Which dog meets our requirements?

[alessandrae83]

Hey,

please stay with me on this long post. So, we had a dog who recently passed away, he was a crossbreed and had a lot of medical issues unfortunately. As a family we are struggling with life without a dog so are in the process of researching for our next companion. I would not rule out mongrels but would like to know what I am getting. We would also prefer a dog under a year old but are hoping to go down the rescue road rather than from a breeder. Here are our requirements, please advise me which breed you think could be good for us and please do not advise your own just because you are in love with your dog if it won't be right for us. Thank you.

1. Must be good with children - We have 2 kids aged 9&5. Our house is noisy but our boys know how to respect dogs. They know not to go near dogs when eating or sleeping and they also know to wait for the dog to approach them before interaction and to never hug or pull etc. They of course will never be left unattended with a dog.

2. Exercise - I would be able to manage between 30mins to 1 hour in the daytime and another 30 mins in the evening during weekdays. weekends could possibly be more.

3. We live in a small 3 bed terraced house with a small yard so need a dog that will fit into our house well. ( for exercise we do have parks and woods very close by which i will use daily)

4. preferably a dog who does not bark much as we live in a terraced house. Barking when someone is at the door is ok but other than that no.

5. Grooming - I can commit to grooming a few times a week and getting professionally done every couple of months. I would prefer a dog that doesn't shed as much or hypoallergenic (supposedly) as I have family members who have allergies and they visit a few times a week.

I must admit I am not a huge terrier fan and my last dog was a poodle cross and I now know of so many who had the issues he had so I am quite put off about having anything with poodle/poo in it again.

help! ty

Will you go to training classes or do basic training at home? Walking off lead or mainly on lead.

If you want to do rescue then sometimes it's better to go with no preconceived ideas about breed and just go with the individual personality of the dog. I'm sure you know. Dogs without any issues are rare in rescues. They do come about but you might need to wait a while.

Based on what you've said. A beagle? A Labrador.

A beagle is notoriously a barker so I wouldn't recommend them, but if you're not against a rescue why not go to your local rescue? If the dog has been in foster the fosterer will be able to tell you what they are like in a home environment.

If you want to do rescue then sometimes it's better to go with no preconceived ideas about breed and just go with the individual personality of the dog.

Just what I was about to say!

A lot of your preferences depend on the individual dog. I have a mongrel, staffy x husky and meets your requirements but my nanas staffy doesn't shut up, my friends staffy is very family orientated but my nanas couldn't care less. Just examples how breeds can differ, does your local rescue offer trial periods? My cousin recently rescued a gsd x rottweiler and they offered a few days trial to see how he'd settle with being a rescue.good luck on your hunt!

No breed is guaranteed good with children, it is very much down to individual breeding and experiences/training.

But that said, Staffordshire bull terriers, cavalier King Charles and Golden/Labrador retrievers have a reputation for being particularly good.

My who knows what whippet cross is great. Bursts of running interspersed with lying around. Barks at the door and nothing else.

Does shed.

I would NEVER get a beagle. The one we sat for was greedy, smelly noisy and had no recall.

A staffie fits your requirements! Your local rescue will probably have some but they tend to be strict about homing dogs (any breed) with young children, however good with dogs the child is. I have 2 staffx mongrels, one is a barker but the other not so much, I think its down to personality more than breed.

Dogs that don't shed need their coats clipped every six weeks as it still grows and gets matted.
A cavalier spaniel would suit your needs.

Get a Dalmatian! No home is complete without one 🤪

Staffie, or a Cavalier if you win the lottery and find a rare as rocking-horse-poo healthy one.

My advice would be ignore what each breed should be and go by the individual dog. Each dog is different just like people and u can’t take what u read on the internet as face value.

I say this with experience. Springer spaniels are supposed to be great and friendly. I chose him as I wanted the exercise , training and the friendlyness. Mine didn’t turn out that way and got a dog who was nervous aggressive and got worse and worse no matter what myself and the behaviourist did he didn’t get better. He went for my sons neck in the end.

To be saying all breeds are the same is like saying all people with brown hair are the same.

Whilst there are breed 'traits' the actually things you are looking for e.g. good with children, exercise, barking etc are down to the individual dog as much as anything else.

2) Exercise - I would be able to manage between 30mins to 1 hour in the daytime and another 30 mins in the evening during weekdays. weekends could possibly be more.

Why so little? Do you work?

Rescue greyhound. Or lurcher depending on the mix.

Happy with short amounts of exercise, especially if you have somewhere enclosed for them to run. Rest of the time big loved up fool.

No barking but if you get a Saluki mix they might sing to you.

Whippets fit lots of your list. Mine adores children, barely sheds and only barks ifthere’s Someone at the door.

The downsides are they are extremely people orientated and you can’t leave them alone too long and they can be totally bonkers aspuppies.

SilverFox rescue on Facebook

I didn't think an hour and a half a day of walking was little exercise?

OP - you said it might just be 30 mins am and 30 mins pm. You also said you wanted a young dog. For some breeds (Labrador) that's not enough.

More importantly, does this indicate that you work and the dog will be left alone for long periods of time?

Your op focuses very heavily on what you want from a dog. I'm just trying to establish what you can offer in return. Most reputable rescues won't rehome if a dog is going to be left alone for more than 4 hours on a regular basis.

An hour and half walking on a lead for my dog (spaniel) would be as boring as hell for him. An hour and a half off lead doing hunting, chasing balls etc is completely different.

You need to be a bit more specific on what exercise you can do and whether you would have time in the day for mental stimulation such as training.

Your life will be complete with one of these..

Sorry, let me try to go back a little. As my dog got older, I would be doing at least an hour during the day off on lead/off lead walking if I have a dog that I can teach good recall but if I get a dog I can't seem to teach recall to then it will of course be on lead. In the evening I would walk at least 30 mins on lead. I would also play with the dog at home. I don't work. I have to go on school runs. The dog would be left no more than 1 hour a day whilst I do that. We rarely go out as a couple of family but if we did it would be no more than 4 hours. We would take a dog everywhere we could with us. I would also so mental stimulation games at home with the dog and wouldn't always feed from a bowl. I would use food puzzles etc etc

That sounds great op and I apologise for being suspicious. So many dog owning posters say they work FT but that's okay because their friends do similar. Or else they've just acquired a puppy and taken a couple of weeks off work to settle it in...
You were so specific about the time available for walking through the day that I was worried that was a pre-work or lunchtime walk you were talking about.

But Bitey is right. It depends on the breed and the type of walk. For example, I can take my 12 year old retriever out for a half hour plod through the woods. That's all she can manage. If I take our 2 year old retriever with us, she will come back on her knees because she's spent the whole time chasing squirrels.

A Tibetan terrier?

If I take our 2 year old retriever with us, she will come back on her knees because she's spent the whole time chasing squirrels.

I joke that I run 7km on Saturday but DDog runs about 20. Back and forward and into the bushes and DOG DOG and squirrel and constant nonsense. He's a tired dog by the end.