Lucydogs, it matters not a jot how some people manage or otherwise with dogs and children.  What matters is that you are satisfied that you choose the best possible homes for your puppies. And if that means no young children to you, then stick with it, don't feel guilty and be happy.  :)

I wont sell to average people with young children unless they, for what ever reason, convince me otherwise, unlikely but possible.
But I will sell to 'dog people' with children...subtle difference.

I too brought my son up from birth with dogs, just as I had been, but your average owner may not cut the mustard when something goes awry.

Bearing in mind.....they are my puppies not public domain. No one has a right to have one of my puppies.

Its hard to say- But i would say breeders need to go with their instincts. I havent bred a litter yet but when i do i will look at each person circumstances individually.

I myself got my first 'own' dog- a gsd when i was 6 months pregnant. I had always been around dogs and desperately wanted one of my own- but i did think about it long and hard, whether i would cope etc etc. I also discussed all this with her breeder and she was happy for me to have her(she took into account that i had grown up and worked with dog previously, and the fact that i had a supportive partner so we would share the work)
I have to say, for me, i found it easy- she was housetrained before baby came and perfect in every way with my son.
My son is now 3 years old, he is quite severly autistic- he cant be left and is treated very much like a child much younger. My gsd is in training to be his support dog and i also have a young border collie and now a jrt rehome. My future plans with regards to dogs mean that i will have at least another 1 puppy joining in the next few years- hopefully from my own litter.
I have also not fully decided yet- but may have another child, so may well have a young dog and child together again.
Sadly, i feel if i was to attempt to get a puppy from a breeder again i may be disregarded due to my home situation which is very sad as all my dogs(and my son!!) get more than average attention and care and are very happy.

Thanks Westcoast - I will probably be turning down perfectly good homes for puppies like that, but as long as there are equally good ones where I don't worry about the dogs and kids question, that's what I prefer. It's just because I'm not used to the idea of having dogs with young children, not having grown up with them. I suppose in a way that's almost an argument in favour of letting people having them if you ARE a breeder who is happy to do that - then tomorrow's breeders don't grow up without dogs and feel unsure about it like I do! :-p

feel unsure about it like I do
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the way you feel LucyDogs - consider other points of view by all means but don't be bullied to feel otherwise!  Many other breeders feel exactly the same whenther they were brought up with dogs or not! :)

I have an Elkhound who is 10 days older than my youngest son. We already had a 3 years old bitch from the same breeder, who had been born in the February as my eldest son was then born in the October of the same year. I found it easy to cope with, but perhaps that's me lol.

My problem is my kids are always telling people I think more of the dogs than I do of them! We're also now approaching the time when a much loved dog is coming to the end of his days, which I know will be devastating for them as they have all grown into teenagers with him.

I think as a responsible breeder you have to look at every case on its own merits. I personally can't understand people who allow puppies to go to people who I think are too old, ill, frail etc for a young dog but because they're well known in their breed they don't say "No", but that's a whole new can of worms!!

> My problem is my kids are always telling people I think more of the dogs than I do of them

Mine too.... good to know the kids know their place !

> I never left my child unattended until I knew that she could be trusted to not be in any danger at all

But surely danger is intrinsic. Most accidents happen in the home - even with a child under your watch they can happen. Many people die or are injured in car accidents when they themselves are not behaving dangerously. I do not have children for various reasons, but I have babysat for friends children, and my brother is 17 years younger than me so I used to look after him during university holidays for days at a time. I made sure he didn't go wandering off into roads, I watched him closely. However, if he was in his cot with a bottle of milk at 6 months old say, I was happy to leave the room to go and get something - just as an example. I was not always in the room with him. Even when I was there, that didn't stop him tripping and banging himself on a chair. In a long winded way, I'm saying there is an element of risk, and danger always - but that can be managed so serious accidents are unlikely to happen - keeping pan handles not pointing off the cooker eg - but at the same time accepting that life is not safe, and risk is part of life, and how people learn. We can't predict every danger, and we are always learning - I wouldn't want a child to be in serious danger, but there is no way to eliminate all danger, and most people with small children that I know or have known are happy to leave them unattended briefly in one room of the house, for example. And that despite there being MUCH more caution regarding children than there was when I was young - I'm starting to feel old now, I come from the days of being a baby left alone in a pram outside shops - which nobody dreams of doing now, and in truth neither would I.

It has to be said that with children I am overcautious - the first night I was left in charge of my brother, when I was 18 and he was 8 months, I slept with my door open so I could hear if he woke - and then woke myself in a panic at 5.30am as I hadn't heard a sound from him and was convinced he had died in his sleep - and then spent about 5 minutes watching him breathing!! I actually think my overcaution and worry would be detrimental to a child.

Of course, everyone is entitled to rear their own children as they see fit - as long as it stops short of physical or mental abuse. :-)

I am inclined to agree - I would struggle to manage a baby and a puppy (in fact at the moment there is no way I would manage either alone!) - though I am thinking as a single person. But again, it would depend on work circumstances of the people (thinking a couple) involved, other people who help - maybe grandparents - and the dog savviness of the potential owners. I would want someone well aware of canine body language and behaviour and well versed in dogs. If you are new to dog ownership (and I know a lot of people on here grew up with them but I can speak from the perspective of having got a dog later) - a puppy on its own is enough of a huge learning curve and were I a breeder I would say no. I do think these things vary from person to person though, everybody is unique - I would like to think I would consider each on its merits - as long as the prospective owners were willing to work with me in terms of giving information  I wanted. Though I would think a young dog and young child would wind each other up, and someone with a small child might be better getting a slightly older dog.

Sometimes people can get offended because they have misinterpreted how something has come across and become offensive without that in itself making them unsuitable to own a dog - just a personal perspective - but from what you've said it sounds like they may be better off without a puppy - or should I say the other way around!! And I hope they apologised! :-o

My children adore our dogs and they weren't really hard work at all but I would say that children really start to appreciate their dogs from around aged 3 onwards. I would imagine that these people have been turned away by other breeders to have become so aggressive and it is a good thing that you had nothing available.
Even though I found our dogs easy to raise I can see now that having children all at school means that you have ALOT more "free" time to devote to a puppy :-)