Best breeds for first time dog owners

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BBP

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Mon- Fri my partner works elsewhere and dog would stay with him and go to work and out running with him.

Weekends it would come home to our house. It would probably come up to the yard with me and then out running with us both.

If he has to do any work out of the country the dog would stay with me and then stay with my parents during the day when I’m at work.

We have a pretty active lifestyle but also like to lounge around in the house occasionally with the cats. We have a decent size enclosed garden and the horses field is walking distance away.

So really we would want a nice active dog but not too manic or insane, and definitely not a breed with any sort of prey drive as I have cats. Also not too prone to excessive barking as our neighbours are close by. I used to have a border collie when I lived with my parents and she was brilliant but quite sharp and snappy (mother was abused and seemed to have transferred a natural fear into pup), I adore the idea of another and met a gorgeous laid back one at Burghley who I fell in love with but not sure that I could give it as much mental stimulation as it needed. Other half has heart set on a working cocker spaniel. (I did see a Finnish lapphund on here and fell in love but it’s a bit ‘fluffy’ for my partner, doesn’t think it looks like a mans dog!!)

Also...how do you decide you are ready for the commitment??! I have horses and cats but dogs are very different!

Thanks for any advice.
 
lifestyle sounds good for a dog, why not go to a local rescue as they quite often have spaniel type dogs that need plenty of exercise .there is no ideal first dog breed as there are so many different temperaments ,quite often in the same litter. i have a 3/4 border collie and she has been the easiest dog i have ever had, she is not sharp or manic but has plenty of energy for walks but will relax at home with no problem.. i also wouldnt ignore hound type dogs as you can usually train them to not eat the family cats. my old lurcher had a very high prey drive but never chased cats as i had trained her to ignore them when she was a puppy....
 
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I was thinking a rescue might be best as we will get a better idea of its temperament compared to a puppy. As gorgeous as puppy’s are they are seriously hard work!
 
BBP said:
I was thinking a rescue might be best as we will get a better idea of its temperament compared to a puppy. As gorgeous as puppy’s are they are seriously hard work!
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There's a contributing HHOer on here and a Rescue Centre handed over a cross-bred Pit-bull to them as a first time dog. If the well intentioned but hopeless RC aren't able to assess a dog's temperament, and generally they haven't a clue what they're talking about, do you think that you'll fare any better?

Yes, pups do take a bit of work, but with a bit of thought, you will grow together. Temperament is in part instilled within the womb (genetically) but all so often the doubts and fears can be ironed out and as the pup grows. Taking on a rescue is an admirable ideal, but the reality is that there's every chance of failure for a first time owner.

Alec.
 
Sounds like a great home for an active dog. There are varying degrees of drive in all the active breeds but unless you are really set on a puppy I think a rescue centre would be a brilliant place to start your search. As you like collies or spaniels, there are usually crosses of both (as well as pure breeds) in rescue.
 
Ps - don’t take any notice of Alec, he is massively anti-rescue - there are far far more happy success stories on here about rescue dogs than he will ever admit :D
 
I do have to agree with Alec that the one he is talking about - an adult male pit bull of unknown history being rehomed to a first time dog owner with small children is an exceptionally stupid case.
I think rescues don't succeed if you think you are getting a ready made dog, they need as much effort as a puppy.
 
We would never have a got a proper rescue as we had a child under 7 at the time, but if you put feelers out and keep an eye on breed re-homing sites of breeds you like you can often get something. Any of the spaniel breeds may be suitable or even the good old lab, mines from working stock(lab) and at 7 years still happily does 6 miles with bike or horse as long as not every day! He's also more than happy to spend a day on the sofa! We got him at 1 year old through a friend of a friend who couldn't cope with the exercise he needed and that was the perfect age, fully house trained, but no off lead re-call or lead manners, but at age 1 it's not to old to start and within 6 months he was very good and graduated top of his class in lead and recall training for older dogs. Because of the age I could also crack on getting him fit to go with the horse and bike rides.
 
Lévrier;13717310 said:
Ps - don’t take any notice of Alec, he is massively anti-rescue - there are far far more happy success stories on here about rescue dogs than he will ever admit :D
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There may well be some sense in ^^^ too — there's no question that I do have grave misgivings about most of the rescue centres, most of the staff and most of the poor dogs. I'll freely admit that 'Jaundiced' is the word! :)

Alec.
 
I think a rescue would be good to look at. A good rescue will pair you with a dog that suits and will always be a backup for advice etc if you have any problems with your new dog.

Yes, puppies are nice, but they do take a lot of work and they can take over your lives for the first few weeks as they need to go out for wees every hour or so. You also wouldn't be able to take a pup running until they were around a year old, whereas if you got a rescue you may be able to start straight away :)

You can look for rescues who foster their dogs out (mostly smaller rescues), the dogs aren't in kennels so you get a better feel for what the dogs temperament will be like.

