Any advice on breeds?

[Twilightstarbright]

We would like to get a dog. I’m now a SAHM so will be in most of the day. One DS who is almost 9 and very chilled out (nickname is sloth). I had a bearded collie growing up and a spaniel before that.

I would like a small/smallish dog and not one that needs hours of walking- obviously I know they need walking but spaniel levels of activity aren’t compatible with us. Happy to get regular professional grooming.

Any suggestions would be welcome. TIA.

We have a cavalier. He’s our 2nd one. People go on about the health problems but we have bern careful with breeders and have had no issues. They love to go for a walk but not really bothered if not. Also can take them anywhere. Also so affectionate.

Then you are incredibly lucky and I stress that is luck rather than skill. Most dogs, and most breeds, that absolutely would not work for. I've known dogs have to be PTS because their separation anxiety is so extreme down to owners who did exactly what you did.

Quite frankly, if someone did that to one of the puppies I sold and I found out - I'd be taking the puppy back.

I’m 72 and I’ve had dogs all my life. I’ve never slept with any of them. I’ve seen your posts on here before and I have the greatest respect for your advice but I absolutely don’t believe it’s necessary to sleep with a puppy.

Thanks again for all your advice. How do I tell if a breeder is decent or not?

You ask to see the mother, visit their home. Are they KC registered? If not, why not? Where are they advertising? How many litters have they advertised in the last couple of years.

once we had decided on breed I looked at KC registered breeders and contacted those reasonably close. One offered me a puppy pretty much straight away and we didn’t proceed with them.

the breeder we chose interviewed us! We went round, met her dogs and her and she watched how our kids interacted with the dogs. We waited 6 months for her to have a litter and the the usual time before the puppy was ready to leave mum. Puppy was pretty much crate trained and pretty much there on toileting.

it was really obvious how much she loves her dogs and how much care she gave to the pups when we visited after birth. We saw them with mum and we had all documentation and test results etc

Kennel club registered. When you see puppies see the mum, you probably won’t see the dad. Bear in mind that for some breeds they’re susceptible eg labs to hip dysplasia so breeder might have info on that. We were told the dad of our lab was a working dog. As PP’s say check how many litters, how old the dam is. You don’t need dog show standard pedigrees. Though friend of mine who breeds standard dachshunds the sire was at crufts this weekend and came first in his area (?).

@Twilightstarbright hopefully the below is helpful.

• Only go for puppies from parents that are both 'Fully Health Tested' to their breed standards (as a minimum - some breeds do have health tests that are not mandatory under Kennel Club rules, but should absolutely be done. For example, this includes Heart Testing in Golden Retrievers - no good Golden Retriever breeder is breeding from dogs that are not heart tested). Ideally, you should also be able to see/find out the grandparents and great-grandparents health tests as well. If you use the KC website, this is much easier as you can 'click' on the family tree and look at each member of that tree. Sometimes the Dam/Sire will have good health scores, but when you look back one or more grandparent or great-grandparent has a really bad score.

• On health testing, particularly for breeds prone to dysplasia, you want the tests done after they are 18 months where possible and certainly not closer to one year old than two years old - not many people realise, but dogs hip/elbow scores are still developing when they are young. It's why so many people think they have bought 'healthy' dogs from parents with good hip or elbow scores and then their dog has serious issues. Several studies have shown that, particularly in larger breeds [or those prone to dysplasia] who do not reached physical maturity until they are 24 months because their joints are still developing and fusing, it's actually entirely possible that you'll get duff hip and elbow scores. I was quite surprised when I realised, but it's sort of common sense when you think about it...you wouldn't breed a dog at 16 months old because it's not physically mature, so why would health testing be any different?

• Find out how many litters the Dam has had - no more than two, maximum over her life. Ideally no litters before she is 3 (perhaps 2 in smaller dogs although I think it's completely unnecessary) and no older than 5 and certainly not when she is 6.

• Also find out what happens to the Dam when she can no longer be bred from. I abhor breeders who breed their dogs then discard them (they claim they 'retire' them to families - sorry if you love your dog, you don't give her up just because she's no longer able to produce puppies). If the breeder only has mum, or mum and a sibling, why? What happened to Grandma? Great-grandma? People will say 'it costs money to have lots of dogs.' Yes, it does. But you don't breed from your dog and discard them. If you can't afford to have mum, grandma etc, then why are you breeding at all? It's not like there's a shortage of dogs. Dogs deserve better. Perhaps a very privileged view...but I view breeders who discard dogs who can no longer be bred from as on a par with puppy farmers.

• Find out how many breeding dogs the breeder has. I don't like it when they have more than one. Anyone churning out a litter or more a year is not doing it properly. It's exhausting when done right. If you're lucky you get, perhaps, 3-4 hours sleep a night for a month. If they have two or more breeding dogs, then they're almost certainly churning them out and discarding the bitch when she can no longer be bred from.

• Find out why they chose the sire. Temperament? Health scores? Good pedigree? Even if you can't meet the sire (perfectly normal) you will be able to find him online easily if he has a good pedigree or has done well in competition.

• Find out their experience with their breed. Why do they breed [insert dog breed]. Ask them about their breed and their dogs. If they're anything like me, they'll talk your ear off about everything - the good and the bad - about their dogs.

