OP it may not be the right time for a dog for y'all, but here is a good post on matching yourself to the right breed of dog.

https://www.facebook.com/michelle.steigmeyer/posts/1171331682973488

I agree with others. You sound like you really don't want a dog

I didn't really want a dog. The kids were going to be out of the house within a couple of years. The wife traveled for work most of the time. I knew I would be the only one available to take care of a dog and I worked some pretty good hours at the time. One time I returned from a work related conference and boom, we (I) had a puppy. It worked out just like I anticipated, with me being the main one to take care of the dog. Twelve years later and I wouldn't trade that dog for anything.

+1 on Golden Retreiver (only drawback will be the hypoallergenic criteria, because Golden retreivers shed.)

If you want a non-shedder, I have heard golden doodles are good, but I cannot get past them looking like an overgrown ugly poodle. I think poodles are worthless. I will have to fight this battle with my next dog. My current golden is the best dog on the planet.

But I wouldn't hesitate to have my golden around anyone's kids. They are like a sponge for any love anyone is willing to give.

OnlyForNow said:

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I would swim with any dog you can't hold or aren't afraid of pushing their head under water.

My lab is a horrible swimming companion because he wants to be too close to me all the damn time.

Other than that, he's a great dog so we just don't swim together.

I would look at rescues, not pounds or fosters.

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LOL...my sister has a golden that swims with them. She used to hold it over her shoulder like a baby in the pool, when it was a pup. Now that he is about 90 pounds, it still expects to be held this way for a while, and will come sprinting from across the yard, dive in, and swim over to her. I laugh when I see her holding her huge dog that way. I can only imagine swimming with mine. She is attached at my hip on land.

My chocolate lab wanted to be held in the water. He was just too lazy to swim but wanted to stay cool and be around the social circle at the river. My golden also enjoyed being held but would swim a ton. Black lab swims at the river for hours on end and we lose him between the tubers. He loves it. I miss holding the chocolate lab at the river now that he is gone no matter how heavy the lardass was.

Update. After looking at some of the local adoption agencies it seems there are plenty of younger dogs which are already house, potty and kennel trained. I don't mind the leash training.

We are letting the agencies know the dog could be home alone for up to 7 hours for 3 days per week. Some may have the temperament for that where others may not.

Also, we have considered putting a doggie door up so it is free to go out or stay in. We do have a pool so need to consider that as well. The pool is not fenced and our last dogs would drink the pool water until we stopped them which caused uncontrollable urination in their older lives. We couldn't let them out without monitoring them.

CherryLodes said:

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I cant handle it. After finding out im allergic to dogs my next was going to be a doodle cross breed. Sheepadoodle just edged past golden.

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after penny goes I am either going without a dog or getting a doodle mix. I am so freaking g tired of dealing with dog hair everywhere.

Avoid spaniels. Avoid anything tbat is a bird hunting breed.

Southside AG said:

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Update. After looking at some of the local adoption agencies it seems there are plenty of younger dogs which are already house, potty and kennel trained. I don't mind the leash training.

We are letting the agencies know the dog could be home alone for up to 7 hours for 3 days per week. Some may have the temperament for that where others may not.

Also, we have considered putting a doggie door up so it is free to go out or stay in. We do have a pool so need to consider that as well. The pool is not fenced and our last dogs would drink the pool water until we stopped them which caused uncontrollable urination in their older lives. We couldn't let them out without monitoring them.

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Just FYI, you will need to give the dog some sort of mental and physical stimulation daily or it will probably resort to destructive behavior out of boredom. Also, I would suggest crate training your newly adopted dog (regardless of age or what the adoption agency tells you) rather than giving it too much freedom too early on and then being pissed when it messes and/or tears up things in the house while you are at work. Good luck.

What?!? Why?

We've always had Brittanys. I never hunted but they are loving family dogs. They need entertainment but they find it themselves hunting lizards and butterflies.

Spaniel breeds are hyper active and will tear up stuff if not entertained when young, so are labs. If I were you, with kids, I'd get a weiner dog. Doesnt shed like the other breeds and loves kids when they are raised together. Damn good watchdog, and are tenacious and protective of family.

So we are meeting a mini schnauzer tomorrow. He is about 1.5 years old. If the initial meeting goes well we will introduce the kids to it later this week.

DayAg! said:

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Spaniel breeds are hyper active and will tear up stuff if not entertained when young, so are labs. If I were you, with kids, I'd get a weiner dog. Doesnt shed like the other breeds and loves kids when they are raised together. Damn good watchdog, and are tenacious and protective of family.

