Please recommend a good dog for my 12yodd.

[Jane Elliot]

We had a horrible experience with a 16mo German Shepherd that was given to us last month. 12yodd loved her and was training her and we were enjoying taking her on hikes. But then she killed a bunch of poultry, terrified the UPS man, nearly killed some sheep (which she was supposed to be protecting), and finally attacked the 2yo. She had to go bye-bye.

 

Now we want a medium to large-sized dog that is easy to train and fun to take on hikes, but not unpredictable and dangerous, and I mean not scary at all. 2yo is now even afraid of our old Newfie, who we've had for years and has been only all sweetness toward him since he was a baby.

[mooooom]

not the easiest in the world to train (some are smarter than others) but very good with children. Boxers also are usually sweet, but they have very high energy levels at young ages - even more than labs.

 

I don't know much about GSDs except for service dog demos (police dogs, tracking dogs etc.), but all the service dogs are imported from Europe, US GSDs are not supposed to have good genes.

[oasis]

Wow; so sorry to hear about your horrible experience with the German Shepherd! :grouphug:

 

Animal Planet has this dog breed selector: http://animal.discovery.com/breedselector/dogselector.do

 

I would think a Golden Retriever would be a good option!

 

The sweetest large-sized family dog we've owned was a husky/wolf mix. He was very gentle with kids, and loved everyone!

[Karen in CO]

I'd say lab. That is the hiking dog around here. They are typically terrific with kids and will greet everyone with a smile. Individual dogs vary, especially with bad breeding so caution is always a must.

 

We have a Jack Russell that is super, bright can hike all day, hates squirrels but won't touch our chickens because we told her not to. She loves our kids, but generally can't stand other kids or other dogs. We also have a 65lb white, long-haired mutt that we rescued. He is the sweetest dog ever, but he'd catch the hens and chew on them if he could; he hasn't killed one yet even though he has gotten a few very slobbery.

[Teachin'Mine]

What about going to a good shelter. Good ones will ask you exactly what you're looking for and will only place a dog that's a good fit. It may take some time for the right one, but since you're okay with larger dogs, they may have one there that's perfect for your family. Just a thought, rather than just going with a certain breed. Each dog within a breed can be so different in personality and temperament.

[KidsHappen]

Golden Retrievers are the perfect family dog. They are easy to train and very friendly. They are high energy dogs. They need lots of exercise and family interaction. I would get a pup due to 2 yr. old and then train early. Ours is perfect now and doesn't give me any problems at all. Chewing can be an issue for this breed so work on that early and often. I recommend the child who will own the dog do the training, playing, walking and so on so that he mainly bonds with her. Please be aware that most 12 year olds can not be solely responsible for a dog. No matter how dedicated your child is, you will often have to be involved. My 13 year old has a dog and honestly she only spends a few hours a day with it and he sleeps with her. If I left it up to her though, he would not be potty trained at all and probably would not eat near enough. I also have to manage his household training and vet stuff and so on and of course the expense.

[Annie]

What about a full size poodle? They're very smart, pretty sporty, and don't really shed. I dream of having one someday, but I haven't yet convinced my DH.

[coffeegal]

I would think a Golden Retriever would be a good option!

 

 

I'd say lab. That is the hiking dog around here. They are typically terrific with kids and will greet everyone with a smile. Individual dogs vary, especially with bad breeding so caution is always a must.

 

We have a Jack Russell

 

We have a female black lab that is WONDERFUL with our kids, especially the babies despite the abuse they put her through. When she gets fed up with their rough treatment, she gets up and walks away. :001_smile:

 

As far as other breeds, I've never met a mean golden retriever and a friend swears by Jack Russells. They're a smaller dog, but highly intelligent and playful. :D

[Jane Elliot]

We have a female black lab that is WONDERFUL with our kids, especially the babies despite the abuse they put her through. When she gets fed up with their rough treatment, she gets up and walks away. :001_smile:

 

As far as other breeds, I've never met a mean golden retriever and a friend swears by Jack Russells. They're a smaller dog, but highly intelligent and playful. :D

 

Does anyone know how labs generally act around poultry? My sister used to bring her golden lab when she visited, but he was so fixated on the poultry here that she finally started leaving him home.

