Page 2 | Dog recommendation

Outandabout43 · 2025-04-04T08:16:25+00:00

We are in a position now to get a dog, but no clue what bread would suit. We live in an average 3 bed house with a medium garden. We have a 5 year old child and no other pets. We live in a semi rural area so lots of green space I work from home so mainly home during the day, I do calls sometimes for work so hopefully not an excessive barker. Happy to go for long walks and to spend time training. Any recommendations?

redboxer321 · 05/04/2025 12:36

@LandSharksAnonymous
I agree with a lot of what you say. I think the main difference between us is that you are ok with people breeding healthy dogs and I think it should be left to mother nature. I don't mean we shouldn't get our pets neutered and allow them to breed. I mean I would like to see animals live a life free from human interference, so the end of the domesticated dog.
I love mine dearly but overall I don't think domestication has done the species as a whole very much good.

But as things stand at the moment then looking for a well bred as you describe is the best way forward if you are unable to adopt. It wouldn't be something I would do but as you say, we're all different.

As for the risk factor, it could be argued that an adult dog who had previously lived with a children and whose owner's life had changed meaning they couldn't keep the dog would be a better bet and less of a risk than a pup and then adolescent dog. I know it's pretty much impossible to adopt with a 5-year-old so not relevant to the OP but would be to others.

AcquadiP · 05/04/2025 15:11

LandSharksAnonymous · 05/04/2025 10:50

@redboxer321 Absolutely. They could well have the best qualities but they could absolutely also have the worse…

Hypothetically, what if you get a Labrador x collie (as a PP advocated) and get the sheer power of a Labrador (labs can be incredibly strong and muscular - sure I’m not the only one whose watch grown men been pulled over or tugged along by one), with the herding instincts and energy needs of a collie?

Then add to that also the hip and elbow issues of a Labrador - because the problem is most people breeding mongrels often don’t do proper health tests because lots of people buying these dogs fall for the belief they’re ‘healthier’ which is often not the case. They could be healthier if the parents are properly health tested (as the grandparents should also be) but too often people naively believe that ‘anything not a pedigree is healthier’ and that’s often not the case - just look at how many cockerpoos, for example, have PRA. I know someone who has a lab x springer. She got its elbows tested because it was showing some discomfort (and it’s only young)…score was 2/3, which is disgraceful. But she fell for the ‘mongrels’ are healthier nonsense and now she’s stuck with a young, energetic, intelligent dog who can’t run or do any form of gundog sport.

At least with a pedigree you know - with as much certainty as you can - what you will get and particularly if you go for one where grandparents and great-grandparents are health tested. My next litter, I’ll have full health tested parents, grandparents and great-grandparents etc. That’s what people should look for. Not just pot luck and ‘oh, well, mongrels are healthier’ and so people advocating that to a first time owner should be called out IMO. Health issues often also result in pain for the dogs and often bites - because of that pain - if not caught in time.

Dogs are individuals, as people are. We can’t always blame badly behaved dogs on bad ownership - yes, particular types of owner tend to be attracted to particular dogs, but it’s not always the case. It’s why genetics, health testing and ethical breeding is so important - so you have generations from the same line, showing the same characteristics and you can be certain what the issue is. Yes, often people cock up, but I also know of a lot of instances where the issue is the dog because of bad breeding.

So, wide statements as a PP made (not you) about how mongrels are healthier are wrong. People should look for the healthiest dog possible, genetic checks going back at least 2-3 generations, and a stable, healthy, happy, confident dam and sire.

If you have a child as OP does, I think one should take as few risks as possible when introducing a puppy or dog to the family.

Sorry, that was quite the essay - but having seen the results of this ‘mongrels are healthier’ belief first hand, I think it’s important it’s made clear they are not automatically healthier.

Do you the recall the BBC's documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed in 2008 which slated the Kennel Club's breeding practices, caused a public outcry and led to the RSPCA, amongst others, producing a report, which is in turn lead to a parliamentary committee?
All this information is available online, but a quick summary:

"The programme generated much criticism of the Kennel Club. It also caused various sponsors and trade exhibitors to withdraw their participation from Crufts and other Kennel Club events. The BBC—which had broadcast Crufts for 42 years—withdrew its coverage of Crufts in 2009, and chose not to renew it thereafter."

This was at a time when the unsuspecting public were buying KC registered pedigree dogs in good faith as pets. The anomalies you refer to such as hip and elbow dysplasia, PRA, were already in the genetic makeup of pedigree family (not show) pets. To suggest that cross breeding has some how caused this issue is disingenuous.

Obviously, cross breeding widens the gene pool, which was my vet's point. It isn't a guarantee that dysplasia won't occur but it is considerably less likely. And in the case of my Lab x (working) Border Collie, she's had no hip dysplasia, no elbow dysplasia, no orthopaedic issues whatsoever.

Yes Labs are powerful dogs and the ones that pull on a lead lack training. That's on the owner, not the breed. They are consistently the UK's most popular breed for a reason, they are fantastic family pets.
As a choice of pet for OP, I recommended the Labradoodle.

