What breed for our first family pup?

[tishpish]

Hello basically as the title says we are wanting to add a furry addition to the family now our youngest child is almost 5 we are pretty clueless about what breed suits us best so hoping someone could help me here , abit about us we our quite active an enjoy walks but not hobby walkers or anything but we like being outdoors, we could offer 2 good walks a day. I'm a stay at home mum currently with no plans to return to work for at least a year so I have all the time in the world to train we don't want anything to bouncy that could knock our youngest child down. Can anyone with experience give me some directions to go for a nice family dog breed please , thanks in advance

Labs and Staffies are nice and sensible, easy to train. Watch with introducing a pup to a young child, as many go through the baby shark phase, plus send small children flying like skittles.

Rough collie. Fab with kids, the puppy stage has been fine really. Lowish odour. Not mouthy. Like being with the herd and round you up. Easy to groom - five mins with a slicker brush does it.

Labs and Staffies are nice and sensible
Are they?!?!
They are some of the bounciest, liveliest, mouthiest breeds there are in my experience!
Despite the size difference they are both very strong aswell.

Do anyone have experience of sprockers?

We have a 5 month old Staffie and I've a 4 & 6 year old boys

I've found our puppy the most laid back chilled dog ever, and he has been fantastic with the kids , he has been so easy to train and I can take him anywhere and he just sits at my feet, no bother at all which I've found really handy with the kids as we are out and about a lot so I need a calm portable well behaved dog.

He is my first puppy but not my first dog, I have had staffies before and we picked a Staffie again because of there temperament with kids, they are Fantastic family dog and mega easy to train.

Cocker spaniels are some of the bounciest dogs you can get and a sprocker would be a bigger version. We love our lab puppy but he was/ can still be quite bitey!

We have a springer - yes bouncy but they really are the perfect family dog! (I know I am biased!)
So long he has his decent daily walk he will have a siesta after lunch then nap til dinner then have a post dinner nap til bedtime

Sprockers have excellent temperaments but are very energetic and need huge amounts of mental stimulation as well as physical exercise.

I second staffies although they are very capable of knocking a small child over but tbh most breeds can if their over excited.

@Indoctro
Where oh where did you find a breeder for your pup. I keep coming across breeders that are claiming their pups are full SBT when they're clearly not or they're advertising huge litters of blue SBT for about £3000

@FawkesThePhoenix

I second staffies although they are very capable of knocking a small child over but tbh most breeds can if their over excited.

@Indoctro
Where oh where did you find a breeder for your pup. I keep coming across breeders that are claiming their pups are full SBT when they're clearly not or they're advertising huge litters of blue SBT for about £3000

Hi . I contacted my local breed club which I found the details on Facebook, all the Stafford breed club details are on there , then I waited patiently (18 months) to be put in contact with a show breeder who was having a litter, it seems the show breeders have litters every few years so you just need to be prepared to wait. But you will know you are getting a quality show standard dog bred for its temperament and not bred at all for money . I paid £1000 for him. Which was roughly the correct price pre covid

Please don't buy a blue they are destroying the breed and plagued by skin issues. Over 60% of Stafford's registered now are blue and they are slowly pushing out the true colours . You won't find show people with blues. Just the standard original colours black , tan etc. Which of course they show in the ring. It's definitely worth the wait . Good luck

Do not get a jack Russell terriers. I used to work in a shelter and the turn over of them was insane. Always about a year old and always the same story. People took them on thinking they are little and cute and can't be that much work. They are amazing dogs but exceptionally high energy.

I'd look at a king charles or cocker spaniels. They're nice family dogs and not too big. We had a Westie growing up and she was so amazing esp with kids

@Indoctro

Thank you!

I'm not on Facebook but I could make one solely for the purposes of looking for a breeder but I worry that would make me look quite suspicious with no friends or photos etc.

Ahhhh the litters of blue's everywhere are driving me crazy. Most of them are far to tall to be staffies anyway. This used to quite a rare colour but every bloody litter nowadays is blue. I can really picture myself with a little black or brindle one. I had tan girl growing up. I said to my partner the other day that most families want a staffie for temperament not looks but these days they're mixing bully breeds in to get the blue colour (as pointed out by a poster on another thread) which then messes with the temperament and health.

Anyway, OP sorry for taking over your thread....back to it

A staffy. Daft things that look tough but are very lazy and soppy.

Just here to lol at the idea of lab puppies being sensible!

Will it be your first dog or just your first as a family?

For a first time owner, Toy breeds are often a good place to start (they’re not all miniature, like Chihuahuas). Mainly because they were developed to be companions first and foremost and not to work all day. That said, they can have a tendency to separation anxiety and toilet training can take a bit longer with some of them. Socialisation and training is just as important as with larger breeds, but often overlooked, hence some toy breeds getting a bad rep, as they have often been treated like spoiled children and/or overprotected. A well socialised, well trained toy breed is usually a delightful companion, but you do have to put the work in the same as any other breed.

Something like a Bichon Frise would be a good match, if you are ok with the coat care.

Gun dogs are popular with first time owners, as people see them as biddable and trainable, but you have to consider working vs show lines and that adolescence can be er, interesting, with some. The beautiful, biddable ones people admire are usually the result of lots of patience and consistent training, as well as coming from good lines.

I also agree, well bred Staffies make lovely family pets.