[Suzanne115]

I agree with the person who suggested a Standard Poodle. We have two and they are great with children. When I taught public school, I even took them to visit my kindergarten class. We also did a little Therapy work.

 

They are eager to please, highly intelligent, gentle and overall awesome dogs. Even when my daughter was a baby, I could trust them with her completely.

 

I would also suggest that whatever type of dog you get - have your daughter take it through at least two training classes - a puppy class and the next level. We trained ours when they were puppies and it has been so worth it.

 

Labs and Goldens are also great. My brother had an awesome Lab and we have friends with Goldens. They seem to require more effort to train and have a higher activity level.

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Suzanne

[Jane Elliot]

What about going to a good shelter. Good ones will ask you exactly what you're looking for and will only place a dog that's a good fit. It may take some time for the right one' date=' but since you're okay with larger dogs, they may have one there that's perfect for your family. Just a thought, rather than just going with a certain breed. Each dog within a breed can be so different in personality and temperament.[/quote']

 

Yes, I was planning to call the shelter today. Several friends have had good experiences with that route.

[TheApprentice]

How about a Labradoodle. They have the best characteristics from both breeds. Smart and intelligent, with very little shedding (from the poodle) and a great family fun dog (from the labrador):001_smile:

[Jane Elliot]

Golden Retrievers are the perfect family dog. They are easy to train and very friendly. They are high energy dogs. They need lots of exercise and family interaction. I would get a pup due to 2 yr. old and then train early. Ours is perfect now and doesn't give me any problems at all. Chewing can be an issue for this breed so work on that early and often. I recommend the child who will own the dog do the training, playing, walking and so on so that he mainly bonds with her. Please be aware that most 12 year olds can not be solely responsible for a dog. No matter how dedicated your child is, you will often have to be involved. My 13 year old has a dog and honestly she only spends a few hours a day with it and he sleeps with her. If I left it up to her though, he would not be potty trained at all and probably would not eat near enough. I also have to manage his household training and vet stuff and so on and of course the expense.

 

Thanks for that recommendation. Do you know how they generally are around poultry? I'm not so worried about chewing since it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would when the German Shepherd chewed (until she was chewing on my 2yo!!!)

 

We wouldn't leave the 12yo to herself. She has a lot of helpers around here.

[Jane Elliot]

How about a Labradoodle. They have the best characteristics from both breeds. Smart and intelligent, with very little shedding (from the poodle) and a great family fun dog (from the labrador):001_smile:

 

Never heard of it, but it sounds great. I'll investigate.

[TXMomof4]

We just got a boxer about a month ago and I ADORE this dog. He is one year old and was house trained and crate trained when we got him. He walked in our backdoor, face to face with the cat and just kept walking. He loves to play fetch, but my 4 yo son can also lay down and wrap his arms around him and lay there to watch tv. He doesn't get on the furniture, sleeps all night on his bed right beside us and is basically the most wonderful dog I've ever been around (except for Joe Boxer, our previous boxer mix).

 

I love boxers. They are sweet tempered, love to play, but love to be lazy too, super family oriented. This guy isn't a great watchdog, he'll gruff at strangers, but then he's hiding behind us. At the dog park he is completely non-confrontational with other dogs and is quick to back down is another dog is being aggressive.

 

I can keep singing his praises if you like, but basically, he's wonderful and the perfect dog for our very crazy family.

[Jane Elliot]

At the dog park he is completely non-confrontational with other dogs and is quick to back down is another dog is being aggressive.

 

 

He sounds like he'd be wonderful for dd, but I don't know if he'd be okay here. We deal with coyotes and wolves on our property constantly.

[2cents]

Golden Retrievers are sweeties! Ours is very loyal and great with the kids, minds her manners with the cats, had to do some training there but between that and some attitude adjustments from the cats she learned. She loves to swim and is just like a big furry teenager. Lots of fun!

[bigdogs29906]

FWIW, I have both a Collie and a Great Dane. Both absolutely ignore my chickens and are spectacular with the kids. My Collie is a smooth coat too, so there isn't much in the way of grooming. I also had a Bullmastiff, who also was awesome with the kids but had no interest in chasing anything...especially chickens.

 

I also foster dogs for the shelter. If you go that route just try and find a dog that has a very low prey drive....

