1st time mom again! I have a question! [Archive] - Parenting Message Boards

Saphira

03-12-2009, 02:27 PM

Labs are great for families. They're very laid back the older they get but start out [usually] as rambunctious puppies.

Boxers [despite the "mean breed" rep] are a GREAT family breed. I'd even get one if I could! My mom has one, his name is Baylor. Well, he's part boxer and part lab. Whenever we go swimming in the pool, we have to lock him up. Cuz if he even THINKS your drowning, he jumps in, grabs your hand, and pulls you outta the water. I think he's a GREAT dog to have around a toddler, lol. Lifeguard duty, and his pay is two cups of food a day and plenty of water. Easy!

Golden Retrievers are great too. I think they require minimal brushing though. They can get long fur on their legs, stomach, and chest. But they are absolutely adorable doggies!

Hmm... otherwise... try a local Humane Society. Usually the dog has a story and when you meet them and they're sweet and docile and whatever you're looking for... Couldn't be too bad a match. Hope that helped at all.

1st Time Mom - Again

03-14-2009, 04:54 PM

Willbearsmom,

The other responses you have gotten here are great but I'm going to throw in a little more advice. The first thing you need to do is make sure your current kids are old enough to be obedient too. :D

A puppy will not necessarily understand that roughhousing can be a problem, both because the child could accidently hurt the pup and the pup might accidently hurt the child. Older dogs tend to be less tolerant of children pulling on them as well.

So if your children are very young, your best bet might be a young adult dog. Once you have that dog, the first order of business is an obedience class. This and making sure your children are aware of how to treat a dog should avoid any potential accidental injuries. When babies are introduced later, most young adult dogs tend to be pretty flexible as long as the owners are observant and are clear about their expectations of the dogs.

As for a corgi, I would have to say it depends on the owner. Breed standard, these tend to be very alpha personality dogs (extremely strong-willed). They were originally bred as cattle dogs which means they tend to be stockily built, hearty healthy animals in general. However, they are a herding breed (a working dog) and need to be kept busy and active.

They must also be well trained FROM THE START because as cattle herders they nip at the heels of the cattle to keep them moving and can develop the habit of nipping at people's heels if it is not trained out of them early. If you have one that is well-trained, they are absolutely wonderful with children.

Our corgi thinks she is our "puppy"-(baby's) mother and is not only careful and patient with him, she tends to try to keep him out of trouble, herding him away from "no-no's" which can be hilarious especially as he is trying to walk now. She gets so overprotective that he might fall, she sometimes overcrowds him to the point that he stumbles. She also tries to keep the other dogs away from him if she thinks they are being too rough. Our other dogs are a Pom-Chi, a Llahso Apso, and a Lab mix.

The Pom is great with him though this mix can be a little unpredictable as they don't breed to a standard. We got him as a pup and he seems to have been a blank slate personality wise. He has picked up traits from all of our other dogs, especially the corgi.

The LLahso would not be in our home if we had expected another child. They are generally attached to one person only, extremely protective, tolerant of others in the home, but not necessarily friendly and they DON'T generally get along well with children as they tend to be fear-aggressive. However, he's too old to adapt well to a new living situation and it would not be fair to my daughter to get rid of her first dog so we are just careful and watch that our son stays away from him not that the dog would hurt him intentionally. We just figure better safe than sorry.

The Lab is another "mother" dog. She is very protective of the baby but like many labs, she's a clutz. She sometimes knocks him over just checking him out to make sure I've been taking good care of him in her absence. :D Once she accidently sat on him. She absolutely HATES having her tail touched and will spin around and grab (soft-mouthed, no teeth) the wrist of the person who DARES to touch it, UNLESS our son grabs it. Then she sits quietly with this long-suffering look on her face like "could someone PLEASE do something about this?" :D

Well, I didn't mean to go on so long about our dogs, but I thought it might give you a better idea of what to look for. I will say all of our dogs are shelter/rescue dogs. To be honest, I wouldn't buy from a breeder. Most breeders are breeding for show quality and sell the "pet quality" animals. Unless you get a highly reputable breeder, these tend to be "overbred" and have a lot of health problems.

Most reputable breeders won't breed unless they already have a reputable buyer in place. Generally, that excludes the general public. We have only twice gotten a dog from a breeder (before we really knew anything about dog rescues) and both times the dogs wound up being genetic nightmares who suffered greatly before the problems were discovered.

You also are more likely to get an accurate picture of a dog's personality through a rescue as well.

Hope this helps! :D