Newfoundland, St Bernard or Leonberger?

[Landseer]

Two adults in the house, no kids but small grandchild stays here weekly.
I work from home, not massively active but do enjoy an hours walk daily and longish walks in the countryside/forest on a weekend.

Dog must be excellent with children
Dog must be reliable with other animals

Please pick a breed for me between these 3 because I can’t 😂

There is a newfoundland that's lives up the road from us. He is a gentle giant. He is a therapy dog for children and so friendly without being jumpy or over excited.The whole neighbourhood love him. On the downside he is a bit slobbery and his owner says he doesn't cope well with warm weather.

A Leonberger was part of the pack of dogs that killed a dog Walker recently. Would not trust that breed with a small child.

My friend has a Newfoundland , he's gorgeous, vary placid but boy does he stink !

No one knows what actually happened yet or which dogs were involved in the attack. I note that after the first excitable reports, that incident has gone rather quiet and I think it will become clear that the poor woman was not killed by the pack acting en masse, as that is highly unlikely. We do not know at least three of the breeds yet.

There was also a cockerpoo involved …

Why would anyone want such a tiny dog like a chihuahua? For the attention?

don’t talk soft

No to a St Bernard or a newfie due to the slobber. Unless you are really, really, set on a giant dog, then yes, Golden Retriever.

Ok St Bernard’s are out … the slobber stories have put me off! On the ceiling?!

so we’re on newfies, Leo’s, golden retrievers and I’m replacing the Bernard with a Great Dane!

And once again…..

Fuck me. Exactly what I expected when the ‘news’ papers started the reporting on this. The dog wasn’t problematic, the owner of the dog and the lack of appropriate training and environment, yes problematic - if the edited program is to be believed of course. It was also claimed the dog was ‘missing’. None of those dogs are missing, they’ve all been seized. Pending investigation.

A Labrador was also part of the ‘pack’ (there was no pack just a lot of very stressed dogs in a situation none of them should f have been put in) and has also been seized along with all the others pending investigation. Let’s ban Labradors too. And Dachshunds. And Cockerpoos. No?

Think that's the right call re a St Bernard. Grew up with one huge ( intimidating to a lot of people) and the drool, endless. Gentle giant though!

I met a huge group of Newfoundland dogs at a lake training session. They were training to be water rescue dogs. The most experienced dogs could swim
Out and tow a whole boat of people to safety. Gorgeous dogs with lovely temperaments although those ones were all owned by people who invested in their training to a high level.
They were very hairy and dribbly though, not sure I'd want to live with one.

I love the big breeds, but they die too young.

He wasn’t at all slobbery, either. Gorgeous dog…

Well the only person I know with a Leon is an attention seeking twat, with no control over her massive dog who is very friendly and literally drags her around the place. The owner has invested a lot in training, but when your dog is much physically bigger and stronger than you, then it's a bit of a gamble.

Weirdly I've never seen a chihuahua recommended on MN either. They seem horrible dogs, but yes, great for getting attention.

I'm a vet plus grew up around giant breed dogs. My thoughts:
-All of these breeds will have shorter lifespans (8-11)
-All will be expensive when going to the vets (meds are dosed by weight) and expensive to insure
-I've met a scarily aggressive St. Bernard so it's not impossible. All of them will be strong and could be difficult to control, especially when young/"teenage"
-I grew up with a slobbery breed (Mastiff) and we were still finding dried slobber 10 years after she died (and this is with towels and kitchen roll in every room and constantly cleaning and wiping)
-Newfs need daily thorough brushing
I personally would recommend a lab or a golden retriever.

I don’t have the physical strength to handle and train a massive dog but they’re stunning, I’m voting for Irish wolfhound though

Saints and Newfoundlands also slobber - as do Danes, although with the Dane you can add on the regular occurrence of split tails, adding blood to the slobber.

If you get any of those breeds to 9 years old, you’re probably doing well.

I'd go golden retriever, even though I'd love a Dane, I find Great Dane pups maybe quite clumsy around a small child but that all depends on how it's managed ofcourse when child visits. They both have very different characteristics mind. If I could have a second dog id go retriever

Bernese Mountain Dogs are definitely the most beautiful of the big dogs and don’t seem to be as slobbery

Bernese mountain dogs are massive big softies and not slobbery.

You can’t go wrong with a goldie. They are beautiful, loyal, easy to train and born to please. 🐾♥️

They do like to cuddle though. And they have no sense that they weigh 70kgs

I day problematic as there have been reports of it having issues going back years but I may have heard wrong.

I'd vote for a newfoundland all day every day. In my experience they're Gorgeous friendly dogs, easy enough to train conpared to lots of other breeds, can be absolutely fantastic with other dogs and children....
Cleaning up their fur and slobber can be a pain but imo they're totally worth it.

All of the dogs of these breeds I have met have been the most placid gentle giants ever.