I find that if the dog wants to chase cats/squirrels it will also want to chase chickens...and anything else.

[K-FL]

I'd look for a breed/mix that was not a bird dog. Labs & Retrievers, Spaniels, Setters all are--to one degree or another. Our mutt was a shelter puppy that has some pit-bull. While I know Pits have bad PR (and I'll need a flame suit), they are not naturally aggressive toward people. Remember Jack the dog in the Little House series or Petey in Little Rascals? Both probably pit-bulls. They are extremely eager to please, so if you train one right you'll have a love for life.

[Jann in TX]

You were given a 16month old GS--and only had them one month... what was the reason the original owners decided to give him away? What type of breeding was he from...what type of training BEFORE you got him?...some types of German Shepherds are more prone to violence--these are the smaller bred-down ones... we LOVE the 'classic' large straigh-backed ones--these are the TRUE gentle giants (think Rin-Tin-Tin).

 

We have had (classic/old-fashioned) German Shepherds for YEARS.. and trust them with our kids and their friends. Our dogs do not jump (on people), they are well behaved, well trained, and are the best 'floor rugs' and family dogs we could ever imagine having.

 

I know there are ALWAYS exceptions (I was bit by a GS my grandparents owned when I was little... but it had a BAD temper and was a 'guard dog'..

 

German Shepherds are NOT natural 'working dogs'--meaning they may or may not have the drive/desire to watch or protect a herd of sheep... in our area Great Pyrenees are the herding dog of choice. They DO need a job though.

 

Lots of pure-bred dogs and rescue dogs can become the 'best dogs in the world'... it really depends on their INDIVIDUAL temperament and the TRAINING they receive. In may we adopted a rescue female white German Shepherd... she is NOT from a 'good breeding'--but she IS the sweetest thing in the world! She did have several months of intensive rehab and training before we adopted her (she was found starved in very poor condition--nearly dead). We visited her at the rescue center a few times and they brought her out for a home visit--she was an instant friend with our male white German Shepherd--and she even LOVED (licked) the cat at first sight! We made sure she was a good fit WITH OUR FAMILY before we agreed to adopt her... many people make the mistake of taking in a rescue dog without taking enough time to understand the true temperament of the dog.

 

Our very first dog was a rescue from the local shelter--she was a 1 yr old German Shepherd/Corgi mix (DH referred to her as a sawed-off shepherd). She had been in rehab for 6 months--but was still very timid. She did LOVE our little ones (2 and 5 at the time) and was very gentle with them from our first meeting. She was a GREAT dog... but I really had to work with her and a good trainer the first year we owned her.

[kwickimom]

yellow labs!!!!!! I raise them and LOVE them. Ours potty trained in 12 weeks, 1 accident, is playful but content to jusy lay with the kids....truly awesome dog.

She is my kids best friend.

[Miss Marple]

All my labs felt it was their duty to kill chickens. But a single episode with a shock collar worked wonders! I think just about any dog will try their luck with chickens that roam free, but some can be trained - others cannot.

 

Labs, poodles, labradoodles, are all great with kids and friendly to most visitors. And they are in general trainable.

[KidsHappen]

Thanks for that recommendation. Do you know how they generally are around poultry? I'm not so worried about chewing since it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would when the German Shepherd chewed (until she was chewing on my 2yo!!!)

 

We wouldn't leave the 12yo to herself. She has a lot of helpers around here.

 

I would think that if you got it as a pup you could easily train it to be around the poultry. Although you would think a retriever would be bad with them my retriever is good with all small animals. Apparently he doesn't have very strong retriever genes though. We can't even get him to play fetch even after working with a trainer.

[Jane Elliot]

You were given a 16month old GS--and only had them one month... what was the reason the original owners decided to give him away? What type of breeding was he from...what type of training BEFORE you got him?

 

All I know is...The people who gave her to us gave her away because she was aggressive with strangers who came onto their porch and they were running a business at home. She was fine with their grandchildren and so they felt she would be fine with our children. She was bred by the people who breed for the local police department. We were at least her third owners, and she acted as though she had been abused (cowering at first when our boys came near especially if they had something in their hand.)

