Rehoming with children

[DueyCheatemAndHow]

Our children are currently 1 and 3. I have no intention of getting getting dog before they are about 7 I guess. But I have wanted a dog since I was 5. I'd love to rescue.

But I've just had a few searches looking and there are just no dogs for people with primary aged children!

Am I missing some great charities? We've so much love to give and we'd so prefer to rescue when the time comes

Smaller rescues are your best bet but the reason rescues are so reluctant to rehome with small children is because they don't want to get blamed if something goes wrong and the dog bites one of the children or turns out to be unsuitable.

Many rescues also have behavioural issues or upsetting backgrounds (not all, but many) which means they're not suitable to live in homes with young and unpredictable children.

Yes I see that, so many poor souls nervous etc.

I guess puppy it is. I'm so desperate!!!

It's really tricky having a dog and small children - I know someone whose well meaning 3yo loves dogs so much that they will give them a hug. Which would be more accurately described as putting the dog in a headlock.... thankfully the DM knows this is unwise, and the dog that the DC comes into contact with most frequently is a saint. Would I trust my own rescue dog with that DC? Not unless I was supervising extremely closely, to an extent that would be impractical in a family house.

Sometimes dogs do come into rescue that have lives with children previously but have had to be rehomed because of a house move or some other external factor. They are, however, snapped up very quickly.

I would anticipate getting a puppy and consider adding a rescue when the kids are older - perhaps secondary school age. Some rescues (example: Many Tears, who take a lot of ex breeding dogs) look for homes with an existing confident dog to show the new rescue dog the ropes of home life. Thankfully you've plenty of time to research good breeders and get on waiting lists for future litters.

Rescues still bit weird compared to pre-covid so situation may well change if actually planning to adopt in a few years time. Easy to home dogs often don't even make the websites though. There's a lot of young dogs at the moment that are requiring more rehab in rescue and not as easy to place, in past maybe just lacking some consistent training, its probably results of the lockdown inexperienced owners and poor breeding (nervous disposition).

Many rescues have minimum 5yrs+ for children which is understandable. Dogs trust does have a 'pre-school child' in search options so clearly hasn't ruled out but very few dogs would necessarily be suitable compared to older children. Greyhound Trust branches tend to be pretty flexible and smaller rescues often go by each dogs requirements rather than set a blanket rule.

Even with puppies and pre-school kids they nip, scratch, risk developing resource guarding if not worked on, pup may injure child being boisterous or even other way around, also having the time to invest in pup & everything else. Many youngsters are given up as turned out to be harder than owner expected or as problems arise.

Basically, easy dogs who can be rehomed with small children just don't go on the rescue websites. When you are ready (and logistically, under 7's and a new dog/puppy are just really hard as you are unlikely to have enough emotional energy to devote to the dog), then contact smaller rescues, talk to them, get on their social media, and accept that getting any dog isn't a case of there being one just waiting for you, you need to wait for the right dog to turn up. I foster for EGLR, and we rehome to families with small children if the match is right both ways, but the dogs who are suitable will go on FB and we'll have lots of people calling immediately so they never go on the website - the ones who are around long enough for someone to do that will have more problems

A bit left field but ... I saw that channel 4 are now recruiting participants for the next series of The Doghouse. They sometimes have families with younger children taking part. Perhaps you should apply and get your rescue dog that way.

I have seen dogs suitable for primary school aged children through rescues BUT the demand for them is so high they may only be on a website mere hours before they've been reserved and taken off again! If they ever hit the website at all.

Scrolling through websites only shows you some of the dogs a rescue has in, not all of them, it's never the full picture.

Dogs Trust (at time of posting) have 17 listed across all their centres that could live with primary school age children. I suspect the number will change as the day goes on:
www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/dogs/filters/~~~~~n~~pri

There's 9 listed on RSPCA, but 3 are already reserved:
www.rspca.org.uk/findapet?p_p_id=petSearch2016_WAR_ptlPetRehomingPortlets&p_p_lifecycle=1&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_petSearch2016_WAR_ptlPetRehomingPortlets_action=search#onSubmitSetHere

Sadly a lot of dogs who are signed over to rescue may have ended up there precisely because they didn't get on with young children - maybe too boisterous, too nippy, too anxious or have resource guarding issues. Or they have never been around children at all.

Greyhound rehoming places tend to be more flexible as the dogs have usually had a fairly settled upbringing, but they will still be looking for children who know to be quiet and gentle with dogs, and parents who know never to leave kids and dogs unsupervised - it's not a free pass. I've known some extremely stolid and tolerant greyhounds but you'd definitely need the right dog for the right family.

We also have a cat which has probably altered the results I'm getting. 17 is more hopeful than none!

Yes a cat will be throwing a spanner in the works. A lot of dogs are also signed over for not getting on with other pets in the home, or may be known to chase wildlife, or may show a high prey drive when in kennels, so won't be rehomed with cats.

Also, even when a dog has previously got on with cats in their old home, doesn't necessarily mean they'll get on with YOUR cat. I have heard instances of dogs who had been fine with cats, going to home with new cats, and chasing, bullying and just really not getting on at all.