[I_love_my_poopers]

Im asking this for my sister. She is thinking of getting a dog maybe in the next year or so. the thing is she doesnt know alot about dogs. She has a 4 yr old and a 8 month old. I think mainly she wants to get the dog for the kids, also she wants a guard dog. I told her a german shepard puppy or a lab would be great. Then again she likes small dogs to dress up n spoil...so im not sure what would be best for her???

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Well... what does she mean with ''she wants the dog for the kids''??

 

[I_love_my_poopers]

Her oldest loves my dogs whenever i go over there. I guess a dog for the kids to play with n stuff.

 

[isyssot_7399]

Has she considered getting two? I've never had just one dog. If it fits her lifestyle, she could get a itty bitty thing and something big enough to rough house with a bunch of kids. Plus it'll mean the dogs will always have a companion. Otherwise, I'd recommend something like a basenji or a shiba inu.

Shaina

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Yeah.. i wouldn't even attempt to raise two pups at once, let alone with two human kids to educate myself..

Is your sister willing to train the new dog everyday??Clean the mess the pup makes.. not get angry when someones shoes die?
Pay vet bills? feed the dog quality food.
And get the dog from a rescue, or a reputable breeder?

Remember.. a dog is a responsability that can't be take by kids... saddly kids tend to ''forget'' about the ''new toy'' in the house and stop caring for the furry friend.

My advice, would be that you could let one of your dogs live with your sister for a week, to let her know what having a dog means.

Better yet.. if you could find an untrained pup for her to foster for a week... that would give her the true meaning of owning a pup.

 

[hanksimon]

I agree with Erick that you may want to consider if she is ready for a third child, that happens to be a canine. However, given that she will get a dog, I recommend something that is fairly tough, to handle the abuse that children will do to it. Labrador Retrievers or Golden Retrievers are very good with children, and they are fairly easy to train. However, they are a handful as puppies, and they aren't easy to dress up.

A Bichon Frise is intelligent, good with children, and can be dressed up. However, they do have to be groomed and brushed to keep their coats from matting.

- Hank Simon

 

[I_love_my_poopers]

I doubt she would want to get two dogs. I told her when she was ready to get one to let me know and i could help her out with all the stuff she needs to buy n do with a new puppy.

 

[Erick Aguilar]

I doubt she would want to get two dogs. I told her when she was ready to get one to let me know and i could help her out with all the stuff she needs to buy n do with a new puppy.

Well.. you won't be able to help her ALL day.. and a puppy is an ALL day work.. sooner or later you won't be able to help her at all..
You sister MUST be the one who trains the pups, if you help her with that, she pup might only obey YOU and not HER and HER family.

 

[I_love_my_poopers]

I know i wont be able to help her all the time, she lives 4 hours away. I was saying i can tell her what she needs to do n stuff.

 

[Willowy]

The point is, a dog is a LOT of work. So if she's only getting it "for the kids", it's not likely to work out. SHE needs to want the dog, and be willing to do all the work (because Mom always does all the work, no matter what she tells everybody). If she's up for that, I actually recommend an adult dog from a good home. Puppies need so much training and attention. An adult dog that's already trained would be a lot easier.

Very small dogs aren't usually great with kids. They tend to be defensive since they're so small, they feel insecure around people they think might be rough with them. Kids do have a tendency to be careless around dogs, and I've known several small dogs that were accidentally hurt by the kids in the home. A larger, sturdier dog tends to do better with kids, but a larger dog also means a larger feed bill, larger poop to clean up, and a lot more shedding. Plus a lot of the good family dogs are sporting breeds, who tend to be INCREDIBLY hyper as puppies. So it all depends what your sister really wants in a dog.

For the record, I DO NOT think that getting 2 puppies would be a good idea, and Basenji and Shiba Inu would not be breeds I'd recommend with little kids (sorry, isyssot_7399!).