harder work than I'd guessed (and we have had dogs before and I read up and spoke to many friends about their puppy experiences). Our pup is a lovely little chap and cute as a button but he gets very stressed if left alone (I can finally go in the loo for a wee and shut the door without him howling the house down!) The amount of time I've spent stood in a wet garden doing toilet training is crazy. I took him out every 20 minutes for the first few weeks. Now it is every 1 - 2 hrs and he is mostly clean (5 weeks on) but he still shit on the doormat last night when over-excited and out of routine! He still wakes me up most nights for at least 1 toilet break. He chews anything and everything lest around including my kindle, a co-axial cable, my daughters headphones etc.. He barks at the hoover - even when it is not on. You can only walk him 15 min per day due to his age so knackering him out is becoming almost impossible!
If you are getting a first dog I'd go for a rescue of a couple of years old. They will hopefully be toilet trained, might settle more quickly to being left alone a little, can be walked a good amount very quickly, less likely to destroy your house and make you stand out in the garden at 1am in the rain!

I second what people have said about approaching rescue centres - you might want to give Poodle Network a call, they have dogs in foster all over the place and will match you to a suitable dog. They don't advertise dogs for rehoming on their website so you do need to be registered with them but you'd get ongoing support, as with any good rescue. We have a miniature poodle (not from them, we got him as a puppy but I couldn't face the puppy stage again so we'd definitely go for an adult rescue once we're ready for dog no 2) and they are fabulous dogs - friendly, clever, lots of energy so do need ongoing training, generally long-lived and not prone to health problems - they are cute and fluffy but need regular brushing and need clipping every 6-8 weeks.