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Our French Brittany is a little hyper, but other than a small piece of carpet and drywall as a very young puppy, he hasn't torn up a bunch of stuff...

Southside AG said:

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Hello OB, I need your advice. My family and I want a dog. My wife and I had two cocker spaniels that lived to be 12 & 13. The last one died about six months ago. Both deaths were heartbreaking. All that said we are ready for a new dog...kind of.

We have two kids ages 10 and 6 who are both in school. They both want a dog. We want a dog that the whole family can enjoy. Our dogs that died were very temperamental and never really bonded with our kids when they were born. Cockers can be that way I've read.

My wife and I work and are not home during the day. Is it wrong to have a dog only to leave it home by itself during the week? There are So many opinions on this.

More to the story. We recently brought a rescue puppy home, a Schnauzer Yorkie mix. After two nights of not sleeping and cleaning up messes, my wife and I decided to take it back. It just never felt right from the beginning. My wife went to meet it and was talked into taking it home which wasn't the plan. The foster people were not going to be home for a the next few days after and they convinced my wife to take the dog to meet the family. I felt like they took advantage of my wife. Neither her nor I bonded with the dog. For me, it just wasn't what I had in mind as small dog and the timing was a bit off since we were in a busy time period with baseball and vacation. For her, the dog wasn't potty trained so she had to come home and let it out every three hours. Nights were long too. Is it possible to skip the puppy stage and bring home a trained dog? We had totally forgotten the work involved with pups.

Taking the puppy back was hard but we knew he still had a chance for a great home. We just didn't feel like he was one that would've been comfortable being home alone.

We do want a dog but maybe I want one that is trustworthy to roam the house while being home alone or be left outside. I think I want a Brittany Spaniel. Kids don't really care. Wife wants hypoallergenic. Would love a dog that is house and crate trained, wants to swim with us, travel, RV camp, jog 2-3 times per week for 3-5 miles, go to kids baseball games etc. must love kids too.

Is this possible? I'm okay with putting our family and a dog through some training.

Cliff Notes: want a house trained family dog that is comfortable being left alone while we are at work and skids are at school. Is this possible?

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From what I understand, if a dog gets returned more than two or three times, they often consider it to be unsuitable and just have it euthanized if ever returned again.

As far as a breed, one good house dog is a Maltese.

A former co-worker of mine used to have one and she'd bring it to the office. It never caused an issue at all.

When she'd go out of town, she'd always ask if I could take care of it. I tend to work very late at night and so every night when she was gone for two weeks once I took it out for a walk at about 3 am. The dog loved those nightly walks.

Sure enough, when she got back from vacation, the dog tried to wake her up about 3 am every night for the next week or two so she could take it on a walk around town. After a couple of weeks of ignoring the dog, it finally quit waking her up at 3 am.

I have a 40lbs mini labradoodle. Rescue dog, and she's nothing but adorable. Never once went to the bathroom in the house and can leave her up to 10-12 hours in the house by herself. Never destroyed anything, and is reasonably smart. Hates cats and squirrels - checks all the boxes I need.

Might look at one of those they are hypoallergenic, and don't really shed.

Southside AG said:

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Cliff Notes: want a house trained family dog that is comfortable being left alone while we are at work and kids are at school. Is this possible?

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Then you do should not get a puppy...


Fwiw, my German Shepherds are beautiful with the kids (even the 4 mo grandson), house trained, and can be left inside most of the day. But it took TRAINING to get them to this point.

Update. We brought home Lucky (kids renamed him from Bogey) from Mini Schnauzer Rescue of Houston in May. He is about a year and a half old, well trained and a great fit for our family.

I don't have a picture hosting account but here is a link to a picture of Lucky.
Link to picture of Lucky.

2nd Picture

Southside AG said:

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Update. We brought home Lucky (kids renamed him from Bogey) from Mini Schnauzer Rescue of Houston in May. He is well trained and a great fit for our family.

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Pictures?

Pit bulls are the best family dogs. If you are a good owner (I.e. not ghetto), it will grow up to not eat babies or children....

How old is your French Britt? I have a 17mo orange and white female I'm considering breeding in October. https://www.instagram.com/elliesavanerouge/

My French Brittany was a bit high energy as a puppy, but has calmed considerably and is very loving. She still gets excited to no end when she meets new people, but around the house with her 'pack', she is a great house dog. Great in the field too!

She weighs 30 pounds full grown, has flown in my lap without any issues at least 10 times to Boston, MA from Dallas and back.

https://www.instagram.com/elliesavanerouge/