Pup advice for young children

V1llianous

Hi All,

I'm looking for advise for a small / medium dog breed for a house with good children. Obviously very gentle and good natured are necessities.

My brother in law has a King Charles Spaniel which my 3 year old adores. The 3 year old also has ADHD but very gentle and caring when around the spaniel. We also have a 6 month old so something that certainly doesn't want to jump into cots etc.

We were thinking of getting something for the little fellas birthday in January or around Christmas times.

Recommendations of sources also gratefully received, would be open to rehoming a pup if the parents were good natured.

Thanks in advance.

faceman

V1llianous wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm looking for advise for a small / medium dog breed for a house with good children. Obviously very gentle and good natured are necessities.

My brother in law has a King Charles Spaniel which my 3 year old adores. The 3 year old also has ADHD but very gentle and caring when around the spaniel. We also have a 6 month old so something that certainly doesn't want to jump into cots etc.

We were thinking of getting something for the little fellas birthday in January or around Christmas times.

Recommendations of sources also gratefully received, would be open to rehoming a pup if the parents were good natured.

Thanks in advance.

King Charles are a lovely dog, although they dont come cheap being pedigrees. Being pedigrees, they are prone to problems, heart problems, epilepsy to name but a few. BUt they are good around children, however like any dog, it comes down to the training.

Have you any experience in bringing up a pup? It can be hard work!

Why not have a look down the pound? There are a number of dog homes from the local SPCA to PAWS. Often they have young dogs which are already house trained and friendly around humans etc.

Either way good luck!

kerrysgold

any puppy will be good with children if it's well trained & socialized, regardless of breed.

most rescues and good breeds won't give out pups for Christmas as it is a busy time in the household and when you get a puppy it needs a lot of attention and also because it is a risk getting someone a puppy for a present as there is the chance they may not want it or the novelty wears off after a few weeks and the puppy is dumped.

cavaliers do make good pets as they are a lap dog breed but beware that they are prone to a lot of health problems, especially heart disease, as they have bulging eyes they are very vulnerable to injury and rarely they get a condition (sorry cannot think of the name) where their brain is too large for their skull, caused by breeding for the excessively domed skull shape as far as I know.

before getting a puppy, you need to make sure you can commit to one. A puppy cannot be left on it's own for more than about two hours until it is older so will there be someone at home most of the day after Christmas? You also need to make sure you have spare money for vaccinations and neutering and you may need to enrol him in puppy training classes to socialize him if you don't know of many people who would let your dog mix with theirs.