Puppy recommendations please

[coughsweets]

Hi all,

DH and I have begun conversations about getting a Puppy after the passing of our beloved DDog a while back.

We have years experience with Bull breeds but are looking for another breed for our next family member!

Here are our requirements:

• Medium size
• Short haired
• 'Family' dog (2 Young DCs)
• Sociable (with People and other dogs!)
• Male

We have a large-ish house, medium sized Garden, plenty of surrounding green areas, time to spare to train (I work P-T and DH WFH) we spend a lot of time outside on walks and camping etc.

Any recommendations for a Type please?

I absolutely love greyhounds, DH loves Labradors, and the children would have a Chihuahua tomorrow if they could!

Have you considered a boxer?

Golden Retriever. Best dogs in the world 🥰

A Labrador might be a better fit from the the breeds you’ve suggested than a greyhound. For a family dog I’d be tempted to get show lines or a show/ working cross as opposed to a working line as they can be a lot!

I’m obviously biased but I can’t recommend a cardigan corgi enough. We’ve had gun dogs whippets poodles but I love cardigans. They are funny a very well developed sense of humour) easy going cheerful loving dogs with no hang ups or neurosis’s, they smallish dogs in a big dogs body so with a big dog personality I think they are very handsome. Mine will cheerfully walk miles 9 yesterday or just go round the block it’s pissing with rain today he’s stretched out on the floor next to me. They are a rare breed so untouched by puppy farms back yard breeders etc if you go through the breed club you’ll find dedicated breeders who want to breed happy loving healthy well adjusted dogs Our last one lived to 14 without a single data illness except a ripped off claw up until 5 days before he died.
There only down side is they do shed very badly as they have a double coat.

Whippets all the way!
don’t bark
don’t smell
don’t Slobber
don’t have any congenital problems and don’t tend to get arthritis when older.
just the right size- can be picked up on escalators on the tube.
run so fast it’s like a superpower
then lie down with their legs in the air and sleep all day.
look like a sculpture

i love mine and so do DH and DCs.sometimes we all just stare at him and say how lovely he is

Labrador 😊 my boy is my best friend 🥰

Labrador.

I love Boxers but DH is convinced they are very bouncy and hyper Whippets are beautiful too, I just love their little faces!
Does anyone know if Labradors shed a lot? I know they're not particularly long-haired but I'm a little sensitive (allergy wise) to hairy pets hence why we've only ever had very short hair breeds before! 🐾 Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I am warming to a Lab!

My lab has periods of shedding, and then it seems to tail off. Can’t really say how often though.

Poodle - they don’t shed.

Lurchers are very underestimated as a family ddog. We have 2. Very hardy ddogs health - wise we have found. . Limited shedding or smell tbh. Very friendly.. Particularly love other Lurchers it's true to say!. Ds absolutely adores ours.
They can walk miles or stay home and sleep!
Very portable and fold up small.

I really wouldn't go for a Labrador if you have a tendency towards allergies - they shed a lot.

A poodle would be better.

I used to say my lab (lost him 3 months ago aged 15 and a half) she'd only wife a year - from January to June and July to December! 😂. He shed all day every day.

We have a cocker poo who does not shed. And getting a working Cocker in 2 weeks - will report back on how they shed!

Labs are just the best - but big. Our coxkerpoo is gorgeous, had a springer who was a bit crazy. Think the working cocker will be crazy too!

We lost our lab recently 😢, yes they shed A LOT. Ours shed all year round, then blew his coat twice a year.

Big thing I have noticed is I rarely empty the vacuum now. Previously when my boy was here it was full after every vacuum, sometimes needed emptied twice.

Would have him and all that hair back in a heartbeat, apart from the hair they are the perfect dog.

Oh gosh, I had no idea they Shed so much 😅 Maybe back to the drawing board then, does anyone have any experience with Dalmatian's?

Don't go for a boxer. Lovely but utterly high energy.

Labs shed all year round. There are labs and labs. Working lines are smaller but need a lot of stimulation/exercise. Show lines can end up quite big - especially the males. Make labs are always bigger working or show.

Labs are generally super friendly and great with people/kids but be aware that they can be very high energy. They calm down about 3-4. To keep a lab fit, happy and not overweight you need to be walking them a couple of hours a day. Way too many overweight ones about - y which makes their genetically dodgy hips worse.

You need to chose your breeder carefully and make sure both parents have excellent hip scores if you don't want massive vets bills later in life.

I've got a small working line female lab and she's fab and a great family pet if you really are an active outdoors family.

Is it Dalmatian’s that have very poor eyesight?

I've had quite a few ex racer foster greyhounds and if I didn't have 2 stupid cats I'd have a houseful!

They are gentle, living, funny and such sofa surfers. The very opposite of high energy and sleep about 22 hours a day. Love a good run and then they are done. They will walk for hours but you'll have to always have them on lead until they are too old to catch anything. Because they will catch and kill small furries.

Don't really shed and don't bark.

Whatever you get I'd get a rescue greyhound as well

A friend has dalmatians, whilst she'd say they shed slightly less than labs, it's harder to clean up. Their hair seems to weave its way into everything.

I'd 100% percent recommend and pure bred standard poodle.

You can have them groomed normally (called a teddy bear cut) so they look like a a normal dog (you know what I mean)

They don't shed and are incredibly friendly clever, athletic and majestic.

They are classified as being part of the utility dog group - same group as Dalmatian, collie, whippet, GSD, husky.

They are proper dogs - there are a couple in my village and they are beautiful athletes that go for hours and get muddy and stuck in with all the working dogs.

I watched one win the retrieve at my local game fair this summer. Fabulous dogs.

Thinking of them as a cleverer, bon shedding, fluffier Dalmatian or a GSD but way easier to train.

i looked after a friends Dalmatians for a month they drop little white hairs everywhere and they do weave into your clothes. Personally I didn’t like them independent stubborn food obsessed and they bark badly. Both had health problems one had a very expensive special diet as he had kidney stones or something similar which my friend was told is common in the breed and the other hearing problems again she said common in the breed.

Thanks for the advice and feedback Everyone!
I don't know why I didn't think of a Poodle before, I guess because i always see them as quite pretty, dainty breeds and coming from 25 Years of owning various types of Bull breeds that would be a big change! Greyhounds / Whippets still sound so lovely so maybe I need to work on DH a bit more

@Shannith I've been browsing rescue centres this evening and there seems to be so many Greyhounds I wonder why, I've never heard a bad thing about them!

They are all ex racers. The industry chucks them out if they are too slow/ or aged about 2-3 if they are not worth breeding from. .

I've had 2 as foster dogs and they are just the loveliest things. I can see why people end up collecting them.