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

I’ve just looked at our local rescue centre. Out of 12, five are staffies
Which means 7 aren’t.
The rescues are not ‘full’ of staffies.
That just isn’t true.
My local has two, your local has five out of twelve, a quick scan of my closest dogs trust branch website yesterday evening too revealed mostly greyhounds and small terriers again, only three or four staffies.
Battersea has 12 listed as available, mostly greyhounds again and small terriers.
Are you seeing a pattern here..?
How many staffies listed available st Battersea?
Three.
Staffies are very popular family pets for good reason, if they really were what the Daily Fail claimed they would have fallen out of favour a long time ago.
Yet they are still as popular as ever.

Isn't it a well-known fact that the majority of dogs in rescues are Staffies and retired racing Greyhounds? I have also always found it off why so many were given up when people keep recommending them as family dogs 🤷‍♀️ Seems a paradox.

Isn't it a well-known fact that the majority of dogs in rescues are Staffies and retired racing Greyhounds? I have also always found it off why so many were given up when people keep recommending them as family dogs 🤷‍♀️ Seems a paradox
Whenever I’ve look up rescue pages it’s mostly small JRT type terriers, greyhounds, collies and staffies.
I’ve seen a fair few labs and spaniels too.

I think saying the majority in rescue are staffies or that rescues are full of them is a bit off tbh.

I don’t understand why greyhounds are recommended as family pets but I’ve yet to meet a Staffy that wasn’t very people friendly

@XelaM my experience in shelters were we got A LOT of JRTs but the turnover of them was huge...they got adopted out again very fast. We had quite a lot of greyhounds and staffies too but they tended to be there for longer sadly as they were all such wonderful dogs whereas the JRTs were a bit mad

@islaviolent

We have just got our first family dog . She's a Border Terrier. She's been easy to train and she's a brilliant with the kids . Fitted in perfectly with our family.

We went through a Kennel club assured breeder , who has done all the health checks etc , and we weren't charged a ridiculous price for her less than £900.

We've also recently got a Border Terrier pup as our first family dog. She's absolutely lovely, is great so far with the kids and is picking up training amazingly quickly.

Controversial I know, but my friend has a cockapoo who is the friendliest dog I know, and equally happy bounding along for a walk as chilling at home. Just I guess hard to find a non puppy farmed one.

@XelaM

Isn't it a well-known fact that the majority of dogs in rescues are Staffies and retired racing Greyhounds? I have also always found it off why so many were given up when people keep recommending them as family dogs 🤷‍♀️ Seems a paradox.

Well it’s something people say a lot, but I’m not sure that makes it a fact.

Also… most “staffies” in rescues are crosses of various breeds that just happen to be staffy shaped. A well bred staffy is a very different dog really.

If you include all those crossed and the KC registered staffies, they’re easily the most numerous breed in the uk, so you’re always going to get a higher proportion in rescues.

Our local rescue seems to be getting a lot of French Bulldogs that have been abandoned with serious health problems.

It appears that although people will pay a lot for a puppy, they don't want to pay the vet's bills when things go wrong due to the dogs being poorly bred.
Actually, some of them are puppies straight from the breeder because they know they can't sell them but won't pay for treatment they need.

There used to be so many staffies in rescues because they could be purchased cheaply, they look the part and can be trained to be aggressive. Nowadays people arn't willing to pay the £2-3000 that they're being advertised for on pets for homes for a plane old staffy. Other 'feirce' and trendy looking breeds have taken over such as American Bulldogs and cane corso's. The rescues will be full of those soon once people realise that owning a dog is more than just looking good.

My absolute favourites of the "aggressive-looking" breeds are American bullies. They look like gorgeous mini-tanks but the ones I have met have been (HUGE) sweethearts.

*I think the ones I mean are called American "pocket" bullies (the are quite short but are HUGE otherwise) - like a real-life mini-tank. They look very menacing from afar, but are meant to have lovely temperaments. The ones I've met think they are the size of a yorkie and one nearly knocked over my very tall 11-year-old daughter with her friendly greeting

You don’t mean these monstrosities surely?!
They are a fucking abomination.
Dogs are living, breathing creatures, they are not toys.
There is no way the confirmation of that dog does not seriously hamper its ability to live life as a normal dog.

Omg the ear clipping 😔

The ear clipped ones are (you’d hope!) imported as ear cropping is illegal in the UK.
Same breed with natural ears.

So depressing.
Those tiny legs, thick heavy set body and flat face mean that dog will never be able to run, jump, play and breathe like a normal dog.

