Recommendations for a first family dog breed

[TheShins]

Can anyone recommend a breed for our first family dog? We have two primary school aged children. We both work a mixture of office/at home so there is rarely a day with nobody in the house. We don't like large breeds or very small breeds. We are prepared to walk a dog twice a day. Ideally, we don't want a dog that sheds or has a tendency to bark a lot or pull too much on a lead as our children will want to join in walking the dog. Any ideas from experienced dog owners? Thanks!

Maybe. But life has changed hugely over the last few centuries. Lurchers are lovely - I have one myself - but they don't suit many people's lifestyles. 57 lurchers in DogsTrust at the moment. Three more than staffies (often a breed cited as the most populous in rescue) and only three fewer than crossbreeds at 60. How about we get those 57 homes before we start breeding any more?

I no longer have a dog but out of my kids primary school class approx 2/3rds have dogs. If breeders won’t let primary school families have dogs where are all these dogs coming from? I understand dogs homes not allowing families to adopt a dog - far too much risk if you don’t know the background - but these 20 or so families got dogs from somewhere. Or should I assume the parents (some of whom are teachers, nurses, social workers etc) are all obtaining dogs from dodgy backstreet breeders?

A sensible 8/9/10 year old is surely the right age for a dog? Why is a sullen 13 year old any more suitable (they are usually needing lifts).

I don’t think it’s so much that they’re over bred, it’s more that they’re used and discarded by a certain type of person.

They didn’t get their dogs from ethical breeders who put the puppies welfare first.

Bet you my bank balance most of those dogs aren’t from fully health tested parents and/or are the product of poor breeding practice (farming, over-breeding, breeding to late, breeding to young etc).

My neighbour rescued a puppy mill breeding bitch. The poor thing is the tiniest version of her breed I have ever seen. They didnt really feed her and she bore litter after litter after litter for five years. He mammary glands are so low they drag and she is already low to the ground being a Dachshund.

The puppies she produced would have looked nothing like that of course. They would have been staged in a much nicer home with a "mum" and have probably flourished into good looking dogs in their homely homes with plenty of food, walks and love. But the poor biological actual mum....

I thought lurchers (in general) largely enjoyed snoozing at home, given a decent gallop or two a day? Do you mean they need company and so aren't suitable for households that go out to work?

No, prey drive more than anything. They can wear a muzzle of course but that's not ideal. And they often can't go off lead which most people want in a dog. I think a greyhound is more like you describe. Lurcher is a sighthound x with a working type dog generally I think so could have a range of characteristics but when people say lurcher I think most people think of a less lean greyhound type build. Stamina and speed in many cases. Lovely dogs but not if you are a cat or any number of other smaller creatures. They're great in the right environment but as pp said can fall into the wrong hands and are not great in suburbia where most people live.

As long as mine gets a walk, which can be miles and miles, or a 10 minutes whizz round the block he just sleeps all day with a funny five minutes at about 6pm!

He’s not a bit of trouble, loves everyone, does whatever we ask him and is a pleasure to be around.

He is sensitive though, so a rowdy house with young children probably wouldn’t be for him - although he’d probably just take himself off to bed.

I’ve always had springer spaniels. Easy to train and brilliant loving family pets. My boys are 13 and 18 now and have been bought up around them. We currently have 12 year old and an 11 week old girls. I do work 20 hours a week but pop home in my lunch break and they are good as gold togther

I see a lot of lurchers where I live, but that's London Zone 2 so I'm not sure it counts as suburbia. The tall lean greyhound/saluki/etc sort as well as smaller whippet lurchers. Not many of them wear muzzles that I can see. Maybe they don't go off lead, or only in dog fields? They always seem to be trotting along peacefully and happily and minding their own business. They're all lovely

After owning different dog breeds for 30 years, my experience is that they all pull, puke, pee & pooh & enjoy getting very filthy at times & roll in the most unsavoury & unidentifiable things. If you can cope with that then it's a good start.

It would seem I have a faulty one. Or perhaps it's me.
Doesn't take away from the fact though that their numbers are high in rescue centres. I just can't make sense of breeding dogs when there's a high percentage that at least some of the litter will end up in rescue. But I have quite leftfield views on animals in general so perhaps it is me. Anyway, said lurcher needs a to go to lurch outdoors.

Mine doesn’t wear a muzzle and spends most of his life off the lead. He does have a prey drive, would chase if given the opportunity, so isn’t. Have to be very careful when there’s leverets around and he stays on the lead then. I’ve had labs with strong prey drives before too, though, and any terrier worth its salt will want to hunt.

Another Border Terrier vote. Ours was brilliant with our primary age kids, completely tolerant. Can walk for miles but very happy lounging. Very quiet in the house though did bark while playing zoomies with other dogs when she was very young but totally quiet past the age of about 3. Great with other dogs too. I’d avoid if you have any rodent pets though.

But if you are talking about leverets you sound like you live rurally?
I know they are not the only dogs with high prey drives. Mine happens to be insanely prey driven so I guess that's colouring my views.
Just had another look at DogsTrust and labs and terriers have high numbers too. Don't know what percentage end up in rescue but I think, but might be wrong, that it would be higher than labs and terriers.

