Suitable dogs with young children

Styles

Styles

Styles

Soldato
Joined
16 Mar 2005
Posts
2,889
Location
UK
Hi,

We're looking into getting a puppy soon but I thought I'd ask on here of any recommendations or experiences with different breeds.

Our son is 6 months old and naturally at the 'touchy feeling grabby grabby' stage of childhood.

I love Labradors but I believe this would be to big of a dog (our house & garden aren't big enough I feel) and potentially would be too energetic and run around too much and knock our little boy about.

So basically I'm looking for:

- No bigger than a lab
- Good with Kids
- Affectionate

Thanks
 
My friend has a Jack Russell and it's great with his little bro and sister. It does lick everyone quite a bit though. :D
 
Spaniels are fantastic with kids, and so are border collies. The latter are mush easier to train, but the former are smaller. They're both affectionate, but quite excitable.
 
I have a Doberman and a Chihuahua and they are both great in their own way with my little one.

One thing to be wary about with guarding breeds is that they can be very protective over children, which may sound good at first but they protect them from everything, including other children. Of course it's something that can be prevented/stopped with proper training but kids plus dog usually equals not enough training for the dog.
 
i really would just get the breed of your choice and raise it in the right way. The main consideration would be the amount of exercise so I'd say a Collie would be a bad choice. It's just a case of being sensible, don't leave them alone together, don't let the baby/toddler wind the dog up too much and you're all good.
 
Labs are great with kids. Mine is actually terrified of small children and tries to avoid them :)
 
Another vote for Spaniels - incredible dogs, so loyal, amazing to train, very affectionate and brilliant with kids - never seen any aggressive behaviour with the 8 or so I know
 
German shepherd.

For reference

IMG_0825.jpg


KaHn
 
My mother had a Labrador when she met my father. When us kids came along she had a motherly instinct with us (she would guard the pram!) and through my entire childhood we always had a lab as a pet - they are great
 
+1 for labs and german shepherds :cool:

When my brother was a baby the German shepherd we used to have would 'guard' him :p, and also let my brother sleep on him lol.

To be honest, some of the smaller dogs can be more 'bouncy' and more likely to knock over/injure a child than a large dog.
 
IMO, a medium/larger size dog is more likely to have a better temperament with kids as they're less likely to feel threatened when being tugged about.

Labs are good dogs, easy to train and they don't get too big and generally have good temperaments, but as others have said, a dog is only as good as it's owner.
 
I'd also like to say, there is nothing wrong with mongrels either. Some of the best behaved, well trained dogs I've known are/were mongrels.

In fact a woman I know has mongrel who she had trained as a support dog to help in her every day life.
 
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