First time potential dog owners - choosing a breed

[gerbo]

First time poster here.

My dc are 11 and 14 and were thinking of getting a dog. We have a small 3 bed in a town in the Chilterns so great walking nearby. We would prefer a small dog which needs medium exercise amounts (?1-2 hours a day tops).

We would prefer a calm breed, our children obviously aren't bouncy anymore more which makes things easier.

I work four short days (8-345) and dh will be at home 3 ish days a week.
Do you think this would maybe work? With a dog Walker on days when I'm out longer?

Just starting to think about this, at initial stages!! Breeds which have popped out on lists so far are: daschund, English bulldog, King Charles spaniel, affenspischer.....

I think we'd prefer a puppy rather than a rescue just in terms of knowing the dogs history/raising it from scratch.

I'm a complete novice so please be gentle! Thanks. Any advice gratefully received. Like I said, we're complete beginners!

We have an 11 week labradoodle, both working from home at the moment and got the forseeable.

Our boy is pretty chilled out, but he does have manic moments and you need to watch like a hawk. But H works at the kitchen table with the door open and so toilet training has been ok and he sleeps most of the day so H has managed to work.

But I wouldn’t leave him yet. We will start getting him used to a crate and being left for short periods in case we need to nip out to shops or something. But right now I couldn’t picture him being left longer than and hour or two (and that won’t be for a while yet).

It is a bit like having a baby, but we know he will grow up quicker. But we were realistic that it would be intense for 6-12 moths, which is why lockdown worked well for us.

@Highwoman

Why don't you wait until the beginning of the summer holidays?

Because you can't just rock up and buy a dog, there's a lot of prep work (or there should be). If OP starts to think about it now and makes contact with breeders/rescues, she'd still be very lucky to get a dog by the summer holidays.

@gerbo No experience of those rescues myself, I know three people with Romanian rescues and they're getting on fine. You just have to be aware they may have been street dogs and may have behavioural issues or be escape artists. That put me off, as a first-time owner. Maybe in the future. You almost definitely will have to wait a while. Demand is massive at the moment.

I've not had a new pup for a long time but I would have thought it'd be possible to find one which will be available in June.

@Highwoman

I've not had a new pup for a long time but I would have thought it'd be possible to find one which will be available in June.

Waiting lists at the moment (for a good, well bred dog) are years long.

There seem to be an awful lot of dogs that are ex street dogs with a stint in a pound that are described as being good with children, dogs, cats, being left alone... it seems unlikely that so many are all those things with that background...

Agree with this. My friend took on a rescue from Romania. They were told it was great with kids. It arrived a nervous wreck and refused to leave it's crate for nigh in a month. Was terrified of the kids and just trembled constantly. After about 6 weeks they rehomed it to a childless household. It's happier now. I think some of these agencies will say anything to get you to take the dogs....

I think it could work if you can get a month at home to get pup toilet trained and settled.

After that, as you say DH will be home for most of the week and on the other two days you could get a dog walker to come in at 10am and take it out for an hour. Please don’t underestimate the cost of owning a dog, ours is relatively small but still we spend about £130 a month by the time food, insurance, worming, Grooming he’s taken into account. That’s without dog care which can add another £50-£100 a week!
The amount of time puppies take up can also be grossly overestimated. You need to imagine stopping what you’re doing every 20 minutes to half an hour to stand outside in the garden with the puppy to pee. Then the training, we spent probably half an hour a day, and the play plus the feeding and extra cleaning, washing and daily hour walk that goes with keeping a dog. It’s totally worth it though!

Greyhounds are magnificent creatures, usually fairly calm and placid, enjoy turning themselves into pretzels when sleeping, only need short amounts of exercise. If you want something a bit more exotic you could look at Galgo's

That picture is of a Galgo cross Podenco I think, isn't he gorgeous ?

Pointers make great family pets too, they do need quite a bit of exercise, but are lovely natured and there are a few rescues who bring them over from Cyprus where they are abandoned in huge numbers, Rehoming cyprus pointers on FB is a good site to get an idea of the breed and what they require in a home. They can be quite big, but mine would curl up like a cat if there was a space big enough on the sofa

I totally agree with @QueenOfLabradors that you should link up with a walker/daycare ASAP and get the person to come and meet your puppy.

I did puppy visits with a cocker spaniel last summer from eight weeks of age - his owners were home, but upstairs, and I went over and spent 30 minutes with the puppy twice a week. I fed him, let him out the toilet and played with him so he knew who I was and was used to me.

I got a request this morning to start puppy visits and I was absolutely GUTTED that it was about 15 miles outside of my service area lol.

A good walker will work with you from day one (or even before you get your puppy) so don't be afraid to reach out to people before you even get your pup.

Greyhound pretzel

We have a Lhasa apso. He's an absolute dream. He's calm, loving, loyal, well behaved. He's brilliant with kids and being left alone.
He's my first dog and fits into our family perfectly

Another vote for hounds! We've got a Bedlington x Whippet pup and while it was exhausting when he came home in December, he's started to chill out now and is very low maintenance. Loves chilling on the sofa, sleeps lots and doesn't require hours of exercise a day. Very loving and gentle natured.

Dachshunds definitely aren't a low maintenance breed and can be quite volatile. Prone to lots of back problems and don't like being left at all. (My dad took one on as a youngster that actually pined itself to death once it's owner died). We've had them in our family for about 10 years and they aren't really a breed that'll entertain themselves 😂

Thanks everyone for your contributions- I feel I'm getting an education! We've started to notice whippets and greyhounds everywhere!

