I’ve been trying to convince the wife into getting a dog for about 8 years and after finding out today that a work mate has just bred his springer spaniels we have been to see them and she now wants one, but now I’m starting to have second thoughts.
Do these dogs make good family pets?
When trainned I would probably take it along with me on the weekly local bike ride and could probably take it to work with me a few times a week but it’s the times when it’s at home I’m worried about.
Are they too active to be left home alone a few days a week?
We have two children 6 and 2 year olds

IMO no. They are highly intelligent, can be hyperactive, and demand a lot of attention. More so than a lot of other breeds.

Springer’s ARE NOT a good introduction to dogs…

They are very hard work cos they’re so full of energy, and to be frank, a bit thick! That’s not to say they don’t make great pets, but more for people who already know what they’re like and what to expect.

Bigger, more docile dogs make much better first pets IMO.

Or get a cat FTW…

spaniels are crazy and very energetic… springers especially so.
They do have a slighly endearing nature tho and are generally good with the family but are far too hyper and get obsessed easily with chasing things. I have a slightly neurotic black lab who is awesome with the kids

collie!

As most of the above have already said, they are a very energetic breed and require a lot of exercise a week. I take mine for 2 2 hour walks a day otherwise they have far too much bounce in them and become a pain around the house. They are very mild mannered dogs so wouldn’t be aggressive towards the kids, but they will tend to jump and bound around a lot which may no be ideal if you have young ones pottering about.

The ideal first dog in my opinion is a Labrador; they are extremely loving and well mannered dogs and are great with kids (will let them chew on their ears, prod them etc). My father has one in a relatively small London house with no problems, like all dogs they require a good walk at least once a day but they won’t tear the house down if they don’t get it. They are also very intelligent dogs, contrary to what many people think!

Springers are a brilliant family pet, as long as you can give them a good hour off lead walk once a day, plus a little round the block in the morning that’s plenty. Had my little fella for 3 yrs an couldn’t recommend the breed enough

Thanks for all your advice, we have started to fall in love with it already but I think we will back out tomorrow before we commit to it.
The last pet I had was a bulldog over 20 years ago which I didn’t have to look after. He was not up to a bike ride either 😉
A lab or a collie would probably be more suited.

A massive Rottweiler, they’re just misunderstood.

Don’t wear a down jacket and you’ll be fine! 😉

I do like Rottweilers but mrs rag doesn’t. My dad used to have two as guard dogs when I was a kid both of which never understood their job description, both soft and quiet

Springers are NOT thick but they can be ace at hiding their intelligence behind a wall of flappy eared enthusiasm.

DO require a fair amount of stimulation but don’t actually need that much physical exercise (they are VERY adaptable – the breeder we got ours from (many times national field trials champion) didn’t believe in loads of exercise for his dogs).

They are BRILLIANT with people and are very affectionate to the point of being annoyingly clingy at times.

Be prepared for 5 or 6 years of ‘energy’ before they properly settle down though.

I grew up with working Springers so kind of knew what to expect when I got one (or two) of my own though and might be more tolerant of their foibles than other owners.

slainte 8) rob

What clourmoise said.

We had one when I was young and I had a tendancy to tease it, so it bit me on the face. Other than that it was great fun – utterly mental though, ruined all the furniture

I’m gonna say Labrador as well. It was my first introduction to a dog. Very mild mannered breed, and easy to train. They are active but don’t require huge daily walks, few short ones through the week and a big one at the weekend. Take mine biking with me now she’s 2 and has developed and got the fitness. There great with other people and other dogs. Only drawback is they wanna eat everything going.

For Gods sake if you are worried about a springer having too much energy do not get a collie. Springers are energetic dogs that will need one or two off lead walks a day but then so too do labs despite what the owners of many fat examples will you.

I don’t think the breed I have in mind exists,
1 good with kids.
2 only needs a short walk twice a day.
3 happy to sit quietly when the kids are in bed.
4 fit enough to run along on a 10 – 20 mile ride once a week.

I might have to give up on number 4 for an easier life.

I dont think any dog could run along on a 20 mile ride once a week.

so too do labs despite what the owners of many fat examples will tell you.

Haha, exactly what I was thinking!

Ours gets 1.5 hrs a day and then a couple of rides or big walks at the weekend.

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a dog that meets all your criteria!

spaniel could do 20 mi no probs once trained up a bit. FANTASTIC biking dogs, trade off is that when they are fit, they just wont sit still at any other time. can be quite possessive too.

my vote is for lab.

as per my little lab.

exceptionally friendly, great with kids etc. decent size, good enough at biking, tho less agile than some breeds. FANTASTIC with water (up to you if thats a good thing!)

grow quickly though. he’s 14 weeks in this next pic.

