Help us chose our first dog

[MrsPicklesonSmythe]

Having never been a dog person, over the last year I've become bit of a fan of other people's pet pooches and can't stop thinking about having one. I think it would be a great addition to the family, good for my mental health and despite showering affection on my cat let's face it, he'll never love me! 😂

We are currently in a rental but would like to adopt a dog when we are in a better position to do so. Maybe in a years time.

I work nights part time, dh works full time from home and we have 3 ds's 17, 11 and 4 who would love a dog, there's always someone home and we rarely go away (last time 6 years ago!). We don't have much of a garden and I'm guessing we won't have a huge one in the next house but they'd have at least two 30 min walks a day (is that enough?) and we do have plenty of lovely places for longer weekend walks close by. I'd also sign us straight up to a good local trainer and there's loads of groomers and vets locally.

I am fairly allergy prone, never specifically to dogs though just dust, pollen etc

In my research Havanese seem to look a good option.

Does anyone have any experience or could you help me consider some other small/medium-sized family dogs suitable for first time owners?

Any advice much appreciated as we won't go into it lightly

Of course not all greyhounds are the same, but IMO it's important to think about the worst aspects of your breed and whether you'd be able to cope with them.

I'm sure some greyhounds are amazing pets who are good with cats, don't need much exercise and toilet trained quickly, but I know from working with dogs that they're not all like that.

As a breed, they have high prey drives. They are nervous. They are big dogs. Not everyone wants a breed that either sleeps or zooms around at high speed. Not everyone wants a big dog with a tendency to nerves. It's important to point out the negatives as well as the positives.

And I say all that as someone who has a breed that's almost universally hated on MN as a pet (beagle) - they get an awful rep on here Now, personally I love my boy but I wouldn't ignore all the potential downsides when talking to a potential owner as I don't think that's fair.

Thank you for all the replies please keep them coming I'm taking notes!

Just to be clear, I though adopt meant rescue. That's what I'm looking for and we are in no rush to find a good fit. Our current landlord would never agree to it but hes selling up so we're moving in the summer.

I've written off Cockerpoos as the ones I've experienced have been hyper and very noisy. As first timers we would be looking for something slightly more sedate after the puppy stage has passed.

Fwiw our cat was a farm kitten, he's brilliant with the kids but spends most of his time and all night out hunting. He just comes home for naps, food and to let us know he still hates us 😂

What do you want from a dog? Do you want to train? Do you want to work hard to prevent various behavioural problems? Will you walk whatever the weather?

Personally with a few exceptions, ex racing greys don’t make the best family pets. They are the very active, don’t much care for playing and whilst are lovely kind animals. My sister has one with two kids. Gorgeous kind girl. But stonking SA and hates going out for more than an hour or so making days out a challenge. She spends a lot of time with her in-laws. I know many more like her than not.

Some terriers make amazing pets AS LONG AS you are careful with breeding. We had a rescue terrier cross who died at 17 just before the first lockdown. We spent two years trying to rescue again and failed. I’ve been an agility trainer for 12 years so have experience of lots of breeds and have some fairly strong opinions on what I could or couldn’t live with. You’d have to be a special kind of nuts to have a WCS IMO but I know people do. We have a cat. We’ve just bought a really nicely bred border terrier. She’s only 11 weeks but our first baby puppy and bloody hell she’s hard work. Our rescue was 6 months when we adopted her. This is another level but then I’m a bit of a purist. No guarantees with her temperament but her mum, aunts, granny and relatives we met were lovely and chilled but sparky when needed. They also all lived with a cat, chickens and horses so prey drive wasn’t intense.

To quote a fellow trainer who specialises in puppies, buy as best you can and raise as best you can.

Havanese are great but quite velcro and major issues with separation anxiety so quite a commitment.

Aren’t very active. And whilst are lovely kind animals they’re not vervinteractive. They do a good line in calming leaning though.

I should add I've had and fostered greyhounds for 25+ years now, and they've varied from one we always kept muzzled outdoors because we had seen how very, very "keen" he was, to a couple who went to live with cats and got chased by them. Our current one doesn't have much of a prey drive at all, which is great.

The important thing for anyone with a cat who is considering a greyhound is to go through a rehoming org with lots of experience and a good rep, who don't make promises they can't keep, provide post adoption advice and will always have the dog back at any point if things don't work out.

The sort of group who will take time to match your home with the right dog. There are a lot of GHs needing homes (some of whom will be coming out of other homes, maybe with cats, because their old owners were unwell etc) so this is not as hard as it sounds.

The bonus is that the ones who show no interest in chasing often retired early or never raced at all, so they can be young, under 2 sometimes.

