Advice re getting a puppy (Eurasier)

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Apologies for the long post and if a lot of this has been covered in other threads.

Looking to get a puppy, will be a first time owner (as an adult, had one as a child but not in charge)

Am moving house so will finally have a garden which is why I have held off getting one before.

Potential issues are I have a baby (under 1) and normally work full time.

Baby is why I want a puppy rather than an older rescue I don't know the history of.

Re working full time would take time off when getting the puppy to settle and then look at dog walker/day care. Realistically is this practical/fair on the dog?

Having looked at the Kennel club breed quiz one of the suggestions was the Eurasier, medium sized, approx 1 hour exercise per day, supposed to be good with children. Does anyone have any experience with the breed and children?

Any advice/suggestions welcome.

I'm hoping to get a Eurasier in the next couple of years. The plan was to visit breeders this year and get on a waiting list as there are so few puppies born in the UK. A pandemic got in the way of that plan. I grew up with Samoyeds and fully expect to be able to knit a new jumper or two with what comes off the dog. The breed is a mix of chow and spitz and Sammy so it makes sense that some chow aloofness can be in there. The Sammys were real people dogs but yappy and showed the dirt.

Sorry OP but I think you're being a bit foolish here.

What if your dog doesn't like daycare? And even if it does, many won't take puppies under six months, or puppies that haven't been neutered yet as it's too much of a risk for the other dogs. Plus, puppies need a lot more care than an adult dog - they need watching all day long, pretty much.

At home, it will need attention pretty much 24/7 when it's tiny. It only takes a second for them to get into something they shouldn't and with a small child around you're going to need to be even more vigilant. You don't have another adult around to help you out, so if you're going to leave the room, even for a minute, you'll need to make sure either the dog or the baby comes with you. Every single time.

I mean, what if the dog starts peeing/pooping on the floor while you're in the middle of changing the baby? What if you're just getting baby down for a nap and the dog needs to go out? If you ignore the pup and let it toilet inside your toilet training is going to take you forever. What if the dog refuses to go in the garden and you need to walk it to get it to poop? It's pretty common - especially in puppies.

What about when your baby turns into a toddler and wants to run and play and have toys all over the floor? You'll have a teenage dog who I guarantee will want to steal the toys, chew them and generally cause mayhem. There's a reason rescues don't rehome to families with very young children - it's bloody hard work and often doesn't work out.

We don't have children and when we had our puppy, he had me in tears more times than I care to remember. He bit and scratched me to the point of bloodshed, ripped holes in numerous items of clothing, peed and pooped on my floor, ran off on walks (how would you chase him with a baby in tow?), stole food, stole items of clothing/toys/anything left on the side. Do you really want to have to eat with that as well as a baby? It didn't just last a month. It was a good eighteen months before he could reasonably be trusted not to steal things when I left the room!

'Aloof'
Not this Eurasier

My Eurasier was very bonded to us.

She would not have done well in daycare at all. When my mother in law came to babysit my dog would just wait by the window and pine.

She looks gorgeous.

To those mentioning the restrictions on socialising and going out, as a single mum that already exists a dog won't make a difference to that.

I think the best thing is to do more research meet some Eurasiers. Worst case I decide it's not for me but spending the time looking into things isn't exactly a hardship.

I may decide it is the breed for me but not for X years in which case I'm ready for then.

And depending on the waiting list tines for a puppy she definitely won't be a baby anymore ( I think there are only around 3/4 litters a year all with waiting lists) and may not even be a toddler.

Hi @IreneWinters, I saw your post about your Euraiser pup. We have a boy Eurasier could I ask when you say she was snappy. What age did this happen/finish. Was it certain things or people that would set her off? And what did you do? Does she still do it? The reason I ask our is our dog has started to do similar

Hi @CharlotteB87 (IreneWinters here, I name changed). I think the snapping started after she had grown out of the puppy biting stage and was getting into the adolescent stage, so maybe 6 months or so? She definitely went through quite a strong fear period and it seemed to coincide with that. How old is your dog?

I think the main problem was with us not reading her body language correctly. My DD2 especially found it difficult, and I was constantly telling her to leave the dog be.

Read up about trigger stacking (I think that’s what it’s called). I found that new places, new people, the car, loud noises etc would stress her out. She could deal with one, but the more you added in, the more likely she would be to react. So a long drive in the car to an unknown holiday cottage, where we met up with family she’d never met before, added up to a very stressed dog and was just asking for trouble. I’d never put her in that position again. If we were to plan a big family holiday like that again, she’d be spending the week with the dog sitter (who she absolutely adores, thank goodness!).

DDog is now 3 and is far more chilled. I think she calmed down around age 2. She’ll still occasionally give a warning air snap if someone is bothering her, and she’s recently started giving a bit of a warning growl if she’s unhappy, which I am thrilled about! I have strict rules for the DC, in particular if they have friends around, they must go upstairs to their bedrooms rather than being downstairs, as the layout of the house means there’s nowhere to separate the dog.