• They should ask you as many, if not more, questions than you ask them.

Ultimately, please do not be taken in by a bad situation when you go to visit a breeder and the puppies. Too many people feel unable to walk away and that's wrong. You're not saving a puppy from a bad breeder, you're prolonging the cycle of abuse other dogs will suffer at that breeders hands by financing them.

Remember, a dog could be with you for 15 years if you're lucky. Better to wait 6-24 months for a dog that will have the best start in life than to do a rush job and find you've got 10+ years of stress ahead of you (because as much as you will grow to love your dog, having a reactive dog - down to dodgy breeding - or a dog with serious health issues, is exhausting and it does drain on you). Best of luck!

Ahh ok, I have AS and FMD but my grey doesn’t pull and walks to heel - I know not all will be the same but I’d still highly encourage speaking to local rescues and perhaps meeting a few greys that may be compatible with you!

My 38kg lap dog for reference ❤️

This is why we ended up with a greyhound…asked for a small quiet female - she’s 25kg though. Doesn’t require much effort to walk at all.
worst thing about big dogs is the amount of bed/sofa they take up….and the poos!

I wouldn’t get any type of terrier , do not get a designer mix breed as they can have temperamental issues, people need to stop breeding anything poo.

I would get a dog bred for the lap in your circumstances like a Pekingese , Shih Tzu, Japanese chin , Maltese

I’m going to add that IMO plenty of good breeders own more than 1 breeding bitch at a time - they’re not breeding them all at the same time though. But owning like 8 or 9 dogs and 2 or 3 of them being bitches that could/will/may have had litters is fairly normal and fine, it’s the breeding often that’s the red flag. So 2 or 3 bitches each having a litter alternate years - not an issue, 2 or 3 having litters all the same year, not great.

Also you can check health test results and inbreeding coefficients on the KC website - they should be fine with you doing that

Oh I’d love a Maltese @catpupjoy
My friend has a Maltipoo and she is a wee dote. So chilled and gentle.

@tabulahrasa only if they then keep all the dogs once they're past breeding age. If they get rid of them or 'retire' them (a nice way of saying dump), they're no better than the puppy farmers I think.

Oh yes - if they've “rehoming” retired bitches or have several litters on the way, they’re overbreeding.

It was more, IME it’s real common to have 2 or 3 bitches of breeding age that are technically breeding bitches, but not all being bred right now… but may still be at some point, or not, depending on lots of things, 1 or 2 younger and still being titled ones, and some retired ones and then like a boy they've bred and kept so not bred with their bitches and/or a random crusty little old rescue of no identifiable breed 😂 or a real random unrelated breed that is their spouse or child’s dog.

I have a Border Terrier and she’s wonderful a great family pet and fantastic with kids

Our dog's breeder had multiple potential breeding bitches but only has two litters per bitch. And yes, she had a houseful of different retired generations of her own breeding, right up to the grizzled 14 year old great granny (or something like that), all with their favourite tatty armchair or basket. You did get slightly mown down by spaniels when she opened the door, and then sat on while you were grilled on whether you were also bonkers the right home for one of her babies.

Thanks everyone! It feels quite daunting to be honest. I worry so much about being duped into a puppy farm.
I would love to rescue a dog but so few are suitable with a late primary age child.

I’d also liked to have rescue a dog but their rules and requirements made it impossible.
If you’ve got young children it’s probably best to get a pup.
Do your research, watch the actions of the breeder. You can work out who has the genuine interest of the dog at heart.

Low shedding non alpha breed. Having young kids you need to keep the housework low and it needs to bond with everyone. Great suggestions on here. We recently got a new puppy, a wheaten terrier, they are hard to come by though. In your position I would look up the smaller “hypoallergenic” dogs and go with one of those like a schnauzer.

If your main issue with large dogs is loose lead walking, I’d definitely look to see if there’s a greyhound rescue near you, ex racers always walk nicely on the lead, and if it’s a foster based one rather than a shelter they’ll usually have a better idea of which ones are ok with kids.

if you go down the puppy route, if you look for a breeder through the breed club, they’re breeding to get a puppy for themselves to do what they do with it (probably showing for you as sports would be more active breeds) you’ve asked about how often they’re breeding, the health tests and then everything checks out when you look online at all those things and everything checks out the first time you visit (only going there to pick up a puppy is another big red flag) you can pretty much rule out them being a puppy farm.

Puppy farmers will either lie, so when you check their phone number online you can see they’re selling loads of litters and when you check on the KC website the health tests aren’t there. Or they’ll try and tell you that having loads of breeding bitches on the go, rehoming retired ones and doing things like selling bitches cheaper to people and then they can still use them for breeding is all fine and normal.

We have a miniature poodle too and he’s gorgeous! He’s our first puppy, but I think he’s been pretty easy overall - once I got over the puppy blues that is! Ours has a Teddy haircut so is often mistaken for a cockapoo/cavapoo - he’s very cuddly and cute.

Our puppy came from a breeder who shows and kept 2 puppies from the litter herself, so I knew he had been bred well.

another vote for poodle! Love them

that's not a good sign. you shouldn't really keep or take 2 of the same litter it creates litter mate syndrome. to me that's a red flag if a breeder does that. causes issues