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Post by adirondackgal on Oct 24, 2015 21:49:10 GMT
What is a good breed to get? We have had dogs since we were first married. Our last, a treeing walker, passed away in March. She was 13. We have two grandsons, 3 and 10 months. We are looking for a breed that is gentle and good with kids but of medium to large size. Any thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2015 1:03:22 GMT
Oh my. I think you will get as many different answers as there are ppl! Lol. I love Jack Russels but they aren't overly good with kids. Labs are great but they need room to exercise and can be destructive if bored. My sister has a lab mix and once she got out of her puppy stage is great. Loves her boys. I think you need to look at the individual dog, your situation and decide from there. Of course I strongly encourage adoption over purchase and also will recommend an adult dog over a puppy (at least over 1yr old) with kids. Teach the kids respect of the dog, be honest with yourself and your situation when searching (ie: don't think you are going to exercise a high energy breed nightly if you typical lounge on the couch)and I think you will be fine.
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Post by mollymckee on Oct 25, 2015 2:13:14 GMT
We have Westies now, ours are good with kids, but not all terriers are go with little kids. We've had Springers, Golden Retrievers, Doberman, and German Shepards that are good with kids. Most dogs that are handled right from the beginning and have been carefully bred are fine with kids.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 25, 2015 2:15:27 GMT
I much prefer big dogs, especially with little kids, and I agree with @hull, an adult is better with children than a puppy who is likely to be so excited to see the kids that he'll knock them over without even meaning to. Also, if you can try the dog out with kids, especially littles that will pull on ears and jab fingers in noses and mouths, before making a firm commitment to taking in the dog for life, you can winnow out any temperament problems.
My current dog is a Great Pyr cross - Muttley is my avatar pic, and you can see that he probably has Golden Retriever in him. He is a BIG boy, but he is very gentle with all of my grands, and has been since he was little. When it comes to temperament, Goldens are among the best...eager to please, patient, and very loving.
Once I got to know the bully breeds and Rotties, I became fans of them, too. Before pit bulls became the breed to fear, they were family pets, charged with the care of the children! If raised kindly, they are loyal and sweet pets. My ds's family adopted a supposed Australian Shepherd cross and were told he'd top out at 35 pounds. Well, he turned out to be crossed with Rotty, and topped out at over 100 pounds! He is the sweetest dog - lets Guppy crawl all over him without more than a deep sigh, and is an awesome dog. Only thing that shows any hint of Aussie about him are his eyes. They each have sections of brown and sections of blue marbled color. Very pretty. Other than that, he sure looks like a Rottie. I'd never have chosen that particular breed before, but I wouldn't hesitate now.
I don't like small breeds around kids - most of them seem to be much more likely to nip...probably because they don't have a lot of other options to defend themselves. Seems like the smaller the dog, the more the yipping and nipping, and I'm not a fan of either....but that's just me.
Of course, you are going to get about a million different opinions...
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Post by Maura on Oct 25, 2015 23:14:25 GMT
Very small breeds are often poor with children because it is so easy for the kids to hurt them.
A better question would be what breeds not to get. I would look at the dogs your friends have and start ruling out this one and that one, while taking a second look at breeds that are child tolerant. You would probably be happier with an average to low activity breed, so keep that in mind. I once had an extremely active dog, we all loved him and he was wonderful with children, but a bit much to take when you are over a certain age. English bulldogs are great with kids, low energy (relatively speaking), but they do have health issues. One just came in to our rescue, six years old, good with children, housebroken.
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Post by mollymckee on Oct 26, 2015 0:27:47 GMT
One of the things I have started looking at is the longevity of the breed. One of the problems with some of the bigger dogs is their relatively shorter life spans. I'd also look at health problems common in the breed and I look at the amount of shedding the breeds do.
There are great mutts at the local shelters and rescues.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 26, 2015 8:16:46 GMT
manygoatsnmore, (I love your Avatar picture and hope you never change it. Reminds me so much of our Snooks from almost 50 years ago.) Thank you....I do love my "Russell, the Muttley Wonder". He brightens my days just by being.
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Post by countrymom22 on Oct 26, 2015 23:19:32 GMT
manygoatsnmore, If you ever need to find a new home for Muttley, give me a call! He's my kind of dog! If you like bigger dogs, stick to them. I've found hound and golden mixes to be great with kids. Our current old man is a Lab mix, mixed with what we don't know, he was a stray. He loves kids! When we found him he was injured and hopping around on three legs, surrounded by little kids eating hot dogs. You could tell by looking at him that he was starving, but he never once tried to take food from those kids hands! He was way smarter than all the moms standing around letting their 3 year olds hang all over an injured dog that they didn't know! We decided right then that he was a keeper. 11 years later, and we still believe that!
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 28, 2015 6:17:31 GMT
countrymom22, what a sweet old man. He does sound like a keeper. Hands off my Muttley, lol - he has a lifetime home here!
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Post by aoconnor on Oct 31, 2015 16:23:12 GMT
Oh gosh! So many different breeds would work well for you! Depends on if you want a sleeper or a more active dog, long or short hair, indoor or out. I love Dobermans, they have all been great with my little grandkids. I have a German Shepard that is great with the kids, both of my ranch dogs are good with them, but the Catahoula mouths them as she is a bird dog and tends to put her mouth on EVERYTHING. I have had Golden Retrievers, mutts, etc that were all great. My English Bulldog is wonderful with my grand girls, she just adores small kids. The list could go on and on!
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Post by motdaugrnds on Nov 1, 2015 0:49:23 GMT
Adirondackgal, I would suggest you take your two grandsons with you (yes even the 10 month old) and make a visit to your nearest animal shelter. Take a walk thru and see if there are any "large breed" dogs that are "calm". Then ask the keepers of that place to bring ONE of those you like into a room where you and your two kids are to see how they interact.
The other suggestion I would have is to get YOURSELF a large dog about a year old that has "medium" level energy, give it some obedience training PRIOR to letting your grandchildren near it. Then closely monitor the dog's actions when your grandkids do come over.
As others have said, most any "medium level energy" dog will do. The smaller breeds are often more active than you might want. Whether or not you wind up with the type of dog you want will depend on YOU AND THE TRAINING YOU GIVE IT.
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Post by adirondackgal on Nov 1, 2015 2:12:33 GMT
Thank you for your replies. DH and I went to our local animal shelter today and looked around. There wasn't anything there we were interested in. There were a lot of pit/mix but most were not good with children. We will still keep looking.
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Post by Maura on Nov 1, 2015 23:10:16 GMT
If you can narrow your choices down some, you can call a reputable breeder and ask if they have any returned pups. You can sometimes find a six month old pup, already housebroken, for much less than a ten week old puppy.
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