I have never owned a dog before as the time wasnt right & i hope I am a responsible animal lover! But now I feel that we could give a dog a good home.
My husband & I have three girls between us a 12 year old (my husbands) who already has a white westie at her mums (who she lives with and I fell in love with it) an 11 year old (who is mine - lives with us) and a 4 year old who would love a pet. i need to know are there certain traits that I should look out for i.e are some "mad" and some not? some good with young children and some not? etc. how do I recognise an easy going sunny personality from a subdued one, are there better pedigree's to look out for? Can you recommend a good book to read on the subject?

Regards
Erika Fidler

cistern2000@supanet.com

Hi Erika

It's great when you find the time is now right for you to have a dog - I had to wait for fifteen years - but now am on my way to getting number two:) I'm sure we canhelp and complete your family for you:)

It's helpful to know how much time you have for exercise and grooming. Do you work at all? if so how long is the dog likely to be left, some breeds cope much better than others and do you have a garden, large/small, live in a large house, small flat etc, all this helps determine the type of dog that would be suitable for your family. Are you specifically looking for a pup or would you be happy to rescue a dog. Do you have any particular preferences, ie must be a quiet dog, short haired, long legged, waggy tailed type stuff.

If you can give us this type of info I'm sure we'll come up with something.

Look forward to your reponse

Pam n Jasper and soon to join Buddy

try http://www.petplanet.co.uk/petplanet/select/index.htm fill in your preferences and see what kind of dogs match your lifestyle...will give you a rough idea of the kind of dog to look for :)

ROTFLOL.

I alway's view these sort of things with scepticism, but being game for a laugh I had a go Suzi ;-)

I answered all the questions with my breeds in mind (eg:smooth coated/no grooming and highly active) and it suggested the following:

1) Welsh Springer Spaniel,
2) Soft Coated Wheaten,
3) English Setter,
4) Rough Collie!!!! *FAINT*
5) Large Munsterlander.

No wonder so many dogs end up in Rescue :rolleyes:

Twilly x
Thanx for the laugh ANYway :-)

lol - it worked for me thats why i posted it :/

guess it isnt the best way to decide but it brought up the kind of dogs i had in mind before using it...

twilly your just too fussy for the test :P lol

Yep :p

Having said that you would think that they would know the difference between a "Smooth Coated/No Grooming" breed and a "Rough Collie" wouldn't you!

LOL

Twilly

lol the rough colly they saw must have been having a good hair day :)

Rough Collie grooming isnt that time consuming and show bathing triming takes me no longer than it does for my border collie.A good brushing once or twice a week does the job.But if you cant deal with the moulting then thats another matter :D

Well I just done this test to see what my choice came back with.

I have a Border Collie very active and a Labrador lazy lump.

Dog Breed Score
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier 20
English Setter 20
Bracco Italiano 20
Rough Collie 17
Old English Sheepdog 17
Schnauzer Giant 16
Leonberger 16
Labrador Retriever 16
English Springer Spaniel 16
Welsh Springer Spaniel 15

Karen

Hi, when you visit the mum and litter the first most important thing is that the mum is a friendly and sensible dog. Hopefully you will see her with the puppies but often by 6 or 7 weeks they are weaned and living seaprately. that wont matter as long as you have a chance to meet her and observe her. If she is outgoing and friendly with the sort of demeanor that you like that is the first step. If the sire is owned by the breeder (which often they are not) then the same applies to him.

A good breeder should let you "meet the parents" and not hurry you. When it comes to puppies, as long as they have not had a negative experience with any resident children then there is no reason that any puppy from good natured parents should not be good with children as lond has they have been well reared so far ie have received lots of the right sort of handling.

The important factor here is that the children are good with the dogs and that their parents know what a puppy needs in the way of sensible play, enough sleep and how to nip any arising problems in the bud. When viewing a litter of puppies, go for the one that is obviously friendly and desiring affection but also runs off to play with its littermates. Dont buy the one that is the most demanding of attention which is usually the boss puppy. the boss puppy will also be the one that is the first to get to a toy or ball that is thrown etc. A good breeder will know his/her puppies well and will know which is the dominant one/s and which ones will be "in the middel" ie not too dominant and not too shy to cope with children.
Do buy a couple of puppy books, anything by ian Dunbar ( just search book sites) would be a good start. You really have to get "into the mind" of a puppy and understand why they do what they do, and how to encourage correct behaviour and to recognise and deal with undesiarble traits before they become second nature.