 

We shouldn't have taken her. It wasn't a smart decision because we hadn't gotten enough information beforehand. In hindsight, I feel like an idiot. The people who gave her to us thought it was a win/win situation for both families because they couldn't run their business with her and we had just lost a lot of sheep to coyotes. After the incident with the 2yo I wasn't willing to have her around anymore. It was really scary and we had had two earlier incidents with this (one with the 2yo and one with a friends' 1yo) which made us wary. I really did like this dog until she got aggressive. After that, I wasn't willing to take anymore chances with her. Without the aggressiveness and cowering, her personality was exactly what I would have wanted in a dog...so I wouldn't write off German shepherds completely, but at this point, I'm just so sad that 2yo is terrified of even our Newfie now, and I'm not up for a breed with any history of aggressiveness until he grows out of this.

 

ETA: We did have a Great Pyr, and we loved him, but he wandered a lot (we're a half mile off any road and he got run over). He was great as a livestock guard and we enjoyed his personality, but he wasn't personable enough for a 12yo to train.

Edited July 22, 2010 by Luann in ID

[Jane Elliot]

All my labs felt it was their duty to kill chickens. But a single episode with a shock collar worked wonders! I think just about any dog will try their luck with chickens that roam free, but some can be trained - others cannot.

 

Labs, poodles, labradoodles, are all great with kids and friendly to most visitors. And they are in general trainable.

 

Good advice. Thanks, Cynthia.

[Jann in TX]

You can desensitize/train a puppy easier--and you will not have the baggage...

A dog that is aggressive with strangers WILL be aggressive with other people too (or at least I would not trust them)!

I would NEVER suggest a bred-down German Shepherd for a family dog-- too much aggression is bred into them... they are on 'high alert' all the time... so your dog came from a 'police dog' breeder--again this is a huge WARNING for family dog owners! 'DISCLAIMER' I know that there are a few exceptions--but when shelling out money for a FAMILY dog--get one that was bred to be a FAMILY dog... :rant:

 

Unless I wanted a dog to do 'schutzhund' competitions with specifically--I would stay far away from breeders who have these types of dogs (this is what most police dogs are bred for).

 

I prefer my floor rugs--they do a great job of protecting us--and our animals (we have 12 acres) and they are great with the kids--and have been easy to train (our white male is a trained therapy dog).

[KidsHappen]

Thanks for that recommendation. Do you know how they generally are around poultry? I'm not so worried about chewing since it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would when the German Shepherd chewed (until she was chewing on my 2yo!!!)

 

We wouldn't leave the 12yo to herself. She has a lot of helpers around here.

 

Duplicate post. Don't know how that happened.

Edited July 22, 2010 by KidsHappen

[Jane Elliot]

You can desensitize/train a puppy easier--and you will not have the baggage...

A dog that is aggressive with strangers WILL be aggressive with other people too (or at least I would not trust them)!

I would NEVER suggest a bred-down German Shepherd for a family dog-- too much aggression is bred into them... they are on 'high alert' all the time... so your dog came from a 'police dog' breeder--again this is a huge WARNING for family dog owners! 'DISCLAIMER' I know that there are a few exceptions--but when shelling out money for a FAMILY dog--get one that was bred to be a FAMILY dog... :rant:

 

Unless I wanted a dog to do 'schutzhund' competitions with specifically--I would stay far away from breeders who have these types of dogs (this is what most police dogs are bred for).

 

I prefer my floor rugs--they do a great job of protecting us--and our animals (we have 12 acres) and they are great with the kids--and have been easy to train (our white male is a trained therapy dog).

 

This is all good advice (as usual, Jann, I appreciate your posts so much). I wish I had asked here before I took that dog. It would have saved us a lot of grief.

[bairnmama]

Does anyone know how labs generally act around poultry? My sister used to bring her golden lab when she visited, but he was so fixated on the poultry here that she finally started leaving him home.

 

 

I don't know about pure labs, but my friend has a lab/shepard mix and he is perfectly behaved around their poultry. He would even lay down and let the chicks hop all over him. Now he's the one that mainly herds the chickens back into the coop at night.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I'm going to add another vote for a labrador.

If you get one as a puppy/young dog you should be able to train the hunting instinct right out of it. My lab (and the one who just passed away) were both fine around small animals. We could let our budgie, hamster, and small kittens run around the floor, and the dogs would just sniff, nose them a little bit, and then go away. Exposure is the key here.