For me, personally, when we had young dcs, the ideal pup turned out to be a Lurcher. He ended up with us as a rescue pup when we weren’t actually wanting another dog, as we already had two, plus two dcs under the age of four, but he was amazing from day one and still is at almost 16. He’s also the bff of my ds who was 18 months old when he arrived as a pup. He was barely nippy, easy to toilet train, has always had decent recall and although he loves his walks, he’s a lazy, snoozy boy the rest of the time. Being a mixed breed though, with Lurchers it can very much depend on the mix, as well of course as the character of the individual dog, but Lurcher specific rescues like EGLR and Lurcher Link are great at making good matches and offering back up and support. Pups are occasionally born in the rescue’s care and then have the advantage of a great start in life. My boy wasn’t, he was bred to be sold, but given to the rescue when they couldn’t find enough buyers. He was in a fantastic foster though and I honestly believe their hard work and dedication is why he was so good from the get go.

Surely all puppies are bouncy to an extent? I haven't come across a laid back puppy.

Golden Retriever - female- all puppies are bouncy and this one will get big, but more chilled than labs
Schnauzer - standard is my preference but miniatures are lovely and very adaptable to exercise - less or more.
Lab/ Golden retriever cross or retriever/gsd cross - there a reason why so many of these crosses are bred as guide dogs.
All puppies are bitey and bite-inhibition is up there with house training as the first thing you teach your puppy.

But you will know you are getting a quality show standard dog bred for its temperament and not bred at all for money
You must be joking!
Show breeding focuses on looks, a look as close to a ridiculous set of written rules on appearance as possible.
Temperament is secondary to looking as close to the standard as possible.

I said to my partner the other day that most families want a staffie for temperament not looks but these days they're mixing bully breeds in to get the blue colour (as pointed out by a poster on another thread) which then messes with the temperament and health
Um, Staffies are a bull breed...
The clue is in the name.
The Staffordshire bull terrier.

And blue is a dilute of black, black is a common Staffy colours, it is far more likely that in the ‘olden days’ blue pups cropped up naturally now and then and were killed, much like white German shepherds (which the Kennel Club has now classified as white Swiss shepherds ) and White boxers.
No bringing in larger bully breeds required.

It is true that as a dilute blue can bring health problems, like allergies/skin problems, as can the colour white, so they probably shouldn’t be bred for that reason.

Labs make lovely family dogs but like pp. are saying the puppies aren't known for being sensible. They are patient, easy to train, generally very friendly dogs but they're also high energy, stubborn teenagers, bins on legs with no concept of their size.
If you're happy to deal with their chaos while they settle down and learn the ropes then they're perfect but they probably will knock your kids over several times and they are known for being quite mouthy puppies.
I would still recommend one though, most dogs are nightmares as puppies and unless you go for a toy breed they can knock a kid over. Its also worth noting even little dogs need solid training, so many end up in rescues because it was cute to let them be cheeky/let the kids annoy them when they're tiny but when they get older and bite its their fault.
If you are really concerned about the children it could be worth looking at older dogs although I appreciate most rescues won't rehome to children.
Other breeds that could work is sighthound breeds, they're generally pretty chill as long as they're treated well. LabradorXspaniels are also lovely but again you get the hyper puppy stage. I love JRT but they do need firm boundaries and they have the energy of a big dog. You could also look at the different types of retrievers all make lovely family dogs but again they have a lot of energy and need that to be utilised

Yeah, all pups are bouncy and bitey

It’ll be a challenge with young kids

Can you look at friends’ dogs snd how they get on?

I find on MN everyone recommends whatever the breed is they have themselves (that is just because probably all dog breeds are great )

@Powertothepetal
There was no need to be so rude. I meant OTHER bully breeds. Seems I forgot to the the 'OTHER'. You can say that mixing other breeds isnt need but it IS happening because everyone wants blue these days.

Sprockers are batshit mental! Soppiest of dogs but run and run and run. Then jump and bounce! Cocker spaniels less so, as are Cavaliers. Cavs are lovely sweet dogs. Poodle mixes are prone to being a bit neurotic IMO despite everyone having them. I have a small poodle mix and she doesn’t like children! I’d get a cocker spaniel next time round I think.

We have 2 Lhasa Apso and they were so easy to train. We got them at 12 weeks and by 16 weeks they were house trained. They are medium sized dogs. They like a walk but don't need more than 2k at a time. They were bred to guard the Japanese Royal Palaces and are fantastic guard dogs and bark whenever anyone comes near house. Only drawback is their coats grow quickly so need a good brushing daily or we keep ours clipped short. Very cute looking and loving, easy to train tricks and been brilliant with SN child and 2 dgs'.

You can say that mixing other breeds isnt need but it IS happening because everyone wants blue these days
I think you’ve misunderstood what I meant.

Blue is a dilute colour, it’s the dilute version
of black.

As black is a very common colour in staffies it is quite likely that blue is in fact a natural occurrence in the breed and not the result of outcross with other breeds.

Because blue isn’t a ‘standard’ show colour it is very likely that in the past any blue staffs that naturally popped up in a litter were killed hence blue once being very rare.

Nowadays, people don’t tend to kill puppies for being the ‘wrong’ colour, in fact, a lot of people are more attracted to the so called ‘wrong’ colour so breed them deliberately and thus, we now see a lot more ‘non standard’ colours, often, that isn’t the result of an outcross but naturally occurring in the breed.
White GSDs and Boxers being two well known examples, they are 100% pure GSD and Boxer, the white colour has always cropped up now and then, just now those puppies aren’t killed.
I suspect it is the same for blue staffies.

While a blue staff might be more likely to get skin problems and/or allergies the temperament should be unchanged.

And tbh, even if they were outcrossed with another bully breed (and I don’t think they typically are), all the bully breeds are known for being sweet and gentle and tolerant with people overall generally speaking so it really shouldn’t make much difference at all.

We have a pug puppy and he's an amazing family dog. He ADORES kids (and actively prefers them to adults)