Experienced Dog Owners

528 Views 15 Replies 7 Participants Last post by mom0810, Mar 19, 2007

MommyDearest25

Discussion Starter · Mar 16, 2007

Dh and I would like to get a puppy from a rescue shelter, we are beginning our breed search and would like help from anyone with experience of different breeds here with this question. We are narrowing down the search one point at a time.

One of our first questions is, which breeds are the most easy (fast) to housetrain, and which breeds which don't require more than a maximum of 2 walks a day of upto an hour each?

From toy to large, any size at this point except giant breeds such as a saint bernard.

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Scribe

· #2 · Mar 16, 2007

Well, a lot of your larger dogs are going to be the ones that are easiest to house train (bigger bladders) and require less exercise, so my first recs would have been giants. But I'm partial.

Regarding easy house training, I think the biggest thing is to avoid toy breeds of any kind. I've heard bulldogs and poodles (standard and miniature, not toy) are both easy to train, but have no personal experience with it. My experience has been that labs are easy to house train, but they'll have way too much energy for you.

Regarding energy, bulldogs are low energy, but have a bunch of health problems, especially the ones in rescue. Clumber spaniels are supposed to be great for lower energy families, as are Sussex spaniels, but I don't have any personal experience with them. I've heard good things about spitz breeds in this regard as well, and also corgis, but Johanna can probably tell you more about that.

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mom0810

· #3 · Mar 16, 2007

It depends on what kind of dog you want. What do you want it to look like? What kind of temperment do you like?

Bulldogs Sussex and Clumbers are great but they all smell, unless you bathe them weekly or more. Same with Bassetts.

But I think that 2 one hour walks a day is quite a lot of exercise. I wish some of my puppy people walked their dogs that much!

I would stay away from toys because of the housetraining issue.

MommyDearest25

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 16, 2007

We are leaning towards a smaller breed, not as small as toy size.

We feel 2 good hour walks a day is more than enough for dog walking, our friends with large and small dogs give this as a maximum amount, usually less. Meaning we are not ruling out higher energy breeds.

Smaller breeds are harder to housetrain? We have 2 couples living either side of our house, one has a mini dachsund, the other a yorkie terrier, we've been told both were paper trained within 2 weeks.

The look is not too important. We plan on having at least 1 child somewhere in our future, a breed good with children is a must, not too independant, we would like it to enjoy our company as I work from home so I will be with the dog all day.

We are looking at spaniels, terriers and gun dogs in our library books at this moment.

Scribe

· #5 · Mar 16, 2007

I'd shy away from gun dogs, were I you. The spaniels sound promising.

For me, paper-training is not the same as house training, so I wasn't really considering that.

thekimballs

· #6 · Mar 16, 2007

If you like spaniels, look at Clumber and Sussex. They were developed to be the portly old man's gundogs, so they're slow-moving, gentle, obedient, and generally lovely in temperament. Sussex are incredibly rare, so I don't know of any bad breeding; Clumbers are a little more common. Sussex have a high puppy mortality rate (for reasons that no one really understands--they just don't seem to thrive easily) but are healthy and long-lived dogs after that. Clumbers are prone to hip problems, but if you get one from a good breeder and keep them in shape, even the ones with bad hips tend to do well in pet homes (they have massive musculature, which helps minimize pain and stabilize even the bad joints).

mom0810

· #7 · Mar 17, 2007

Terriers would be GREAT for you, if you like the temperment. They are SO much fun. They are wonderful with kids and very easy keepers.

If you want to paper train, then a toy would be just fine for you. I thought you meant HOUSE train which means to go outside. Toy dogs paper train really easily.

Some great terrier breeds are Cairns, Smooth Fox Terriers, Schnauzers, and Soft Coated Wheatens. All are GREAT with kids and would do just fine with two walks. I have personally owned or lived with all of the above and they would do great with a family. My two current dogs are terriers and they are GREAT with our baby and have been since day one.

It sounds like you are looking at purebreds, so you may want to find some good breeders or look into breed rescue. Rescue SOMETIMES has puppies but rarely.

Which gun dogs do you like? Gordon Setters and English Setters are WONDERFUL with kids and Irish usually are, too. Labs are famous for being good with kids as are Goldens. All of these shed like crazy so you might want to consider that.

Which spaniels? Cockers (American) can be really piggy and not easy to house train. English Cockers are much easier in MOST cases. Springers are not something I would recommend with kids. they can be bitey and can suffer from rage syndrome, a genetic condition that causes them to lash out for no reason, almost like a seizure.

I hope this helps, it's always fun to look for a new dog!!!

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MommyDearest25

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 17, 2007

Very useful we are still looking in books at quite a few different large and small breeds.

Is there a big difference between housetraining and paper training? It seems so from your replies. Why is that? Aren't both simply teaching the dog to go potty in a certain place? Either in the yard or on newspaper in the kitchen.

mom0810

· #9 · Mar 17, 2007

Well, here's my take after raising more puppies than I'd care to recount and training 100's in puppy class...

