Need help picking Breed?

sorry I'm not looking down on the pitbull, I personally think they are great dogs, so many people say they are aggressive, I think it's the owner not the dog, any breed could be aggressive if put in the wrong hands. You never hear about Labradors or whatever else biting eople in the news, they only seem to focus on the bully breeds, I'm just looking for a different dog, its not me hating the pitbull, my friend owns one and takes it to our house to visit, and she is so sweet![] 

I don't think youre hating!!!  I know that pit bulls can be a challenging breed, more so for the public's view of them than their personality.  They are people pleasers, and a joy to have, but they are not for everyone.  Im not really pushing you to get one, more so advocating for their breed. 

Good luck in your search.  I am sure that whatever you choose, your dog will settle into your home and your family, and will be a pleasure to have.  I don't think that after you decide, you will look back and say, "Man, I should have chosen that one instead."  I am sure that you will be overjoyed with your new addition, and never look back.
 
**I long to get a french bulldog or boston terrier myself..... someday down the line **sigh ** ***

Yeah I've come across some wiener dogs and they are really fiesty, same with minature pinchers, that's why they are not one of my choices. Shephards are too big. Did all of you have this hard of a time picking the breed you have???? It's a lot of work, but I know it will totally pay off in the end!! []

Oh no I don't think you were pushing me to get a pitbull [] i just wanted everyone to know that I wasn't against the breed, as I said they are a good breed, mind you my husband really wants one, so it has been discussed!!

Did all of you have this hard of a time picking the breed you have????

my wife and i researched many breeds when we were first looking for a dog. several months to a year if i remember correctly. we considered a small dog (specifically a min. pin.) but decided we wanted a bigger dog. we were looking for a boxer or boxer mix. we found amelia through a local rescue. she was listed as a boxer/shepherd mix. we think she has quite a bit of pit bull in her actually, and i think she is the result of more than 2 breeds in the mix []. at any rate, we love her to death and she is the sweetest dog you would ever want to meet.

when we decided that we needed another dog, we were originally looking for a male boxer or boxer mix. we werent really even planning on getting a dog for a while just start looking. on our first trip to the humane society we fell in love with sydney. he is a siberian husky mix. (i think he has some lab in him, my wife thinks he has beagle. whatever he is he is getting big! [])

i think one of the most important things in picking a breed, is that everyone in the family is in agreement that this is the breed for you. in the case of having small children, i would say as long as you and your husband agree because the two of you will be its primary caretakers. it would be unfair for the dog if you or your spouse harbored some resentment against the dog based on breed alone.

ORIGINAL: jones

Hm, I just have to pipe up and say I would not mix an Iggy with two toddler/preschool aged kids, and I doubt most breeders or rescuers would consent to such a thing. They're just too delicate, and the OP has a 1 year old... even the gentlest toddler sometimes squeezes too hard or falls over - not a good situation for an IG, esp a puppy.

that is a good point, but isnt it something to consider with all small breeds? or are only certain ones especially frail?

I was wondering the same when i decided on the small breed, I am not just looking at small breeds, I am still seaching but I really don't want a large dog. It's just that a small to medium dog would fit our lifestyle more. Both myself and my husband are doing our share of reserch and will compare notes at the end to make the decison. We are not going to get a dog that we both don't agree on. We are taking our time with deciding. Something that is not fragile looking like a yorkie thats for sure, Not just small breeds are snappy there are some larger breeds and medium that I've read that are not good with children like the sharpei for instance I've read that they are a no nonsence type of dog, so I'm staying away from them. I'm not planning on letting my child jump all over the dog, I've read that some people on this forum for training, have their puppies on a leash in the house to keep an eye on them and help with housetraining, that's what I plan on doing. I know it's like adding another kid to the family []! Constant supervision![] 

the dogbreedinfo link someone posted earlier has a "child friendly" link on there. they rate alot of different breeds on how kid friendly the dogs generally are. i am not sure how accurate it is but it might be worth a look. []

I personally would recommend a CWC or Schnauzer.  Cavaliers are a good breed to have, as they're more sturdy than other toy breeds, but you have to keep up with the coat

Thanks everyone, I have to bring what I found home to see what we are going to agree on? I know after picking the breed the work isn't finished, now we are going to have to find a good breeder for whatever dog we choose.... or if we even choose a purebred dog? I'll keep you updated on our choice! I know I'll be on this site a lot to get advice on training and such..... I'm getting really excited about adding a new addition...... Thank you everyone for your suggestions and input!!