 

One of my labs was a chewer, the other wasn't, but we kept them in bones and Kong toys and stayed on top of them to keep away from chewing inappropriate things and only lost a few shoes. :D

 

Did you try crate training the GSD? Crate training is a *really* good method of potty training and protecting the dog from chewing/eating bad things while it's a puppy.

 

And with small children, most of the labs and lab mixes I know are wonderful with small children. One of mine wasn't, but she's been the exception and not the rule from what I've seen. They are big enough that they aren't threatened by children. My lab mix let my DD crawl all over her, and more than once I caught DD trying to put toys in the dogs mouth, ears, and even once her bottom!! :lol:

[ktgrok]

standard poodle! Not scary, but very athletic.

[Kebo]

I would say whatever breed (or mix) that you want, it is AT LEAST as important to evaluate the individual dog as it is the breed. German Shepherd are among the best AND the worst dogs I have ever seen -- they can be loyal, intelligent, even-tempered and just plain fabulous....or they can be high-strung, anxious, aggressive, untrainable.

 

Having said that, there are some general breed differences. Are you set on size? The reason I ask is that some of the breeds that came to mind when reading your post are smaller breeds, such as Papillons and Schnauzers. For a child that is scared of dogs, a smaller dog is less intimidating, and FAR less likely to knock them over in play. The flip side is that you may be more likely to encounter other issues, such as yappiness or difficult house-training with the smaller breeds.

 

ETA: I almost forgot to add that my favorite dogs have all been mixes :-), but it IS harder to predict what you are going to get.

Edited July 22, 2010 by Kebo
more info

[ktgrok]

Oh, or border collie, given the sheep! My border collie asks me every day when we are getting sheep :)

 

Seriously though, ours loves kids,and even sleeps by my daughter's crib at night.

[Teachin'Mine]

Does anyone know how labs generally act around poultry? My sister used to bring her golden lab when she visited, but he was so fixated on the poultry here that she finally started leaving him home.

 

Retrievers are bird dogs. It's instinct for them to go after birds. But they are great with people. :)

[Hockey Mom]

Retrievers are bird dogs. It's instinct for them to go after birds. But they are great with people. :)

:iagree:

 

And retrievers were used to retrieve the birds gently in their mouths, not to kill them.

 

We have a yellow lab. She was the easiest dog to train that I've ever had. She is friends with everyone and everything. Except lizards. She loves to chase them down and offer them up as gifts to DS7. *gag*

[Teachin'Mine]

Luanne, here's a good site with some information on using dogs to protect livestock - specifically sheep. Two that are recommended are Great Pyrenees and Akbash. I have no idea how these breeds are with birds, but they blend in well with sheep. The whole idea is that the predators don't notice the dogs and mistake them for sheep, and then the dogs chase the predator away. But I didn't read the whole article to see what the danger of them falling victim to the predator is - as that wouldn't make for a good situation if you want this to be a pet for your daughter.

[Country Mouse]

My lab and lab mix have been fairly easily trained to ignore my free range chickens. We got them both as puppies which I think helped the process. I did not have to use a shock collar, just verbal correction.

 

Oddly though, they know the difference between my chickens and my neighbor's chickens and if one of the neighbor's flock wanders into my yard my lab mix will chase them out.

 

One time she saw "something" in the yard and tore off after it but when she got close enough to see that it was one of my chickens she stopped dead in her tracks. It was kind of funny to watch.

 

My lab boy has such a soft mouth that he will bring me chicken eggs unbroken.

 

I really like labs, I find that they are smart and easy to train and my lab boy is the most gentle, loveable creature. I recommend a lab or lab mix!

[Jane Elliot]

Luanne' date=' here's a good site with some information on using dogs to protect livestock - specifically sheep. Two that are recommended are Great Pyrenees and Akbash. I have no idea how these breeds are with birds, but they blend in well with sheep. The whole idea is that the predators don't notice the dogs and mistake them for sheep, and then the dogs chase the predator away. But I didn't read the whole article to see what the danger of them falling victim to the predator is - as that wouldn't make for a good situation if you want this to be a pet for your daughter.[/quote']

 

I am thinking we need two dogs, but we'll probably wait until our old Newfie goes to doggie heaven. Since we lost the sheep in May, Fish and Game has been helping us control the predators with traps. That's not a permanent solution, but it works for now alongside the Newfie barking all night long. When she goes, we will probably get a Great Pyr, which we had in the past.

