Advice - dog novice

[Covert19]

Hi. We are a family of four - children age 12 and 10. We’re moving to a remote countryside location and thinking a dog would be great because we’ll have the space, and it might help with security.

However, neither I nor my husband have experience with dogs. We like other people’s well-behaved dogs but we don’t know the first thing about them. In addition, one of our children hates being licked, but otherwise likes dogs. Are some dogs lickier than others?

Where should we start? Should we research breeds and get a puppy, or go to a rescue place and find a pre-loved older dog?

I do have a very small fear of finding a dog who seems nice but then gets annoyed at my inept handling and suddenly turns ferocious - is that a thing or am I being daft?

(I might turn out to be a dog owner like Jim in Friday Night Dinner.)

Any advice on where to start from seasoned dog people would be gratefully received.

If you’d like to share the worst thing about dog ownership so I know what we’d be letting ourselves in for, that would be good too.

Thanks!

Blue roan cocker spaniel 💜 loads of character, easy to train, very loyal

Almost all puppies go through a long stage of mouthing and can be very nippy, Labradors are very mouthy as pups do that might be upsetting for your son.
An adult dog might suit your family best. If you identify a breed, - poodle sounds like a good choice, you could always approach a number of breeders saying you are looking for a young adult. They sometimes have dogs that haven’t progressed as well in the show ring as hoped, or that have had a litter, and they are happy to sell them on to make way for other dogs. If they are a reputable breed kennel, these dogs will be well socialised with other dogs and humans, used to being groomed and handled by others.
I’ve had one puppy and two adult dogs, two of them bitches and one a dog. I wouldn’t say the two that came as adults were any less bonded with us than the one I had from a pup.

I think the breed quizzes are rubbish personally.
The breed I have suits me down to the ground and it never gets selected!
Always selects breeds I would never in a million years go for!

I would think about dogs from the gundog group, I’m not really into Labradors but maybe setters or spaniels.
I think you need something known to be typically very biddable and sociable.

I did the KC online quiz to see if I could get matched with my actual dogs, and got NO recommendations despite living in the countryside with a big garden, no allergies, happy to do long walks, etc. Not even a Labrador! I worked back through it and realised my downfall was a shocking failure to commit to daily grooming - we give our huge shaggy hound a quick brush once a week, stick her in the shower every 3 months, and she is fine. According to her breeder, that's three showers a year too many. I appreciate the KC is trying to instil responsible ownership but not all of the guidelines are totally realistic.

As a side note, although the huge shaggy hound has a pretty resonant woof, it's actually the elderly terrier who's the more efficient burglar alarm. Border terriers are great family dogs: pretty hardy, amiable, playful, low grooming (although like all dogs, they shed), easy to pick up and remove from situations, small poos.