Paper training is confusing. Dogs think in black and white. If he is going in the house, he's going IN THE HOUSE. Period. Whether it's on paper or your carpet or tile, dogs don't distinguish. So.... if you don't care about the fact that your dog thinks going inside is okay, than paper train. It's just not my preference.

House training is teaching them to go potty outside. Always. Period. I like this better and start teaching baby puppies to go potty outside at about 4-5 weeks. They start by following mom and learn to go out in the yard really quickly. I just like them to know that outside is the place to go. Not in my bathroom, not on papers. It just is too confusing for them, in my opinion.

Lots of people love paper training. I say if it works for you, great. Just not my preference.

Scribe

· #10 · Mar 17, 2007

Yup. Agreed.

3boobykins

· #11 · Mar 17, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekimballs

View Post

If you like spaniels, look at Clumber and Sussex. They were developed to be the portly old man's gundogs, so they're slow-moving, gentle, obedient, and generally lovely in temperament. Sussex are incredibly rare, so I don't know of any bad breeding; Clumbers are a little more common. Sussex have a high puppy mortality rate (for reasons that no one really understands--they just don't seem to thrive easily) but are healthy and long-lived dogs after that. Clumbers are prone to hip problems, but if you get one from a good breeder and keep them in shape, even the ones with bad hips tend to do well in pet homes (they have massive musculature, which helps minimize pain and stabilize even the bad joints).

I love the look of the Clumber! I've never seen one IRL, just on dog shows. They look kind of like "portly old men."

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3boobykins

· #12 · Mar 17, 2007

Which gun dogs do you like? Gordon Setters and English Setters are WONDERFUL with kids and Irish usually are, too. Labs are famous for being good with kids as are Goldens. All of these shed like crazy so you might want to consider that.

Quote, mom0810 (couldn't figure out how to quote just a paragraph)

We're getting a Gordon puppy--due to whelp any day now, very exciting!. Our breeder breeds both Irish and Gordon Setters, and she recommended the Gordon to us because our kids are on the young side. She said the Irish would be more intense and great with kids starting around age 4-5. There are some excellent articles (written by our breeder) on her site:

http://www.brytestar.com/

English setters are supposed to be great with kids as well. And setters are gorgeous dogs, but they do require grooming to keep their coats silky and smooth.

momto l&a

· #13 · Mar 17, 2007

Quote:

Paper training is confusing. Dogs think in black and white. If he is going in the house, he's going IN THE HOUSE. Period. Whether it's on paper or your carpet or tile, dogs don't distinguish. So.... if you don't care about the fact that your dog thinks going inside is okay, than paper train.

I have always trained my dogs to go outside except for my last. We trained him for piddle pads. Guess what? He now pees on anything plastic in the house

:

Doggies doors are great for small dogs, makes training easy.

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MommyDearest25

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 18, 2007

Slightly confused about housetraining and paper training here. We would like to train our dog to go potty on newspaper in the kitchen and on newspaper in the yard. Kitchen when she's shut in doors, yard when we let her out, that type of thing.

momtol&a what would happen there? you said your dog was trained to potty on plastic and subsequently goes on any plastic avialable, our dog should only potty on newspaper true? We can make sure none is left on the floor anywhere else in the house besides in the kitchen area we want her or him to go.

Please comment opinions on that as we are still slightly confused!

After a fair amount of research, we have decided a small dog would be the smart choice for us right now. We have several reasons, I will type them here soon.

UptownZoo

· #15 · Mar 18, 2007

I can't really comment on paper training; I've raised quite a few pups and have always trained them to go out. Then again, I've never lived in a household where everyone was gone for 8-10 hours per day, so that would obviously make a difference. When my husband was training a little dachshund and he and his ex-wife both worked full time, the puppy stayed in a bathroom during the day (with all the amenities, of course: bed, water, food, etc.) and DH's mom dropped by once to let the pup out. She never went on the floor, but she's an unusual dog that way. I don't think most young pups could manage that.

As to breed, I suggest you look closely at dachshunds. I've owned several over my lifetime, as has my DH and many other people I'm close to. They're a fun, happy dog without lots and lots of needs. They love human companionship, but most aren't likely to get destructive if left alone during the day, as long as they get their walks and affection in the am and pm. They are usually very healthy, although they tend to get fat (easily remedied by never free-feeding) and you have to be sure they don't jump off furniture because their long bodies make them prone to lower-back and hip problems. IME, they're also not prone to the so-called Napoleon complex that so many small dogs have trouble with.

Good luck, and enjoy your search! A new dog is tons of work, but so much fun.

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mom0810

· #16 · Mar 19, 2007

I second the dachsie idea, and I know of some good breeders if you want to pm me.

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