I don't know how you know you're ready, i just wanted a dog in my life again and sat down with OH and we worked out when we could walk it, what we might have to compromise on etc before we got the dog. I have a horse and we have a cat so we were in a similar situation to you. Dogs are a big commitment. We got our rescue 3 months ago and he's been great. Has very little issues, needed house training again but that was fairly straight forward and really quickly got used to being left while we were at work. He was scared of the horses at first but now comes out on hacks with us happily. Good with other dogs (if a little too enthusiastic), with the cat. He does have some prey drive outside the house (he loves pheasants - we think he's got pointer in him which explains it!) but he'd lived with cats previously so he's fine with the cat in the house :)

BC's, as you know, are a lot of work so you do have to think about whether you can give it enough training and stimulation. Working cockers are also bundles of energy and, IME, aren't that laid back. Our rescue is a mutt, he has some pointer in him we think but he's too small and not the right ears to be proper pointer. However, he's got the energy to go running, long walks, agility etc but during the day he's happy to lounge about so long as he's had a little walk and perhaps a puzzle toy - that doesn't really help as he's not a breed but it's the best of both worlds!

ETA: How about a lab or a lab cross? I think you'd be fine with a cocker, but they just wouldn't be my choice. How about a springer? There are breed specific rescues too you could look into :)
 
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Finnish Lapphunds win around men. Just get him to meet an adult.. he'll come round when he sees they aren't pocket sized dogs lol, even my brothers one who is are lab person and the other whos indifferent to dogs loved the adults we met at the breeders lol. I posted about my new pup on here lately-100 percent bias :P However they are not easy to come across outside of Scandinavia...and while wonderful dogs they have a reputation for barking(mine isn't...yet but I've been working on that aspect since day one- hate barking dogs and refuse to have one :P)

As a general rule dog breeds that want to please or are designed to be companions do life easier for first time owners as they tend to be easier to train. I've a list of avoid dogs if that helps :P but my recommend list is a bit different and depends on the person and set up.

Generally i'd suggest looking at the companion,herding and gun dog,retrievers in particular, groupings in crufts etc as a base.
Then chose level of exercise and time available to walk to narrow it down again.
Do you want a clever dog who will enjoy learning and will need stimulation or would you prefer an easy going companion who's just up for a nice walk and chill at home.
how do you feel about having a dog with poor recall that needs to be mostly on a lead?
how much grooming do you want to put in? would you prefer low of no shed? or happy to groom a coat to maintain the look?
having cats rules out a lot of breeds as well-personally I wouldn't have a husky or greyhound (or a lot of the terriers) with resident cats.

I find rescues hit and miss personally. some are excellent at matching homes and do a wonderful job.....others are an absolute liability,match poorly and practically set dogs up to fail by sending them to wildly inappropriate homes....or rehome dogs that should have been pts for behavioural issues. A good rescue however likely will have a suitable dog for this sort of situation as you seem to tick a lot of their boxes(garden etc) and will have cat tested them which is a plus.
 
What about a smooth collie. Or a GSD from working trials or obedience breeding or a mix of show/working lines. Active but not manic. Although careful not to overdo the exercise until 1 year old.
 
Thanks very much ch for all the replies, I’ll have a proper read when I get back from work but certainly lots to think about.
 
Golden Retriever? Obviously would need to make sure all health checks had been carried out, but they tend to have lovely temperaments.
 
what size do you have in mind or room for? big difference between a wcs and a golden retriever. wcs need as much stimulation/work as a BC I'd have thought and are very busy dogs with a high drive-not sure how that translates to cats.

so for a small dog-if you want to run-a border terrier (one of the UK champion canicross dogs is a BT), slightly bigger then a SBT which make great people oriented dogs. Smooth collies (as I keep saying lol) are perfect family dogs imho (UK ones tend to be quite a bit smaller than US bred ones-in case you look online and decide they are too big. my male is 23kg). Retrievers also awesome but large and take up alot of room on the couch ;P and in the car. mines working bred, so not as big as a show bred golden, but he's still 30kgs. they have wonderful temperaments but I know as many badly behaved ones as well trained ones and with any gun dog breed I'd recommend choosing your trainer carefully.

rescues can work but I think they work best when the prospective owner has some experience and also knows what might be a deal breaker for them in advance-as to what they are willing or able to deal with.

if you decide on a certain breed then contacting breeders is a good start, there sometimes slightly older dogs looking for homes that are no longer showing for whatever reason.

can't really answer the last part, dogs do mean a lifestyle change/choice and I wont be without them.
 