On the edge of rurally, although thankfully no hares/rabbits! He spends a lot of time in the countryside with me though and if there’s any chance of hares then he’s on a long line which thankfully he’s not remotely bothered by. He’s also not interested in livestock, or other dogs.

Rescue dogs are great for some people but I wouldn’t have an adult rescue. Training puppies is easy peasy and I need my dogs to do what they’re told, unpicking other people’s mistakes and the dogs early experiences is not - if you want to take that on then that’s great - it is bloody awful that so many lovely dogs are in rescue centres and I’m glad that there’s people like you who advocate them for them but there’s nothing wrong with wanting a puppy as long as the person chooses wisely, understands what they’re getting and makes ethical decisions around where the puppy is coming from, which it sounds like the OP here is.

Agreed! Breeding for breeding sake should be discouraged. And anyone breeding without a reasonable reason such as betterment of the breed, shouldn’t be breeding.

So much thought goes into it when it’s done properly but too many people don’t realise what’s involved: For example;

For the stud I chose for the litter my boy is from took me over a year to pick. I factored in;

purpose (I like my dogs to be show line but working line energy - personal preference), so they had to have a proven working ability ideally either formally or just as dual purpose on some form. What use is retriever that can’t do even basics of what the breed should do?

I wanted conformation. None of this ‘puppy farmer’ crap about shorter legs or softer fur (or their new gimmick…low shedding Goldens!!! 🙄!)

I wanted health. Only fully health tested sires, including heart (not breed mandatory but recommended). And going back minimum three generations, ideally more.

I wanted longevity (so I chose a sire who’s parents and grandparents had lived long lives and no history of cancer going back as many generations as possible. It’s not like you can test for it, but you’d be mad to breed from a dog who’s ancestors died from diseases like cancer. It’s how US Goldens have gotten into the state they’re currently in).

I wanted temperament. I wanted dogs that I knew wouldn’t be neurotic (as Goldens can be). I wanted dogs that would fit into any setting (not just be family pets) and so were robust and resilient. That was really important. Too may dogs have too little resilience. I want a dog that is bomb proof. My boy was attacked at 12 weeks on one of his first walks - GSD had his neck in its jaws. He didn’t even blink. Once he was released he came to me for a quick ‘check in’ and then promptly forgot about the incident. That’s the mark of a well-bred and well raised dog. Because a poorly bred or badly raised dog would likely not recover from that.

I wanted low COI (in the end, I had to flex on this a bit although it’s still ‘low.’) Because inbreeding comes with its own issues.

And I wanted to use a sire/stud from someone who loved their dog as much as I love mine. Not just breeding for money or cos their dogs ‘nice.’

In the end…less than five possible sires in the whole UK matched my requirements.

And this all comes back to my point about families with young children that lots of people seem not to like. After all that, after a year of searching for the right stud, why would I ever settle for ‘good.’ It’s not enough. I’m sure someone would say that’s all extreme, but given how many dogs are euthanised or end up in shelters, it’s the very least that a responsible breeder should be doing: making sure their puppy has the absolute best chance of success in their new home.

You should assume that the majority come from, at the very best, less than ideal breeders. Quite possibly a puppy farm. The owners won’t know it though. It’s all too easy for those keen to make a fast buck breeding litter after litter of puppies to make a fancy website, use a few buzzwords to sound good, and dupe the unsuspecting

Beagle! Beagle beagle beagle! They are the BEST! Wonderful family pets, very patient with kids (my 8yo daughter loves ours a LOT!)

They can be left for a few hours if trained from a pup but do shed a bit. We got ours because we didn’t want a big dog or a little one.

They are just the best dogs ever , fun personalities and have amazing velvet ears and love a cuddle.

Personally I wouldn't have an issue with a group of breeders getting together with the aim of developing a small-to middling sized, low shedding, low drive, healthy, sturdy, conformationally sound, even-tempered breed for the pet market.

And I have no problem with dog clubs that have open gene pools, where as long as the dog looks like and behaves like a Jack Russell or a border collie, it counts as one.

Bichon frise or similar. So coton de teuler another possibility? Maltese?

I have a bichon, she doesn’t shed. Dogs which don’t shed generally need more grooming so be aware. Someone has said poodle already which is another possibility. They can be prone to separation anxiety but if you’re going to be wfh not as much of an issue I guess.

All dogs pull on the lead…
You need to add a dog trainer to your list of things. Don’t do it without one as it’s a million times harder frankly..
You need to be sure you are present and really prepared to give time and take dog with you; even when that makes this awkward. (A well trained dog makes this part much much easier.)

I don’t think it matters what breed - all dogs are loving, attached and enjoy being in a group. What matters actually is you and how you manage it!

I have a fantastic wire haired fox terrier, I really cannot fault her…apart from she’s always had ailments.

I would honestly look at Heniz 57s, they may not always be pretty but they’re often much more stoic than your pure breeds. Loads of shelters have puppies/young dogs in need of a home.

My golden lab has been the perfect family dog from my daughter being 5 years old - she does shed a lot and has a lot of energy. Border terrier is a good option

My poodle has never pulled on the lead and I’ve never needed a dog trainer.

Poodles are very smart and pick things up very quickly.