I have always had dogs until my 20s but now have my own family. Recently our amazing cat lost a fight with a car and now the house just feels a bit wrong.

So as per title, what’s a good dog to go for. It will have to be a rescue so may need a couple of suggestions.

We have 2 girls, 5 and 8. Both are used to dogs.

We have a large garden and live opposite a giant park. My wife doesn’t work (she says she does) so longest it would typically be left may be 2-3 hours unless we go somewhere.

Not interested in a yappy toy dog

We have a miniature labradoodle who is a lovely family dog, so loving – loves snuggling up on the sofa with my daughter and doesn’t need huge amounts of excercise. Only downside is that she’s constantly looking for food and you have to be careful she can’t nab anything when you’re cooking.

I was a bit of a curmudgeon about having a dog, finally gave in to my girls pressure and now I’d hate to be without her!

Retriever or lab?

Lab

Not a beagle. They are dreadful

Springer spaniel

Do like the idea of a spaniel.

Why not a be be beagle?

Whippet or lurcher worthy of consideration.

Behave a bit like cats too, which you may appreciate.

After a three year dog break, I’ve got a four month old black Labrador Retriever (gundog bred). He’s absolutely fantastic, so easy to train, loves his cuddles and every human and dog he meets. Super quiet too which was a bit of a shock having had two Cockers previously.
He’s happy in his crate for three hours in the day (sleeps) not done longer as haven’t needed too and is in it overnight snoring away normally between 10.30pm-6.30am.
He’s a lab so food driven but doesn’t beg or try and steal human food (but then he’s never been given any). He’s in the process of trimming various shrubs, making the garden his own, teething but no more so than the Cockers did.
Without hesitation I’d say Lab/Retriever.

Whippet. For run all day or sleep all day. They’re quite happy with either.

Or Beddlington X Whippet. If you’re feeling more atheltic and / or you want more “personallity”.

Lab or retriever are very good family dogs. They just need lots of attention and stimulation.

Woah, woah

Go easy on me 🙂

Cocker Spaniel? The in-laws have got one:

Great with kids and other dogs, enjoys winding up swans though

Why not have a look round your local rescues.
They would be able to give you some advice as to what would be suitable for your family.

Staffies are good family dogs.

Just be careful with rescue staffies as they may not come from the best background but the rescue centre should guide you to ones that are suitable for your family.

Whippet or lurcher worthy of consideration.

Lurchers are cheaper. Mine has a dash of collie and a splash of Bedlington rest is greyhound and whippet. Awesome dogs lazy as hell inside crazy as hell outside. Amazingly gentle too unless you areca rabbit!

My mum has a Bedlington whippet lurcher. Madder than a box of frogs but a lovely little thing.

Vizsla – amazing dogs. My mate has one. Trouble with labs is they’re frickin greedy and they molt.

Anything with long hair is a pain in the arse to dry when its wet.

Poodles mixed with spaniels and collies mixed with anything make for mentalists!

(We’ve now got a Miniature Schnauzer. Great family dog, bit of a yapper and not a trail dog – get something with longer legs. Again Vizsla solves all of these issues!)

Sprocker – less mental than a springer but still spaniel temperament.

Drac- posting that photo is not helping me!

I’d love a Border terrier, however we’re not at home enough at the moment. And our garden is surrounded by a field, any terrier is going be hard to contain unfortunately. Too many rabbits and hares to tempt them I think.

Making a garden border proof will a challenge they’re escape artists

old english sheepdog; had one from puppy to her death; we had three young children – younger than yours – when we got her. She was great with the kids – not just ours – and our kids were great with her.
We had large garden so built enclosed dog run and kennel which she was in from about 12 months old; long walk twice a day and lots of play time.
Recommended – if you don’t mind the inevitable grooming.

Two other suggestions
– my ex partner had a lovely Bedlington Terrier
– my daughter has a dorkie, dachshund and yorkshire terrier cross; another recommendation.

Greyhound or lurcher if you have a spare couch. Take next to no walking (relatively), good nature (our toddler just pushes them out of the way to get past, they’ve been hit with toys, poked, prodded…..not a whiff of bother), cheap to feed. They’ll rip up your lawn running for 3 mins a day though and can’t, for the most part, be trusted off lead. Very affectionate though, they think they’re lap dogs.

Black Lab

Beagles. Disobedient, abscond, food-obsessed. Just dreadful

Look cute as puppies. Don’t be taken in. They’re like gremlins!

Spaniel or lab cross. Get a cross breed.

Post pics when you get one!

Lurchers are fine off lead if trained. Yeah she’ll chase anything that runs away but the chase is over pretty quick and then she trots back. Not like a terrier that’ll bugger off hunting for an hour or two.

Got to suggest rescue Lurcher too. So many variations but basically comes down to super chilled inside and speed demons out.

I think mine is greyhound x saluki, but who knows!

Why not have a look round your local rescues.
They would be able to give you some advice as to what would be suitable for your family.

Very few rescues are housed with young children (usually over 11/12 ish) – we tried for a long time and gave up. We ended up with a cocker (that we bought as a pup) and our two 7 yr olds utterly adore her and she is fantastic around them despite all the hugs, being pulled left, right and centre etc.

Rough Collie. Brought to Britain by the Romans, they could not be trained as anything but sentry dogs in WWII, because no matter how much people tried to get them to, the dogs just would not attack people.

Extremely intelligent, they make the finest possible family dogs.

I’ve had two, and would get another in a second.

This one 😉

http://www.dogsblog.com/thelma-10/

The best dog I’ve known is a bearded collie crossed with something like a whippet or a greyhound, the other best dog was a total mongrel which never barked. I think it’s meant to be true that cross breeds are healthier generally. King Charles Spaniels are endearingly daft. 🙂

+1 for a rescue lurcher – loads in the rescue centres and if you want a young dog, staffies and lurchers give plenty of choice. Mine’s fine off the lead too, even crossing roads and suchlike but do always have to keep an eye out for cats…

We had rough collies when I was younger. Lovely dogs but so much grooming. They get in a mess if you don’t do it.

Check out Dixy here

Bichon are great with kids.

They don’t shed hair too.

Expensive to buy as they are not a typical mutt.

I’ve been bitten by an over protective collie and the kids are likely to be nipped if they run around. I’d never have a collie with kids.

breed doesn’t matter if you are getting it from the rescue since you will be able to interact with each individual dog

In the time-honoured tradition of recommending what you’ve got, since you’re going for a rescue it’s got to be a Staff/Staff cross. We have a rescue Staffie X Boxer (alongside a non-rescue Boxer X Spaniel) and he’s just the most awesome thing ever. Runs about daft as much as you could want, but will sleep all day too if we’re having a quiet day. Very short coat so clean and no dog smell. Loves his humans so much that he can’t lie on the sofa without having to be touching one of us. Trainable, eager to please, and has been great with our friends’ toddlers. The Boxer side does mean he isn’t the best on a lead but recall off it is superb. Anything Staff does need training out of their inbuilt desire to constantly lick you in the face (out of love) though!

Sprocker ftw. Got ours in may. So fit, so fast, so energetic outdoors but chilled in the house, doesn’t seem the shed hair, fantastic with the kids and very clever. Our is a nice size at 11kg.

But everyone thinks their dog is the best!

But everyone thinks their dog is the best!

Absolutely correct.

We had a King Charles Cavalier which was the quietest, friendly, lovable dog ever. Soft as shite she was. Unfortunately she had the dreaded Mitral heart valve disease which cavvies are known for so we’r reluctant to have another just yet, so we’ve just put a deposit on a Red Fox Lab.
I’ll let you know after the 1st week of December!