We're thinking now we'll speak to some rescues around us and register, and see what transpires. There's no huge rush.

A lot of the rescues I've been seeing online seem to say they want to regime within an hours radius of them, due to covid, which could make things trickier.....

Also many dogs (half?) seem to require adult only houses which surprised me.

Has anyone here 'rescued' a dog when they have children?

Also many dogs (half?) seem to require adult only houses which surprised me.

The reason for this is not because the dogs are inherently unsuitable for children, it's because the rescue doesn't know either way, and doesn't want to take the risk.

Unfortunately, everyone is wanting dogs at the moment so it's even harder than normal to find one that's suitable in rescue.

We got our retired greyhound two years ago when DS was 10. We got her through our local branch of the Greyhound Trust who have been great in supporting us as we got to know her. She's very chilled and loves her own space, but is gentle and loves fussing when she's in the mood. DS loves her and somehow all his homework assignments manage to be about greyhounds these days!

I foster for a rescue (current foster puppy is snoring next to me at the moment in fact), and we currently can only rehome up to an hour away due to lockdown - unecessary journeys are not supposed to be made, and DEFRA advice is that we can take the dog to the home, meet the potential family etc within that radius.
We do rehome to families with children, even quite small ones (ds was 5 when we got our first dog from the same rescue), but its all about what is in the dogs best interest, and trying to work out what the dog really needs. Last year I had two sisters who came in at 5 weeks - you might think that they would be perfect for a family. But as they'd left mum far too early one was a right hooligan and would have knocked small children flying and didn't have great bite inhibition. The other was quite shy and worried, and would have been overwhelmed by children and needed to form a close bond with one person. I've had others who would have happily lived with anyone - and sadly others who came back because a child 'decided they didn't like them' or an over tired puppy jumped up and scratched one.

Please leave getting a dog till the autumn or next year. We'll be overrun then. A dog is for the next 15 years, and a few months more won't hurt.

You're absolutely right. Our school summer break is such an unknown now, we may be away, we may not, we may visit relatives around the country. In reality, we'll probably get serious about this in autumn, but I'd like to put out feelers and make contact with some shelters nearby beforehand.

If they say call back in October, I will!

OP, I will not be urging you to get a rescue instead of a puppy but will second what PPs said about puppies needing full time care. I got mine at 9 weeks and for the first two months I was literally either with her or watching her. It was very full on. At around 5 months it got much easier.

Could work out the timings so that you bring the puppy home by the end of the school year so that you at least a summer with it? It will be much easier to manage once you need to get back to work.

I would say try get an older recue dog as sometimes(not always) they would be toilet trained and might be more calm than a younger dog. Do check this out thoroughly with the dog centre though. My friend got a rescue French bull dog (adult) who is extremely calm, no behaviour problems even though it grew up in a puppy farm, doesn’t like walks very much, just likes cuddles. I on the other hand got a rescue staffie (also an adult) who was mental and was an absolute nightmare for the first year, she still can be but I am quite strict so make it work. We’re in London and daycare and dog walkers are very common here, especially for puppies, you can get ones who do puppy visits during the day, where they visit your home several times a day if you’re not there. My dog has been in daycare since the first week I got her, it’s great for socialisation.

Oh and regards shelters, we have two different dog walkers who do overnight stays with a bit of notice. It’s £40 per night but they’re on expensive side, you will find cheaper. Also try BorrowMyDoggy it’s great, well worth the £50 annual fee as I have gotten people to watch my dog for free while at wirk or away for a weekend.

I had a rescue collie x who was fantastic but we had no children then.

Fast forward to ds 1 aged 14 and ds2 aged12, stepson aged 18. Signed up with 2 rescues. 9 months later still no sign of a dog. We looked at Romanian rescues and 4 months later we had a beautiful pulin dog.

She came as being fine with children and cats. She was actually traumatised, didn't sleep at night and would not leave my side AT ALL so we had to take turns doing a night shift with her for the first 2 weeks. We got an animal behaviourist to see her. She needed intense working with and not to be left all at. Sadly she ended up being rehome. We were all upset. We didn't get a dog to do that, but the reality was, she was not the right dog for us and should never have been paired with her.

Fast forward 14 months, we got a sprocker spaniel pup. We need an active dog, theta a lot of us and we all want to walk her. Vast majority of time someone at home. We have my mum and sister for doggy back up.

She's 4.5 months now absolutely lovely. It is getting easier, but it was full on. I don't know how people have a pup and really little kids! It's very time consuming so I would make sure you can put in the time, and as others say, jumping up is a training issues, biting is relentless at times.

It is a choice but an older rescue can be fantastic, just be careful where you go because there can be done awful experiences as well as good ones.

Not an easy decision, but hope you find a dog that suits you all. Good luck.

Calm? Small? Robust? Playful? Excellent Companion?
Its a one horse race a Dandie Dinmont
www.donthibernate.co.uk/dummys-guide-to-dandie-dinmont-terriers/

Whatever you get, definitely worth checking in with a local dog trainer.

Even just a couple of lessons and you'll be able to teach your dog not to pull, be unruly and just generally behave. It's not expensive to do so, but considering you could have a dog 10+ years, it's a very worthwhile investment!

I agree Local professional Gun Dig trainer is excellent, did feel a bit out of place with a fluff ball