I honestly don't know much of this breed, aside from my friend grew up with one, but why doesn't anyone ever suggest cocker spaniels or English springer spaniels when people are looking for medium sized dogs?  The ones I know seem good with kids.
 
I have a mini dachshund.  Although she seemed fine with my first graders, and I know many people who have dachshunds with small dogs, it depends on how the child will want to play with the dog.  I always told my students to let her come to them and to pet nicely, not harass her and jump all over her.  If they didn't listen, she wouldn't visit class anymore, so they listened.

When I first thought about adding a dog to my life, the internet wasn't so big (we were on Compuserve, remember them?) and I didn't really think of breeds so much as type.  I wanted a collie-ish looking dog.  A big fluffy male with a coat I could bury my hands in while sitting with him in front of the fireside.  Grey, black, or white.

So of course I ended up with a little tan female with a short coat and not a spot of white (though she's got a little under her chin, now, almost 13 years later). 

But guess what, Maggie's perfect - and it's not just me that thinks so.  When the kids came, she all but adopted them (the BCs are very bad with them in general) - they can fall on her and nobody had ever better mess with them.  She even gets a little huffy with me if I yell at them when they are misbehaving. [] 

Maggie's brillliant - she's learned numerous useful tricks like locating the tv remote or the phone handset (I'm a little hard of hearing).  she lets me know if anything is wrong.  When we had a seizure dog she'd let me know if he was getting ready to have an episode.

A princess - one of a kind - and yet like many mutts much of the best of every dog.  When Maggie's gone there will never be another:



Try petfinder - it's fun just to browse - [linkhttp://www.petfinder.org/]http://www.petfinder.org[/link]

Cyclefiend - It's generally not recommended to have toy breeds in a house with small children because of the size & delicacy of the dogs. Pugs are a toy breed but they're the largest of the toys, big and sturdy enough to handle younger kids.
 
Candy - I did have a hard time choosing a breed at first. My boyfriend and I bought a breed guide and read through it over and over and over until some dogs started to pop out at us more than others. Eventually we found ourselves most drawn to beagles and cockers. The next step was to talk to breed rescues, whom are great resources for breed info because they will give you the down and dirty, all the good and bad about your breed. From there it was just a matter of deciding which breed had "downsides" we could live with and which were dealbreakers for us.
 
Smilee - well bred Cockers are awesome with children. The trouble is they suffered a huge popularlity boom and huge wave of bad breeding, leading to a bad reputation for the whole breed. These days cocker rescues won't even adopt out to families with children, even though the breed standard calls for these dogs to be excellent with all people and children. Basically no one trusts them anymore. Springer Spaniels may suffer a similarly undeserved stigma bc of "spaniel rage," though this is rare and not limited to Springers... however it's worth noting that unlike Cockers, Springers usually have very high exercise requirements.
 

thanks jones. kids were never a consideration we had to factor in when searching for a dog. my wife is somewhat older than me and her kids are already grown. []

I have a Boston Terrier and a Min Pin.  If I were in your shoes and picking b/w those two breeds, I would probably go with the BT.  They have a lot of the same health problems that the pug and bulldogs will have and the snoring, sneezing in the face, farting, shedding, allergies...all of it.  My boston was very high energy when he was a puppy and is now pretty lazy.  The min pin who is still a puppy gets him to play a lot though.  Harley is the gentlest of nature and I would trust him with anyone.  Izzy on the other hand, well when we go around new people, especially with kids, I always tell them not to try to pick her up unless she jumps in your lap b/c I don't trust her yet.  She is so small and protective of us and herself.  Harley is very sturdy and a total lap dog and cuddle bug.  He is just a big ham!  I am partial to BT's though, he is my heart dog!  Harley was so easy to housebreak and Izzy is still a work in process.  She has a mind of her own.  Everyone I meet wants to take Harley home and all of my family fights over who will get to keep him when we go out of town. 
 
Good luck in your search and good for you for doing your research about each breed and finding what is the best fit for your family!