My ex had a springer, female, adopted. It raced around everywhere jumping up and pawing the kids, scratching them, and pee’d itself when excited (normally when someone came to the door) They also had a cavalier king charles spaniel, female, lovely dog for the kids, didn’t get trained though (i wasn’t around to do it) Heart defect due to inbreeding though. Very short walks only, lots of sleep periods, loveable, dumb, died at 5.5 years old horribly in the middle of the day (blue tongue, rasping, the cat witnessed it, yowled and left the house never to come back. my daughter is still devastated)

I’ve grown up with cross collies, blue merle shelties and an alsation/red setter (we think) They had the legs to keep up on all day walks, but want out for long walks a couple times a day. Difficult to make compatible with modern life. They are highly emotional and sometimes quite shy which is upsetting.

Whilst as an adult in a family we would like a dog and think for ourselves on breed, admittedly they are best for kids to grow up with for interest, companionship and teaching them about mortality. I’d pick a dog that’s best for your kids, and at their age, a king charles is fine if you check the breeders family tree documents to detect inbreeding heart defects.

spaniel could do 20 mi no probs once trained up a bit

You must ride at the pace of an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping then.

ah ha ha ha. i hope not.

saw it with my own eyes last week. she was slowing at the end, but still keen.

to be fair it was more like 14 mi, so you can have a slight concession there.

The ideal first dog in my opinion is a Labrador; they are extremely loving and well mannered dogs and are great with kids (will let them chew on their ears, prod them etc)

Sorta true, if you avoid the working ones …… if you get one from working stock, they are bright and pretty tireless and will chew you out of house and home unless given a lot of things to do.

Basically the first 10 months will be easy as they are puppies, then at that point they turn into teenagers so start to become hard work until around 4. Hence why you see a lot of people trying to get rid of dogs once they hit 10 months.

Also if you do get a Lab, do not underestimate there obsession with food and water. As they are permanently on the hunt for any unguarded food, and slightly damp.

Also I would get a bitch rather than a dog personally, as they tend to be a bit more clingy.

This book is also well worth a read: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Dog-Owners-Canine-Psychology/dp/1570762503/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334130583&sr=1-2

and finally if you go to pick a puppy do *not* pick the one cowering at the back, or the one that charges towards you. It is *not* picking you, its the most dominant dog and will be an utter bastard when it grows up.

saw it with my own eyes last week. she was slowing at the end, but still keen.

to be fair it was more like 14 mi, so you can have a slight concession there.

Mental, doesn’t the owner realise that more than likely the poor bastard is going to have horrendous hip/joint problems as it gets older 🙁

Mine would run himself to death if he though he was being abandoned/left behind.

i tend to agree tbh.

1 good with kids.
2 only needs a short walk twice a day.
3 happy to sit quietly when the kids are in bed.
4 fit enough to run along on a 10 – 20 mile ride once a week.

That dog doesn’t exist, as they aren’t machines that can turn off and on there enthusiasm for life to fit around your lifestyle.

You need to allow at least two hours a day for training and walking, plus some playtime with them, and you shouldn’t leave them alone for more than 4 hours once they are old enough to hang on for that long.

Mine found it very hard to hang on for that long until he was around 1 . Any younger and I would have come home to a house drenched in piss.

Also if you do get a puppy you need to bear in mind they are massively time consuming as they basically play, eat, piss and shit every few hours and they can’t hang on if they need to go and being around there own faeces will cause them some distress which can impact there temperament in later life (that’s why the mothers eat the shit, if they can’t get it out of the kennel)

rmacattack – Member

I’m gonna say Labrador as well. … Only drawback is they wanna eat everything going

Very true – mine had his breakfast twice this morning because my wife didn’t realise I’d already fed him… That didn’t stop him wolfing it down…

Given that he is only 9.5 weeks old with a teeny tiny tummy I’m expecting a call in about an hour to say he has awful diarrhoea…

Lovely…

haha ha.

we are training ours currently. gave up on expensive training treats as you could basically reward him with pocket fluff and he would still behave for it. he will eat ANYTHING.

currently reward him with kibble, and feed him it too…

so despite having a bowl of say 150 pieces, he will still sit, stand, lie, follow etc. all for a single piece of the same stuff, 2 seconds after finishing an entire bowlful.

