Rascalmyshadow

Of the breeds you have listed I personally would put the Samoyed at the top of the list, they tend to be bouncy, happy, easy going dogs, ideal around young kids although probably not the best guard dogs. I grew up with 2 GSD’s they were both amazing tolerant dogs but were extremely protective especially the female, nobody could get anywhere near us. Another breed you might not have considered is a Bearded Collie, they are amazing with kids, are very smart and so easy to train, you can clip their coat to any length you like, they tend to be very social and love lots of activity. They will bark (and they have a good bark) if anyone is around but are useless guard dogs, they’d rather lick someone to death. This is our girl.

It is best not to clip a dog with a double coat however if you feel your dog would be better off don’t clip too short, not only does it wreck the coat but it also leaves no protection from the sun and heat, shaving a dog in summer doesn’t make it more comfortable but clipping to a medium length can help.

I have owned, rescued and professionally groomed poodles for over 20 years (this is the first time I haven’t had one in the house since I was a teenager) in all three sizes, I have seen a few that have been great family dogs but the majority not suitable around very young kids, in fact out of any breed they have been the most common breed to bite their owners. I took on a few rescues because of their behaviour around the families young kids and I have also rehomed my own for the same reason. Good luck to the OP hopefully it works out for you but clearly you have not considered or acknowledged my post which gives the honest truth, they are a breed I adore and would love to own again but until my youngest daughter is a teenager I would never risk bringing another one into my house. They are great dogs in the right environment and if I was so desperate to have one with a young child then a small standard would be the best choice.

Yes that’s exactly how I have found them, adaptable is the right word. Poodles on the other hand the opposite and often have no patience for young children or often even other people besides their owner.

I would use Wind in the Willows. We got the choice with our little chi, we chose her pedigree name South Sea Pearl (which are the most beautiful expensive pearls) and her name is Maisie which means pearl in Scottish (my grand mother was Scottish), thought it all tied together well.

Interesting you say your schnauzer isn’t tolerant, I have handled many in the 25 years I’ve been grooming and with a couple of exceptions they have all been tough tolerant little dogs and talking with their owners they were quite sociable as well.

I would stick with the schnauzer providing your child is gentle, they are more tolerant and more likely to be family orientated. We owned and rescued poodles for 20 years, the main reason we no longer have them is they often aren’t great with younger kids and tend to attach to one person, there are of course exceptions but overall I wouldn’t recommend one in your situation.

I spent years trying to do the same thing, I realised I was wasting my time, to be honest many of the ‘oodles’ I groomed had great temperaments and were great family dogs and in all honesty we’re perfectly suitable for what their owners wanted.

My very first own dog was a Doberman called Taran.

Ok I think I’ll give them the Supercoat and not stress too much, I have noticed they only eat the Canidae if they are really hungry and some days they won’t eat it at all. Would prefer them to enjoy their food, it’s also a lot cheaper and easier to get.

Would you change to a lesser quality dry food if your dogs preferred it. We normally use Canidae dry along with tinned, cooked and raw foods, the dogs get lots of variety. When we got Maisie the breeder was using Supercoat so we bought a bag and planned on slowly swapping her over, I have been mixing it in with the other dogs dry and have noticed they pick it all out and leave the Canidae. Trying to decide which food to now use, the better quality or the one they prefer.

Yeah I decided on medium, thought asking on here would be some help but obviously not lol. After searching everywhere Etsy, EBay, online pet stores etc. I have decided on this Red Dingo tag for Cassie and waiting for my OH to choose one for Abby, although if he doesn’t hurry up I’m going to decide on something! I found a few I liked but these looked like the best quality and they have a lifetime guarantee.

I want to order tags for Abby and Cassie but trying to work out what size would be best, Abby is a bearded collie and Cassie is a kelpie, the tags will be circular with either a 30mm (medium) or 38mm (large) diameter, I was thinking medium but not 100% certain.

Contact KCR pet transport 1300766992, I used them to fly my chihuahua puppy from Broken Hill to Melbourne with a 4 hour stop off in Sydney, they were great to deal with.

We have an acre of backyard for the dogs, they love my daughters sandpit, the frog pond and fish pond, running over and under our bridges, digging the gravel from between the pavers, collecting and chewing sticks that have turned to charcoal from the fire, and the two big girls absolute favourite is using our hedges to play hide and seek, chasey through them and climbing on top of them. Abby in the sandpit. Abby and Cassie playing on top of one of the smaller hedges, they have also created a tunnel through it and through the big one in the background. This is the bridge that’s at ground level, they love running over it and using underneath as a tunnel.

I think $2000 for a well bred, well raised, cared for puppy is quite reasonable, that is around the amount we have paid for our last two, but when breeders of most breeds are starting at $3000 and up, plenty in the $4000-$5000 price range I think that is getting ridiculous for a family pet.

At the moment puppy prices are ridiculous, we were lucky our last two were reasonably priced but over all they are way over priced, $3000+ for limited register for so many breeds????? I paid $300 for my kelpie x and less for Rascal and they are just as good as our two pedigree dogs.

There is no short term solution, dog’s like yours were my specialty when I was grooming, from here on all grooming needs to be slow and positive, aim for a good experience rather than a great job. i would sedate and muzzle, as your dog improves lessen the sedation, then aim to reduce the use of the muzzle (although he may need to be muzzled always when doing the front legs). Try to touch his feet and legs between grooming while rewarding him, stop as soon as he reacts badly, wait for him to calm, reward then touch again. Do this each day in a non threatening way. Some dogs improve very quickly, others take weeks to months. Keep in mind once you remove the fear you lose the bad reactions. Where are you located?

If she is happy with a medium size dog that needs regular grooming and lots of exercise/mental stimulation a bearded collie would be fitting. One of the main reasons I agreed with my husband getting a beardie is because of their beautiful temperament and cuddly nature with out being overly needy. Everyone tends to lean toward poodles when they have allergies but on the whole they easily become one ownered and clingy and not overly social (not all of them of course) one of the biggest reasons we no longer have any after living with them for the last 20 or so years.

Oh sounds good.

Oh what sort of doggie? I looked for breeders and decided to be flexible. glad I did because she’s fitted in beautifully. Maybe we could catch up and go walking.

Just curious what year did that happen to you.

Since I have been told I can’t have anymore children my husband agreed to going back to four dogs. I have been missing my little chihuahua Claudia since we lost her to a nasal/brain tumour about 2 1/2 years ago, I finally felt ready to get another one. So after a very long day yesterday little Maisie finally arrived late last night. She is so gorgeous and has already settled in well. At first I was going to look for one that was just like Claudia, actually contacted her breeder, but then thought that might not be the beat idea, so Maisie is a slightly different type and is going to be bigger, Claudia was 1.8kg and Maisie is already 1.4kg. I can’t wait for her ears to fully stand up, at the moment she looks like Dobby the house elf lol.

Obviously what happened to your poor pup was awful but I would still advise vaccinating with a C3, getting parvovirus is nasty, very expensive to treat and something you never want to experience. My oldest dog had a severe reaction to a vaccine many years ago along with our standard poodle, we nearly lost both, it was something to do with the batch, I still vaccinate but only every few years and only a C3, luckily I do because one of our dogs got parvo (didn’t realise he wasn’t vaccinated) he spent almost two weeks in intensive care, plasma transfusions, lots of medications etc. cost is a few thousand $$$, he was never the same, we ended up losing him to an autoimmune condition only a few years later (he didn’t have before the parvo) if all of our dogs had got it we wouldn’t have been able to treat them.