King Charles cavalier, my gran has one

www.pets4homes.co.uk/dog-breeds/cavalier-king-charles-spaniel/

This breed. Very child friendly

King Charles cavalier, my gran has one

I love them, but the heart issues are huge problem and the vast majority develop heart problems, which then progress making the dogs quite sick.

Not great for small kids. Especially, if you have small kids as they can develops heart problems and start going down hill from very young.

@Powertothepetal They are the ones I meant! I met a few of them recently and all were very friendly despite looking like small houses. I actually loved them in real life. Apparently they are meant to be family-friendly dogs, but I would never get one myself as you never know whether they will be bread properly to have nice temperaments. I wouldn't fancy my chances with a dog of that size/strength if it turned on me/anyone else.

I don't know about their health issues though.

@caringcarer

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'.

It's funny how different Lhasas can be. Ive just lost my 15 year old Lhasa Apso. A beautiful dog, I loved him so much but he's always been quite snappy. He had been declining quite a bit the last few weeks and I'd been agonising over when was the right time to take him to be pts as he really wasn't a happy boy. He actually bit me last week (my fault to a degree as I stupidly put my finger in his mouth to retrieve something I thought he was choking on) but I've had to have plastic surgery to re-attach my fingertip. I probably wouldn't recommend this breed to someone with young children but that's just because of my own personal experience. I on the other hand would still have another.

@Immaculatemisconception

The rescues are full of Staffies, so I question the advice to get one. My vote goes to a bitch Golden Retriever.

Because they are by far the most popular dogs in the uk and out number any other breed . Unfortunately statistics only take in account registered breeds so they don't show as No1 as millions aren't registered. They are a very popular dog.

They are the ones I meant! I met a few of them recently and all were very friendly despite looking like small houses. I actually loved them in real life. Apparently they are meant to be family-friendly dogs, but I would never get one myself as you never know whether they will be bread properly to have nice temperaments
They are also known as ‘Pocket pits’ as they are intended to be the miniature version of the banned pit bull terrier.
I find it quite unbelievable that they are gaining so much popularity when if you added 10 inches or so in height people would be running to the police.

Pit bulls often are lovely family friendly dogs anyway, they were (still are) bred for dog fighting, they have never been bred to show aggression to people, only other dogs.

I wouldn't fancy my chances with a dog of that size/strength if it turned on me/anyone else
Someone on my school route has one, it isn’t capable of walking more than a few minutes, it walks a bit then gets picked up.
I very much doubt a dog of such appalling stamina would be able to muster much of an attack tbh.

@Bamaluz

Our local rescue seems to be getting a lot of French Bulldogs that have been abandoned with serious health problems.

It appears that although people will pay a lot for a puppy, they don't want to pay the vet's bills when things go wrong due to the dogs being poorly bred.
Actually, some of them are puppies straight from the breeder because they know they can't sell them but won't pay for treatment they need.

This idiot for example. Clearly bought the dog for its 'cute flat face' and now needs to sell him due to erm... going on holiday?! I wonder if heath issues are the real reason.

www.pets4homes.co.uk/classifieds/3424190-french-bulldog-for-sale-london.html

www.perfectdogbreeds.com/australian-labradoodle/

I would spend time going for walks and seeing other dogs (dragging a 5 year old in the rain might not always be fun!) take your time in exploring breeds - as other said if you go to see the litter will be hard to walk away!!

We have a Springer spaniel, I grew up with labs and retrievers so wanted a similar dog but smaller! She is well trained and we’ve worked hard for this. Bonkers on a walk and chilled when home - we waited to our children where older than yours (youngest was 8) so the kids easier to train to!! My friend has a springador and it has all the worst bits of both dogs! Human dust bin nothing can be left on the floor, has bad separation anxiety size of a lab and will sit on you - a lovely dog but would send a child flying in the garden as it’s crackers !! But hasn’t been trained properly and I think that’s the biggest thing - train from young! Long term will help!
Don’t rush we took around 6 months to find the right dog and accepted how HARD the puppy bit is and then the training regression !
Good breeders as well, 5 years later we still friends with ours (they only had one litter) and we meet regularly. They also turned people away from buying if they thought the family set up wasn’t right etc

We got a Golden Retriever (male) for our first family dog.
Soppy, soft mouthed, gentle with existing family pets (cats).
Shed like a dandelion clock.
Very smart to the point of stubborn, you always have to be one step ahead of them.
Sense of humour.
I have two springers and a Golden Doodle now.
The Golden Doodle is a mouthy non shedding version of the Golden Retriever.