Thoughts on children's ages and a puppy

[undermycatsthumb]

We are hoping to get a GR in the coming years and will be first time dog owners. Obviously at the moment there are long waiting lists for the breed, but our youngest child is only 2 so we would want to wait until he is a bit older anyway.
So I just wondered what is the youngest age (of child) would you recommend having a puppy with (specifically a retriever)? Friends have recently had pups with 3 and 5 year olds and it has been fine but the 3 year old in question is very calm.

Funnily enough we ran into a 1.5yo GR on a walk today, he was bouncing around the kids for about 10 minutes while the owner and I chatted. It was good to see the size of him versus them. It set my mind at ease quite a lot about size/potential to take them down (both my boys are tall, strong and absolutely love rough and tumble anyway - not that I would encourage that with a pup but I mean I don't think they'd be upset about being knocked down should it happen) but biting is really the big worry for me. Having to pop out constantly for wees and poos not such an issue as the kids go off and play by themselves together all the time anyway, they are often unattended!

No its normal to put you name down early. Reputable breeders have very long waiting lists. One i know has at least 18 months to 2 years wait but she's really good.

Good luck

We had dogs before children, so the dc grew up with dogs - we then ended up getting a new pup when I had 3 children under the age of 5, at one point we had 4 dogs when the youngest dc was about 6.

We had a huge house and garden though, so lots of space. You definitely need more than one adult around to help manage the interactions and clean up shit

Maybe it's the difference between "dog people who also have children" and "families with children who get a dog"?

Youngest should be school aged, or 7+ ideally. However people's lives/patience/set-ups/children vary enormously so it's not a hard and fast rule. I waited until my son was 8 before I got a puppy and I'm very glad I did!

For me I think the puppy biting stage is the worst bit and I often think how hard that would be with young children. My youngest is 13 and has sensory issues and finds it really hard. My nephew is 8 and would definitely get extremely upset if a puppy was very bitey so regardless of age I would say it definitely depends on personality.