BBC - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

AcquadiP · 05/04/2025 15:41

LandSharksAnonymous · 05/04/2025 07:10

@AcquadiP I completely disagree with everything you have said. A mongrel is a mongrel. And most mongrel or ‘designer doodles’ or ‘cross/breeds’ buyers do not check health scores and that is the issue - and most ‘breeders’ don’t mention it. YOU knew what you were doing. - and you claim to be experienced. OP doesn’t and is not. So her best bet is a breed-club recommended, KC breeder - because you can see the health tests with one click of a mouse - who has all the health checks done. Sending her down the rabbit warren of mongrels is going to be a nightmare in terms of her finding a healthy, non-puppyfarmed one.

And no competent and capable vet would recommend a dog breed to someone - particularly as they should know that it’s not proven that mongrel are healthier than pedigrees.

I would shy away from small breeds as they are easy for your youngster to trip over and/or fall on top of.
What sort of nonsense is that? Anyone with common sense would know this - a bigger dog is a bigger risk, as it’ll be bouncier and will knock children over. And big dogs can be tripped over as well.

Edited

The Kennel Club?
Are you serious?

The KC that was slated in the BBC documentary, Pedigree Dogs Exposed in 2008. The KC that is responsible for the vast majority of the hideous inherited physical anomalies such as dysplasia? The KC whose breeding practices the RSPCA wrote a report about and which appeared in a parliamentary committee regarding animal welfare standards? Are you a KC breeder by any chance, because you sound like one.

My vet did make the Lab x Border Collie recommendation as he had treated both my late Lab and my late Border Collie. And, naturally, he is a fully qualified and highly competent vet.

If a large dogs are an issue with small children, why are Labradors consistently the UK's favourite breed when the vast majority are family pets?
"Bouncy" dogs are under exercised and lack training, both of which are the responsibility of the owner to provide.
Small dogs which are repeatedly hurt as a result of being tripped over and fallen on will unsurprisingly grow up to be frightened of or even aggressive towards young children.

No-one is advocating back street breeders. My existing dog came from a very nice family, their two dogs were the parents of my dog. They kept one puppy for themselves, the others went to carefully vetted homes.

LandSharksAnonymous · 05/04/2025 15:50

AcquadiP · 05/04/2025 15:41

The Kennel Club?
Are you serious?

The KC that was slated in the BBC documentary, Pedigree Dogs Exposed in 2008. The KC that is responsible for the vast majority of the hideous inherited physical anomalies such as dysplasia? The KC whose breeding practices the RSPCA wrote a report about and which appeared in a parliamentary committee regarding animal welfare standards? Are you a KC breeder by any chance, because you sound like one.

My vet did make the Lab x Border Collie recommendation as he had treated both my late Lab and my late Border Collie. And, naturally, he is a fully qualified and highly competent vet.

If a large dogs are an issue with small children, why are Labradors consistently the UK's favourite breed when the vast majority are family pets?
"Bouncy" dogs are under exercised and lack training, both of which are the responsibility of the owner to provide.
Small dogs which are repeatedly hurt as a result of being tripped over and fallen on will unsurprisingly grow up to be frightened of or even aggressive towards young children.

No-one is advocating back street breeders. My existing dog came from a very nice family, their two dogs were the parents of my dog. They kept one puppy for themselves, the others went to carefully vetted homes.

Show quote history

Yes, I am. You realise 2008 was nearly twenty years ago, right?

The BBC documentary also compared the way the KC acted during that time to Hitler and essentially said that 'pedigree breeding was equivalent to race theory.' So, forgive me if I take that particular report with a huge pinch of salt.

But, regardless, that was twenty years ago and pedigree breed practices have much changed since then - as many peoples attitudes have. I mean in 2008 lots of people thought the Iraq War was still justified and that a black man would never be President. You cannot make reference to something from nearly twenty years ago, in a broad sweeping statement, and claim it justifies your views now. To do so diminishes your argument.

Honestly, between your mentioning of a report that's older than most cars on the road these days and your belief that small children will 'trip over' little dogs, I'm rather inclined to believe you're either picking an argument for the sake of it or, more likely, have a very personal issue with pedigrees.

AcquadiP · 05/04/2025 16:05

LandSharksAnonymous · 05/04/2025 15:50

Yes, I am. You realise 2008 was nearly twenty years ago, right?

The BBC documentary also compared the way the KC acted during that time to Hitler and essentially said that 'pedigree breeding was equivalent to race theory.' So, forgive me if I take that particular report with a huge pinch of salt.

But, regardless, that was twenty years ago and pedigree breed practices have much changed since then - as many peoples attitudes have. I mean in 2008 lots of people thought the Iraq War was still justified and that a black man would never be President. You cannot make reference to something from nearly twenty years ago, in a broad sweeping statement, and claim it justifies your views now. To do so diminishes your argument.

Honestly, between your mentioning of a report that's older than most cars on the road these days and your belief that small children will 'trip over' little dogs, I'm rather inclined to believe you're either picking an argument for the sake of it or, more likely, have a very personal issue with pedigrees.

Edited

Show quote history

Yes, it was 17 years ago but it takes a significant period of time, certainly longer than 17 years, to remove the appalling inherited physical anomalies which were bred into dogs then and which dogs are still suffering from now. Does it not concern you that a huge number of dogs in this country are suffering needlessly?

And no, I have no issue with healthy pedigree dogs, if you reference my original post I clearly state that 4 of 6 dogs were pedigrees.

Trying to start an argument? I've replied to your comments on my post, which I happen to disagree with. Don't quote-post if you object to a reply.