 

For now, I mostly want a dog for dd to train. I'm mainly interested in something that will follow her and the other kids around to protect them. We really liked taking that German shepherd on hikes, too. But a livestock guard dog isn't suitable for that either.

 

A lab is looking good to me or a labradoodle. This thread has been very helpful.

[kokotg]

We've never had any trouble with our herding dog mixes and our chickens. We have two cattle dog mixes (one crossed with pit bull (not a combination I recommend, but her issues are with other dogs; she's great with people and chickens) and the other probably mixed with some kind of smallish terrier). Our newest addition is some kind of big, shaggy herding dog (quite possibly a Bergamasco or Bergamasco cross, but there's no way to know for sure). He occasionally bounds half-heartedly after a chicken if one is running near him, but now that he's outgrown the puppy stage we trust him not to hurt them (I don't think he ever would have hurt them on purpose, but he might have played a bit too roughly, given that he outweighs them by 50 pounds).

 

If it's very important that you can trust the dog around the chickens, I personally wouldn't take a chance on any kind of bird dog unless it had already been around poultry and done fine. That's just me. I know there are plenty of labs, poodles, etc. who do just great with chickens, but with so many dogs in the world to pick from, I'm more comfortable getting one that's not genetically predisposed to kill and eat any members of our household.

 

I adore cattle dogs/mixes, and, at least around here, they're a dime a dozen at shelters. Not easy dogs, exactly (no herding dogs are, I don't think), but very trainable IME and as far I've heard/seen any aggression problems they have are towards other dogs, not toward people. I'd also think about a border collie.

[JFSinIL]

I would get a lab puppy.

[Jane Elliot]

I would say whatever breed (or mix) that you want, it is AT LEAST as important to evaluate the individual dog as it is the breed. German Shepherd are among the best AND the worst dogs I have ever seen -- they can be loyal, intelligent, even-tempered and just plain fabulous....or they can be high-strung, anxious, aggressive, untrainable.

 

Having said that, there are some general breed differences. Are you set on size? The reason I ask is that some of the breeds that came to mind when reading your post are smaller breeds, such as Papillons and Schnauzers. For a child that is scared of dogs, a smaller dog is less intimidating, and FAR less likely to knock them over in play. The flip side is that you may be more likely to encounter other issues, such as yappiness or difficult house-training with the smaller breeds.

 

ETA: I almost forgot to add that my favorite dogs have all been mixes :-), but it IS harder to predict what you are going to get.

 

Very interesting post...especially the part about German shepherds. I almost felt like we were dealing with both types in the same dog -- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

I think I'm set on not having a small dog for two reasons. First, dh has allergies, so it will have to be a mostly outside dog. Second, we have wolves so people around here "lose" small dogs.

 

I would be more open to a mix if it weren't for the predictability factor. We went for our Newfie because we could predict with certainty that a Newfie would never be aggressive. We love her for that. What we weren't able to predict was how tired *we* would get of the slobber.:)

[Jane Elliot]

 

If it's very important that you can trust the dog around the chickens, I personally wouldn't take a chance on any kind of bird dog unless it had already been around poultry and done fine. That's just me. I know there are plenty of labs, poodles, etc. who do just great with chickens, but with so many dogs in the world to pick from, I'm more comfortable getting one that's not genetically predisposed to kill and eat any members of our household.

 

 

 

LOL. So true and my son, the chicken whisperer, will thank you for pointing this out.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Oh, or border collie, given the sheep! My border collie asks me every day when we are getting sheep :)

 

Seriously though, ours loves kids,and even sleeps by my daughter's crib at night.

 

:iagree:

Our dog is half sheltie/half border collie and she is a sweetie:)

 

I would stick with standard poodle or collies IMHO since they are great family dogs and friendly:) Think Lassie:)

[vettechmomof2]

Do you have a secure fence to keep the dogs outside?

If not any predator could cause a problem, even potentially for an experienced LGD.