Just wait until he eats a scouring sponge or some string, as that’s always a highlight of dog ownership.

Here’s a photo of mine at 2, when he had calmed down a lot (don’t look TJ, he’s not on a lead and he is in a public place)

saw it with my own eyes last week. she was slowing at the end, but still keen.

to be fair it was more like 14 mi, so you can have a slight concession there.

Mental, doesn’t the owner realise that more than likely the poor bastard is going to have horrendous hip/joint problems as it gets older

Mine would run himself to death if he though he was being abandoned/left behind.

indeed, just because the dog can do it doesnt mean it should.

my old one ate a 1990’s era golf ball.

(the ones that were basically 3 miles of wound up rubber string forced into a plastic casing)

had some interesting bouncey/stringey poos.

also a classic moment where my old man stood on a stringy bit hanging out, only for dog to leg it, reach the limit of the elastic and have it snap 15 ft back up to his arse.

oof!

Mine has eaten around 15 ft of string in the past, all you can do it put your foot on it and wait for the shocked look on the dogs face as it walks away.

The vilest thing mine does is vomit through gritted teeth, as he is usually dragged away from the puddle before he eats it again. However he has worked out if he grits his teeth he gets to keep most of the ‘good’ stuff and can swallow it again.

Basically if you get a Lab, prepare to be revolted at what they will do if they think they can eat something.

I had a black lab when I was young, it ate a light bulb 😐 the vet had us feeding it bread for ages. Didn’t seem to have a negative effect. Im a cat person but if I was to have a dog it would be a collie 🙂

although my old spaniel wins currently in the dirty food stakes as she once found a fully rotting cod on the beach in south wales, and ‘owned’ it for about an hour.

lovely trophy that was.

We’ve got a springer (almost 2 years old), no kids of our own, but several younger nieces and nephews, they love him and he plays very well with them… Only the eldest at 11 is strong enough for him out walking though, he’s obsessed with birds, and if on the lead can give a good pull if something interesting flaps past.

He gets 30 mins in the morning (mix of on and off lead). 20mins at lunch, and then evenings vary from 30-90mins. that’s plenty for him to be very quiet around the house.

I’d agree with the above comment about clingyness, he’s like my shadow in the house, I quite like it though.

He’s MY first dog, although I did grow up around Cockers and English Setters.

He’s also a magnet for mud….

Worst dead animal mine has found/eaten/rolled in was a rotten bloated (with gas) badger which he ‘popped’ by rolling on. He was caked in maggots and rotting flesh and to get within 10 feet of him made you physically gag.

Luckily there was a pond nearby…..

I own a springer and a cocker and, whilst it is true they have a lot of energy and are a bit mad in their early years, they do settle down and they can be calm.

However, they do need a reasonable amount of exercise and they are drawn to water and mud like, well, a duck to water. That _could_ cause issues if you have kids, if you like them to stay clean that is. They also like to eat, so you have to watch what they get their hands on, because they will eat it.

They are very lovely dogs though. Our cocker will sit for hours on your lap (as my jumper will prove) and is happy as hell when any attention is paid to him. Same with Ted (the springer) although he does prefer tennis balls to fuss.

My lab used to be obsessed with “helping” in the garage which involved eating tools…

On a serious note labradors do still require a fair amount of exercise as they will eat absolutely everything – you see far too many fat labs around these days so you do have to watch their weight a little. They are however one of the most loving and loyal breeds (albeit the same can be said about springers). Ours, if taken for a couple of 2 hour walks during the day, will happily curl up by the fire in the evening and is great with kids, would never dream of biting them (although seems to want to eat everything else).

re: making them run a long way

indeed, just because the dog can do it doesnt mean it should.

while some breeds suffer form hip problems due to inbreeding and probably wouldn’t make good dogs for chaseing bikes. I grew up on farms and the working dogs would (out of choice) follow the landrovers all day, so that’s probably 15-20miles at least, every day. They could sit in the landrovers but usualy they’d rather run. One day one even got bored while some fencing was being put up and ran home of it’s own accord!

For the OP, have you considdered re-homing a greyhound/wippet? They only want a couple of short (but very fast, off the lead) walks a day and will quite happily sleep the other 23 hours.

think the bottom line is that ALL dogs need bringing up properly, and exercising correctly throughout their life.

bottom line is that if the OP wants a dog to ride descent amounts of xc with once a week, and then stick in the house to play gently with kids for the rest of the week then it isn’t going to happen.

fat labs is one of the saddest things IMO. such a lovely form on a decent lab, wrecked by lazy owners.