I think the walking time depends if it is 30 minutes on or off leads.

Our dogs are active breeds but are fine on one 30/40 minute off lead walk a day, particularly with ball chasing or swimming thrown in. They get longer walks at weekends. They are rarely on the lead though.

Terriers are generally quite vocal and have a lot of energy.

@Tillsforthrills 2x 30 minutes is more than adequate for most dogs. People generally over excise and underestimate dogs. Dogs need brain based activities not being frogmarched for hours 🙄

Please consider a rescue dog. Ours have always been the most grateful sweet souls. There are so many waiting for homes .Please don't have another dog bred.

I agree with PP that you need to think about what you want from dog ownership, and also what qualities in a dog you'd really struggle with.

So, you want a dog that doesn't really shed, which means a dog that requires a fair bit of grooming. If you can't do it yourself, that could be quite expensive. You also can only do 2x30 minute walks per day which rules out any working or high-energy breeds.

You're probably looking at a companion breed - Maltese, mini poodle, Bolognese, Bichon Frisé, for example. Then you need to consider that Bichons can be quite yappy so you'll need to work on training to avoid nuisance noise. Poodles are less noisy but they are highly intelligent and will need a good amount of mental stimulation on top of walks...

When we looked at dogs, we wanted to avoid grooming and brushing so went for a short-haired breed that didn't require anything more than the occasional bath. The flip side of that was that he's quite high energy and needs more exercise to settle at home.

You’re going to struggle to find a rescue dog to live with a cat and young children... to be dead honest, if you’re picky about breeds as well then you’ll have a very very long wait for a dog.

With rescues, you’re better being completely open minded about breeds and just concentrating on what you can offer and which individual dogs you see that could suit you.

And walks should be where dogs exercise their brains ie sniffing and games with their owners

Sighthound, whippet, greyhound, iggy. All very chilled out, lazy and don't need much walking or room to move. Spend majority of the day chilling or sleeping.

Posted again! Just to say, with our rescue we had very broad requirements - not too big (can fit in the car size!), and could be walked off lead (eventually) under 5 and no long term expensive medical issues… that was it. When we got her we didn’t even have a dog bed because we didn’t know what size we would need.

I personally love cocker spaniels, Portugueses water dogs, standard poodles, Tibetan terrier or any mutt (the ones that just look like total scruff balls ideally!) We got a Shih Tzu. She’s 100% not what I imagined us with!!

A few people near us have rescue dogs from abroad… I wouldn’t recommend them, most people have had issues (street dogs getting shipped over here and asked to live in a home…. Sounds like a recipe for problems)

Is there much difference between a miniature and standard poodle? Other than size of course

Yes. The standards are whip smart and quite aloof. The minis are more biddable but more needy. That’s the experience I’ve had with those I’ve taught in agility. The toys are nervy, neurotic and loud. That said, all dogs are individuals.

Rescue dogs all the way. I have a staffy and a miniature yorkie and 2 cats. The cats aren't keen on the dogs and the yorkie chases them but they coexist well.
Have a look at your local rescues and research ones you're drawn to would be my advice. All creatures have foibles. Including humans of course

Yes, as PP said - standards are generally quite aloof and a bit nervous, whereas miniatures are more sociable but also more needy - which may not be an issue if there'll be someone home most of the time.

That being said, I walk a mini poodle who is absolutely fine being left and while he loves to be near you, he's not overly clingy.

I’ve only had standard poodles, not miniature but know people who have both. Standards are absolutely amazing, so much fun and brilliant family dogs, for an active family. I’d definitely choose a mini over a cockerpoo or any other random poodle mix.

I have a Havanese and she's funny, affectionate, confident, happy, friendly and wants to be with me constantly. Although I believe she is quite clever she has been a challenge to housetrain. My neighbour has a Maltese and the dog feels a little more fragile than my girl. The Havanese are small but sturdy dogs and I like that. I'm not sure she would be happy with just 2 x 30 minutes walks a day though.

A poodle will need way more exercise than 2 x 30 mins a day even the minature.

They are needy dogs and very intelligent. They will need more attention as well as the walks. Poodles can run rings around unexperienced owners.

IMO it depends on the quality of exercise and what else you do with them.

Two half hour walks a day on lead around the block would be rubbish, I agree, but that's the case for any dog.

It's all about the quality of the walk - so, allow them to sniff, let them "guide" the walk, work their brains, take them swimming or teach them basic agility, train them to walk nicely, how to fetch a ball, teach them directions or how to sniff things out and retrieve them etc.

If you do enrichment at home and provide lots of company, 2 x 30 minute walks a day should be plenty, but lots of people CBA with the enrichment, sadly.