How To choose a Dog?

[DustyPeach]

Hi Everyone

I am feeling overwhelmed with the amount of choices out there for dogs. I would love tohear from your experiences with puppies and young children DD 3.8yrs and DS 17months. We will be getting a puppy for christmass and I would love some extra guidence in this area from those of you with experience.

Looking forward to your experiences and reccomendations for kid friendly breeds.

[Noah_and_Elijah]

I don't have any real tips, we just took our DS and showed him a few breeds that we liked and waited to see which one he took to best.

He liked the sausage dog puppy so we will be getting him one of these at the beginning of the year.

[KarniF00l]

It's hard isn't.

Here's a website with a questionnaire that may help you decide which breeds are more suitable for you and your family. PET NET

Hope that helps and good luck.

[MordecaiAliVanAllenO'Shea]

I'd consider first what you want in a dog - some things to consider are:

- how much time can you commit to exercise/walking and how big is your yard - if a small yard and not much time for exercise then an active breed like a Kelpie would not be such a good idea

- how do you feel about fur everywhere? We have a Golden Retriever and he sheds heaps so not so good for a neat freak Also to do with shedding consider the amount of grooming the breed needs and how much time you want to spend on that.

Other things we looked for when choosing a puppy was we crouched down and saw which of the litter were responsive and would approach us. We also just liked his little personality, he made us laugh.

Actually once you decide on a breed do a search and most breeds will have a website that also includes things to look for when choosing a puppy.

HTH
Mel

[Nex]

Small Dogs and small kids are often not a good combination.

Small dogs often need more space and exercise than large dogs....a jack russell is far more active than a great dane!

I've had two dogs I thought were ideal family dogs. They were border collie/laborador cross.
Big enough not to worry about the kids really hurting them. Intelligent yet extremely gentle. Large enough and protective enough to be useful as a 'guard dog'.

It was a joy to see my 8mth old pup (really silly puppy stage usually) Sit next to my friends 18mth old daughter and let her climb all over him. He'd never seen a baby before!

[shed]

My first piece of advice would be to wait until your children are older, but apart from that, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have a very good reputation as being a children's dog. So maybe check them out.

Not a maltese (snappy) or something too fragile. Something that can take a bit of rough and tumble without freaking out too much.

A sausage dog is not one that I would recommend. I think they are adorable but they can be a bit snakey round kids. I taught Puppy Preschool for years and have never met an unsnakey one, lol. Maybe I just got unlucky. They make good pets for adults as they tend to get very attached to one person.

A westie is a very nice little dog around kids. They are cute and fluffy but tuff as nails so they don't mind a bit of rough and tumble. They are hard to come by though.

English staffies also seem to be popular around children.

To be honest if we didn't already have dogs I would wait until my baby was older.

Shih-tzu or one of the oodle type dogs were always popular with people with kids at puppy school. I am not recommending that you get a cross breed though, but they do seem to be quite popular (just saying, before the breed snobs come in and have a go, lol).

Make sure you go to a breeder and view the mother at least. Make sure she's not a snappy little bugger because if she is she will hand that down to her babies. Don't buy from a pet shop if you can avoid it.

But yeah, I wouldn't be getting a dog yet, yeah sorry, I know I said that already, lol.

Good luck. Anything you want to know, just ask.

Edited to add: labradors are lovely, as are Golden Retrievers

[Mum2Tyla]

some of things have already been said, first thing is how big a yard do you have, I personally feel any cattle dog or working dog is not good in suburbia unless you have alot of time to exercise them, how much groomig do you want, alot of small breeds eg maltese etc require regular clipping, brushing etc, after these things ahve been considered I think most dogs are oaky with kids if trained right and socialised well from a young age I have an Alaskan malamute and she is great with kids but i was very strict with her training, sterilised her at 6 months and socialised her very well.
Kelly

[Shelly68]

Cannot recommend a Cavalier King Charles high enough for kids.

I have 2 DDs, we got one when the youngest was 2 (and eldest 4), they used to dress him up in their dolls clothes, put him in their dolls strollers and push him around, he loved it, they'd sit on him and pretend to ride him like a horse, honesly there was nothing you couldn't do with this dog.

They don't need much exercise (well ours didn't), he was quite happy to sleep all day when the kids weren't playing with them.

If you do those tests I'll back it in they'll come up with a Cavvy

[DustyPeach]

Thanks for your responces.

All that said im taking on bord everything everyone has said so far.

I have a corner block so its a little larger than most. I have a 3-4foot hard wire fence all round. I would prefer a dog that didnt shed one that had to be brushed/shawn? would be ideal. We all have respirty tract issues. Hence a cat is not suitable.

As for time I am a studying SAHM. The children have periods of time from one day to two day stays with their dad depending on the part of the month we are up to.

I would like something that is a good guard dog and is protective of us. I live in a good suburb but would not mind my own protection if that makes sence. Something that would make a stranger think they would be bitten should they come in the yard/house. Something to keep me company while the kids are at dads as I am finding I need something while they are away and dont want to be in another relationship as things are complicated enough.

Perhaps a poodle?

[Harlequin]

Just don't buy a designer dog labramoppy****zamoodle that supposedly doesn't shed.
Most of them will and do shed despite what the 'breeders' tell you.

I own a small pom cross who is getting on in years now but I think he's a pretty good deterrent when it comes to burglars. He sits in the front window, that's enough to stop anyone trying to break in.

Would he/she be an indoor or outdoor dog?

I think a pure poodle would be good if you need something that doesn't shed.

You should have a look at the breed pages on dogzonline they are pretty interesting