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!

@Shannith That's so sad!

How about a pointer? A similar size and shape to a Dalmatian but without the shedding coat issue.

Our Lurchers are fab on and off lead.. We have 2 dcats also...they get on fine. Although with younger dcat they surely get reminded of their place....
Our girls enjoying a beach holiday! They travel well! And love the sun!

Where are you based? If you are looking at rescues I can recommend good ones (I foster for a rescue). I've got a lovely 5 month old Heniz 57 puppy at the moment. Probably GSD/collie/bit of lurcher?/lord only knows!

Dalmations shed stiff white hairs over everything. They are very prone to kidney stones and need to eat a low purine diet. They are prone to deafness so, were you to look for a pup, make sure it is BAER hearing tested.

I was going to suggest beagles - friendly, outgoing, social, love walks and camping. Small to medium, and come in male ;) But they also shed beagle glitter constantly, and blow their coats twice a year.

If the allergy is a deal-breaker then I echo the recommendations for poodles. Nice dogs, goofy, entertaining and love their people. You don't have to trim them into pompoms unless you want to.

Shih tzu! My boy is so chilled!

@Shannith I'm in Surrey!

@Motorina Thanks for the info!
Haha loved the Male bit! I was just babbling on my first post all the requirements DH and I had agreed on 🤣

Ha - me too. If you want to message me or post on here I can recommend some reputable local rescues who take care to match people and dogs and offer full pre and post adoption support.

Unfortunately there are some less reputable ones who don't do this. Which makes me sad but happy to help if you'd like.

@Shannith Oooh yes please! Not sure if you can PM on the app but I'll give it a go! Or if you're happy to post on here that would be great Thanks so much!

I'm happy to post here

Good rescues do proper home checks and will spend time making sure you and the dog are right for each other - and offer lots of support throughout the process and will always take the dog back if things don't work/circumstances change.

The very small local one I foster for is

www.facebook.com/Applegarthdogrescue

2 really good ones - both registered charities - so have rigour and transparency behind their governance are

www.holbrookanimalrescue.com

www.rescueremediesdogrescue.co.uk

Look for rescues that have charitable status and /or ones that put dogs into foster homes before rehoming.

I have foster dogs from anything from a month to 4-5 months - So I know them really well in all sorts of situations - they live as part of my family - with children, cats and horses and I can give a totally honest appraisal of what they are like.

There unfortunately are some places that call themselves "rescues" but are actualy trading dogs. They will sell any dog to anyone with no checks. They trawl Facebook free ads for dogs, say they are rescuing them and then sell them straight on. And if anything goes wrong they will not help.

There is a fairly infamous one in Godstone - please avoid at all costs if that comes on your radar!

Standard poodles are not all dainty. They make amazing family dogs (we're on number 4!), don't shed or smell, are wicked smart, and generally very socialble.

I type this currently trapped under number 3 who thinks he's a lapdog 😂

“Do Labradors shed a lot?”

ponders question whilst watching hair drifting past like tumbleweed, picking a hair out my brew and growing concerned that my one sofa cover might not be enough

More shedding than a bloody garden centre tbh, but each hair is deposited with a lot of love and joy (plus some detritus that they’ve probably rolled in 🤫)

@feelingalittlehorse 🤣 love that!

God yes. My lab can find fox poo and roll in it in a 100 acre field.

If you do go lab - get a Groomi - absolutely the best grooming tool for labs.

Gets so much of the undercoat out once you've got the knack. My house is only semi covered in black hairs now. This is huge progress!

Boxer all the way

Bull lurcher maybe a whippet staffy mix if want smaller size but they a bit chunkier in build. Get some of bully traits you know in a sighthound package. The bull x sadly means they get overlooked in rescue but usually makes them more people orientated than pure sighthounds.

Love greyhounds too and they so easy to keep and sleep most of the time, I reckon you could just sneak one in for yourself OP.

My bull lurcher - not 1st cross has slightly more greyhound to staffy ratio.

Our current lab hardly sheds at all. Black working strain dog. Our previous yellow show strain bitch shed everywhere.
Labs are great family dogs as they genuinely love children and they want to join in with everything and everyone.

My friend does greyhound rescue and she absolutely loves them!! As a PP mentioned, they are very calm but will walk and/or run when you want them too.

Poodles are great, but where I live, a puppy from an ethical breeder would cost thousands and they’re really hard to get at rescues because they get snapped up due to non shedding.

Also MY personal preference is to rescue and not just because I don’t have $2500 for a pup!