I always suggest whippets, but actually when I read your post I instantly thought smooth collie. I've never had one, but met a couple and liked them and MOCs dog sounds fab! Or another idea is a high percentage collie lurcher. They dont have that manic edge that collies have, are happy to sleep 20 hours a day or run 10 miles, and everyone I have met has been an incredibly loving people dog.
 
the only thing I'll say about smooths is that they are collies and as such are more vocal than the setters and retrievers I've had. Alot of the time the vocalness (is that a word?) is him sounding like a wookie-he likes a chat.
But he is more guardy vocal than Quarrie and I've seen on the FB groups that a few people have a problem with barky smooths, probably from not dealing with it right from an early age. I think if I'd had mine since a young pup (I got him at 7 months) it wouldnt be a thing and he's far from a noisy dog-I am just used to quiet ones (thankfully, as Quarrie's bark is huge lol). He's very sweet, gentle and affectionate-and happy to snooze on the couch all day watching films or go for a run. They tend to be a very healthy breed and while the coat is fab they do shed alot twice a year. He can be a little weird but that comes from being kennelled before I got him with a slight lack of socialistion around the house-but this is now negligable and he's great with the stepkids, hoovers, cats etc The only thing he insists on is a pillow :D
 
The trouble with smooth collies, (I am guessing here) is there are rare and presumably therefore expensive and hard to get hold of. If you choose something like a lab you can find 20 litters in your county very easily.
 
Clodagh said:
The trouble with smooth collies, (I am guessing here) is there are rare and presumably therefore expensive and hard to get hold of. If you choose something like a lab you can find 20 litters in your county very easily.
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no more expensive than any other pedigree dog-mines very well bred and was the same price as the other one and quite a bit cheaper than a French Bulldog or a cockerpoo ;). but finding a litter at the right time wasnt easy (which is how I ended up with a retriever first). There are usually a few older ones waiting for homes though from breeders- much easier to get one down south than in Scotland ironically and they are rare.
 
Dogs Trust have access to trained and qualified behaviourists, as also do Battersea, presumably Blue Cross do too. The bigger rescues are your best bet to be assessed and matched to the most suitable dog, some of the smaller ones are well meaning but not that brilliant. A friend also knows some of the imported rescues from Romania who have worked out badly and been passed from pillar to post - as a first time owner I would suggest you go to one of the larger better established rescue charities. Not only will they match you and the dog but they will support you if you have any problems
 
Smooth collies are a vulnerable breed. Hard to source especially if you live in Scotland and would rather not travel to the SW of England!
I have had my name down for one since the summer of 2016. My own fault because it must be a bitch and it must be a Sable. By last summer, I succumbed to another flatcoat puppy but still have my name down with two breeders for a Smooth. Ofcourse I don’t really need one yet but may have to if the right one comes along!
Just not an easy breed to get exactly when you want one!
 
Thanks again for the replies, I’ve been trying to write a proper response but keep getting a glitch on my phone. Smooth collies do sound like lovely dogs (although I’m utterly bias and think border collies are much ‘prettier’ not that that matters much!). A retriever or GSD (always wanted one of those!) might be a bit big for my house as it’s very small. I do worry that a cocker might be a bit high energy for my parents, and my cats. I think we will speak to the local rescue as a friend of my parents works in the dog section and I trust her judgement so she might be able to keep an eye for something suitable.
 
A puppy wouldn't be able to go out running until at least a year old, general rule 5 mins exercise per month on age until a year old.

Have a look at Spaniel Aid UK, they have a webpage and a FB page. They don't have kennels and all dogs live with foster families so you'll get a good idea of any problems. Spaniels love lots of exercise and need to keep their active little brains very busy. Both mine also have a good off switch and like to snuggle up and sleep when not required.
 
Oh yeah no I wasn’t thinking of doing puppy running, I just meant to show we are generally active for the type of dog when they grow up. (I am quite lazy so equally happy for 5min outings!)
 
I have a rescue Shih Tzu who was approx 3 when I got her (now 2 yrs on, so approx 5), she would tick every single one of your boxes (cats, quiet, easy to take to work - she sleeps in a bed behind my desk- can go anywhere with her) but she wouldn't keep up with the running due to physical issues, tho happily will go for a good hours walk, sometimes when I take my mini's out she comes too :) but otherwise has a good 3-5 miles a day over at least 2 sessions & potters round the yard & paddocks with me :)

I hope you find the right sort to suit x
 
She sounds lovely, like she would suit me, but not sure she would fit into my OHs category of ‘mans dog’ 😄 We are in no rush at all so will have a chat about our options when we next see each other and figure out where to start! Thanks for all the input.
 
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