If you are looking for a dog for your daughter to train you got many great ideas but if it will be staying an outside dog then having it safely secured would be best and then the chickens might not be an issue anyway.

I would recommend getting your daughter into dog 4-H. The books are great for helping to determine what you are looking for in a dog and then also having a group of children learning to train together. It is a wonderful program for children.

[StephanieZ]

My best advice is to get a mixed breed as a puppy. Read up on puppy-testing for personality and then go to a few shelters and try it out until you find a match. DO NOT take the kids to the shelters until you know which pup you are bringing home, IMHO.

 

Puppies are more work but come with less baggage.

[Jane Elliot]

My best advice is to get a mixed breed as a puppy. Read up on puppy-testing for personality and then go to a few shelters and try it out until you find a match. DO NOT take the kids to the shelters until you know which pup you are bringing home, IMHO.

 

Puppies are more work but come with less baggage.

 

Thanks for this advice. I wouldn't have even thought about not taking the kids, but you're totally right.

[hornblower]

My best advice is to get a mixed breed as a puppy. Read up on puppy-testing for personality and then go to a few shelters and try it out until you find a match.

 

I would not get a puppy, esp with unknown parentage b/e you just don't know what the puppy will grow into.

 

 

Even Patricia McConnell was recently saying on her blog that puppy testing is a pretty inexact science & that she always tells people you won't know what you're getting until a year or 18 mos down the road. You can tell a bit about drive & independence - maybe. But there really has not been a lot of independent study done to show that these predictions actually bear out eventually.

 

 

What actually happened to the GSD? :confused: Poor dog, sounds like being bred by a loopy person b/e a reputable breeder would be taking that dog back & finding the right home for her themselves.

[hornblower]

Have you checked

 

www.petfinder.org

 

 

Also consider posting on Craigslist in your area. I've heard of some really great matches from CL though you do have to do your homework so you don't get another dog who needs a lot of work if you're not up for retraining & doing counter-conditioning & desensitization for your farm animals.

[AMDG]

We *LOVE LOVE LOVE* our Newfoundland. They might be a little extreme for some, because they are one of, if not the biggest breeds of dogs. For us, we picked a Newfie because:

 

1). They are totally non-agressive.

2). Their gentle temperament is the "hallmark characteristic" of the breed.

3). No jumping

4). Little no *no* barking.

5). Loyal, calm, only wants to please and make you happy :-)

6) Easy to train, easy on a lead, loves to be close to people

 

Negatives:

1) Slobber. Lots of slobber. Of course, with two little boys, I'm dirty all.the.time, so the slobber doesn't bother me. However, DH gets irritated with the dog slobbering on his work pants when he gets home.

2). Size. Newfies are always over 100lbs, most of them reaching 130-180lbs.

3). Fur. They have a thick double-coat.

 

Our Newfie is the calmest, most gentle dog I've ever been around. That alone outweighs all of his gross-out qualities. He is our first family dog, and he has been a huge success!

[hornblower]

They have a newf already.

 

Why doesn't the 12yo train the newf?

 

Luann - is your property fenced? I don't quite understand how the lgd got run over. LGD's do need some initial training to learn the boundaries they're responsible for. It's a shame. They're great dogs.

 

I think you're asking too much from one dog - guard animals, fight off wolves & coyotes, but be totally mellow with small kids, be biddable and easily trained by a child, be able to live outside..... & sounds like you (the adults) are not able at this time to put in significant time to train this dog.

 

Kids training dogs is fun but it's a rare kid who can do it entirely on their own. They need to do it WITH someone - like a parent who is training another dog at the same time, or a parent training the same dog at the same time (two people can absolutely train the same dog at the same time) or within classes or a 4H program etc. And the adults need to commit to supervising, helping, giving advice daily. It's a daily process 10-30 min/day & there's a lot to learn about learning theory & how to teach certain behaviors. Many dog training enthusiasts spend a lot of time online asking questions & finding out how to do things, or going to clubs & picking the brains of the trainers & other dog owners - just like homeschooling parents spend a lot of time finding out the best curriculum & hs methods. :D

 

I'm so glad I got my kids involved in clicker training (though only one is really interested) & in learning about operant conditioning & behavior modification. But it's been a subject I had to teach them & help them with - just like any other homeschooling thing we tackle.

 

Just my $.02