Recommend me medium size, active dog breeds to consider?

[brawhen]

Could you helpful people recommend me dog breeds to consider?

We will be first time dog owners. We would be open to rescuing/adopting a young dog, but I don't think our inexperience puts us in a great position for this. Thus probably looking at a puppy.

There is me, DH and two teen boys. Dog idea is really being led by me, but they are all amenable; DH would definitely get stuck in.

We live rurally (in a small village, national park, direct access to miles of trails). We have recently moved to a large(ish) house, big garden (nearly an acre).

Between DH and I, we work from home 4 days/week. Both of us are full time. 1 day per week dog would ideally come to the office with us (it's our own business, so we are in charge of saying this is fine!). We can cover a fifth day at home for early puppy days, and there are local dog walkers if we wanted to change our mind and use them for the fifth day.

I trail run ~5 days/week and would VERY much like the dog to become a running companion. We can offer lots of weekend walking time, likely including bigger expeditions/hillwalks on many weekends. Definitely 2 good walks/runs per day during the week (and probably additional short ones). I know that the running & long walks will take at least a year to build up to.

Dog would need to do an hour's car commute & back once or twice a week.

I very much like the idea of investing in training the dog. Obviously I've never done it before, but I think (hopefully!) I'd quite like the process. Training good manners and good recall would be high priority. I quite like the idea of gundog-style training, and there are agility classes & similar locally too.

To counter my inexperience (a bit!), I have lots of friends with dogs and a highly recommended trainer very locally.

We're looking for a medium sized dog. To give you an idea, these are breeds I think I might like (though not all for good practical reasons!)

• Cocker/Springer/Sprocker Spaniel - they are good runners, you see lots locally round here, they are beautiful. But reading about them puts me off as everyone says crazy...
• Border Collie - my grandad had one (as a family pet, not working) and I have fond memories. Very trainable. Next door have a super-chilled, well behaved, 10 month old collie - I had assumed he was an adult dog, no puppy madness evident! My dog-owning friends also suggested a collie. But reading about them the advice says not as a first dog.
• Labrador - this seems to be a sensible choice? But probably on the big side of what we imagine, and you see lots of chunky labs that don't look like they'd like to go on a 10 mile run with me...
• So I thus started to google collie / lab crosses ??

Breeds we are not keen on

• Anything 'toy'
• Anything enormous
• Anything that cannot (with practice and as an adult) run 10 miles or hike up a munro

I don't think I'm bothered about boy vs girl (we would spay/neuter anyway). Don't mind a bit of hair, but I guess lower grooming maintenance would make it easier.

We have enough £ for vets, food, etc.

You need a trailhound - they are built for trail running!

He's great when we can run off lead, he can stop and sniff then run and catch me up! He's less fun on a short lead, but we do manage Parkrun's play

Parkruns Ok even! @tizwozliz

Englis h pointer, red setter, Dalmatian

We have a cocker pup who we got in Jan. She's very chilled, loves a walk and a swim but not too crazy. She is a show cocker so thinking working may suit your plans better. Loved doing the scent training though and the class we went was full of spaniels. They are really suited to it. Our girl is super friendly and is my little shadow. Like you work from home bar one day a week, when she goes to a dog day care.

Another vote for English Pointer, mine is a great running partner and fantastic with other dogs he is also amazing in the house, but they are hard work as pups and need training to achieve consistent recall as they can have very high pray drive .

Prey 🦅not pray…

Another vote for Springers. Ours came locally from working heritage. She is hilariously bonkers outside of the house and would love trail running, the muddier the better. She is bright and eager to please. At home she is chilled out and mainly sleeps.

She barks v rarely and is a glorious companion.

She is 14 now.

Actually not as much as you’d think - it’s a double coat so ‘designed’ to shake off water and mud from the top and not allow said water and mud to get to the ‘inner’ coat. Groomers every couple of months.

Am going to chuck in another Sprocker/Springer vote. I have a cocker but he's huge, 19kg so Sprocker sized! He's awesome.

Spanish water dog
Irish terrier
Weimeraner

Welsh springer

Tibetan terrier. Lovely happy dogs (and not actually terriers at all)

@BoreOfWhabylon I did not know that the Tibetan was not a terrier. Am slightly scared by the grooming, but they do look lovely.

Spaniels at the Springer end do seem to be winning the votes at the moment. Though I am also liking the idea of a lab/cocker cross.

For crossbreeds, does it make a difference which breed is the sire/dam? E.g. would a lab mother make a more lab-ish puppy??

A rescue bodegeuro or parsons jack

Our English springer was the most beautiful, good natured dog ever. We were heartbroken when we lost her age 12. She was high energy when younger and could play fetch all day but never bonkers like you read about, fantastic with children too, the perfect dog.

Labrador. They can run for miles/go all day even the ones with heavier legs. They look chunky when fat (don't give in to beautiful pleading eyes) but are athletic dogs, especially from a working line.

We never trained our lab to run with us but he did long days on the hills (10+ hours in Snowdonia) and still wanted a ball chase on the beach in the evening.

They're usually quite easy to train (food motivated) but you need to instill food manners (not snatching) young and be aware of preventing sneaky theft - we had to lock anywhere his food was stored and make sure the bin was behind a closed door.

@brawhen I've never owned a tibetan terrier myself, but I have 'known' several and think that would be my choice if I were ever to get another dog.

The ones I knew just used to get clipped back from time to time, no more trouble than a poodle/doodle.

You’ve described my one year old working Labrador’s life to a T. He does gun dog training (which he tolerates) and agility (which he loves). He’s just started running with me and I thought it would wear him out nicely but he just trots along looking at me in a bemused manner. He was hard work as a pup but he’s now the most chilled out and loving dog. There’s a reason that labradors are so popular!

I can't believe nobody has recommended a staffie!

Staffordshire bull terriers are a great medium size dog, they have low maintenance short hair, they tend to love learning, will do anything for food rewards and are sturdy and benefit greatly from lots of exercise. They can often be a bit pudgy if they aren't exercised properly but they are well-built for long walks. I'm not a runner so can't comment on that but my old rescue girl still clocks an impressive speed if she sees a squirrel!

Mine isn't pure bred (like I said, she's an older rescue) but she's the ideal companion - great in the car, chills ourt and snoozes while I work and would go anywhere with me.

We have a lab who sounds exactly like what you need. He's from a working line so he's svelte but still tall. Absolutely loves running-as well as his walks is happy to go for a 10k run then go for a spin in the car, fantastic company and just the best temperament.
I look forward to seeing pics of whichever dog you do get, they sound like theyrr going to the dream home😊

@LadyCatStark I thinks ours laughs at me as I'm puffing up a hill and he's just trotting along 🤣

Ahh yes staffies

@Branleuse see this is why I then start to have doubts about the spaniel idea!

We have 6 months until we need to commit, as a bit of building work needs to be completed before we can cope with a puppy. I am going to be fully distracted by puppy research until the winter 😀

@Branleuse I thought the same! I love both but definitely wouldn't recommend a Beagle to a first time owner unless they'd spent a lot of time with the breed.

TBF @brawhen it's also worth checking with a good rescue as your first port of call because there are plenty of random mixed-breeds that might have the perfect temperment/level of agility for your family too. You might find a collie/lab/staffie mix that is the perfect running buddy 😁