Best big dog with kids?

[SnotRags]

What big/giant dog breed would you recommend with small children? Nothing too excitable/energetic but with a bit of intelligence and willingness to train in obedience.

Giants, IME Newfoundlands are barky.
Yes, tabula, my Newfie is very barky. She always lets us know when someone walks past or a bird lands in the garden, or the sun is shining the wrong way.

She gets very offended when the post comes and falls on her (and thus is not a fan of the postman), but insists on sleeping by the front door so really you'd think she'd have learned by now.

@emsmar totally agree. Such a misconception about rottweilers. At least people with this skewed view don't own them, which is probably a good thing as they know nothing about them clearly.

Give me a well bread, well socialised large/giant breed, bread with its temperament as a priority any day. It's always the little savage ones that (try to) attack my boy! He mostly just stands there looking at me confused... he's so steady I think a b*mb could go off and he'd barely notice, and he's only young still.

Any dog is capable of attacking an adult or a child regardless of breed. Bad dogs/bad owners and all that...

Dobermann

@EffYou

We have a German shepherd. 1/10, do not recommend.

Can I ask why?

Golden retriever. But you'll suddenly notice you got shag carpeting at the same time as the dog...

I have always fancied a Leonberger, however I think big dogs take up a lot of space!

“They may be extremely nice dogs, but if they choose to attack there is almost zero chance of being able to overpower the dog. Why would anyone want to have a dog with young kids that is pure muscle and can overpower any grown man let alone a child.”

Um... they’re no stronger or more muscular than any similar sized dog... they’re also not as big as people seem to think they are, though a lot of people keep them overweight because they’re supposed to be stocky I’ve met show strain labs and retrievers that are much bigger than most Rottweilers.

“Yes, tabula, my Newfie is very barky. She always lets us know when someone walks past or a bird lands in the garden, or the sun is shining the wrong way.

She gets very offended when the post comes and falls on her (and thus is not a fan of the postman), but insists on sleeping by the front door so really you'd think she'd have learned by now. grin”

I worked as a courier for a while, that’s what I’m basing that on, lol. Every Newfie was very good at letting them know when I was there.

When u was bitten by a golden retriever (prob 11/12 years ago) that was the most common breed for dog bites so it does change

The number of those dogs really scew the numbers

But also imo the reason there are so many rude labs and retrievers is because people don't bother to train them properly, that is certainly why I was bitten. They are naturally good tempered and docile so people with no clue can (not always!!) but them and don't train them properly and then BAM disaster. You get a harder breed like a dob etc you bet the owner makes sure it's trained right

Anyway just my thoughts

There's a massive rude untrained leonburger in our village. Flipping things ran across an entire field (over 5 min walk) to me and one of my dogs with the owner useless in the corner yelling at it. Jumped all around me and my boy. Not funny when it's that size. When the owner finally caught up I told her it had terrified my dog and she told me my dog should have told it off!! So my dog had to be so terrified he reacted??? Nice!

There are idiots in all breeds. Buy a dog from good breeders that raise it properly, that suits you and train it. Then you'll have a nice dog

My DH l's family dog was a German Shepherd Doberman cross a lovely and smart, protective and strong boy. We have two mixed breed rescues who have several breed types in their dna but are 60 lbs and one is a wonderful watch dog who saved us one night alerting us to a prowler who managed to run from the cops and elude arrest but he did his job barking and they are wonderful with our son.

My Golden Retriever is the biggest, soppiest, friendliest ball of floof. So is every other Goldie I've met. All beautifully trained too.

Can you go along to some of the breed shows or the All About Dogs Show to speak to some owners, breed club representatives and breeders, maybe even meet some dogs?

Going to Crufts in March so hoping to meet some there ☺️

Still say Newfie with a side order of German shepherd 😉

Our Labrador has been fantastic!

Biddable, calm but playful, quick to learn, happy to be cuddled and downright gorgeous 🙂

Newfoundland

Just came to say... Awwwwwwwww 😍 @Fooshufflewickjbannanapants

Gordon Setter?

German shepherd. Our first GS was 18 mths old when our daughter was born and was brilliant with her and our son born 2 years later. He was smart (not too smart though) obedient, patient and very placid.

If you go for a GS, make sure you have lots of socialisation and puppy and obedience classes. We are on our third GS now and didn't even consider another breed when looking for a new dog