Trisven13

I remember asking this same question about 8 or 9 years ago - I, like you, knew that I wanted to show before I knew what breed so I understand the direction you're coming from.

I took a weekend and went to a dog show with my husband and just sat around and watched. I had a list of breeds I liked but there was nothing that made me say "thats it" about any breed in particular and I hoped that if I hung around some shows one would click.

I was introduced by a friend (Rebanne from here) to a man who had Basset Fauve De Bretagne and the rest as the say is history. The very minute I saw them I was hooked, I researched and they fit everything I was after. When you find the right breed you truly will know.

In the meantime why not see if you can find someone relatively local to you who is happy for you to tag along to some shows so you can watch and learn. I would try to aim to watch the whole of group judging for every group and write a shortlist of the breeds you're physically attracted to. Then go home and read up on pros and cons and then visit some more shows with an aim of meeting breeders of your shortlisted breed. If you're not in a hurry you've got the time to do this and hopefully, like me, you will suddenly see YOUR breed . Good luck!

If you're ever down this way let me know and you can meet my guys and see how they differ. There are loads of breeds that would be suitable but if he is like my son he really needs to have some input or else he won't be involved.... though in saying that the minute Cupcake arrived everyone in the house fell in love with her so some are just special lol.

Just saw Sandra777's suggestion of a Border Terrier - they're pretty awesome too!

As someone who lives with and loves Basset Fauve De Bretagne (very similar in temperament to a Basset Hound) and has a son who likes smaller dogs I can say that an Italian Greyhound has been a good fit into our lives and is my son's favourite dog. Downside is that they are a lot needier than the Fauves and MUCH harder to house train. Took us until 10 months before I felt we really had a handle on it and its still not perfect. Positive is that they are low grooming and very snuggly. More downsides - they can be shy in the ring particularly if not shown by a confident person and if not super, super socialised, they also are very easily breakable in the first 12 months of their lives.

Tibetan Spaniels are also awesome. I have a friend with them and they bond very strongly to their family and seem to adore their children. Grooming seems to be relatively minimal.

A Fauve is smaller and lighter than a Basset Hound and not QUITE as stubborn as a Basset Hound but can still be a bit of a trial for a child to show depending on the individual dog's temperament. The right Fauve, however, will do anything for their child and McKenzie has proven that. If winning in the show ring is as important as a pet of his own then a Fauve may NOT be the right breed but if having a great companion and a dog to have some show fun with is okay then a Fauve may be suitable. Grooming needs depends on the individual dogs, some are minimal, some are a LOT of work.

Depends on the dog and the owners. It would not be fair (or sensible if you want to avoid behavioural problems) to take the pup from its mother and siblings and then leave it alone for 8 hours immediately. But if the people take some time off during which they settle the pup in and get it used to being by itself for increasing amounts of time and secure with its surroundings, then I don't see a deal breaker.

However, I think all that is a bit irrelevant. If you're a breeder, you set the terms you are happy with for your puppies. What other people would or wouldn't do isn't really relevant, if you're not happy with the pup being by itself that long, then don't sell them a pup.

Exactly

No problem with it here. I work 5 days a week for just as long and my dogs are left at home....I am a breeder. If you provide for the dogs - both adult and puppy with stimulation and activities to sustain it through the day then nothing wrong with leaving it at home all day.

Even when people are home, work at home etc - we don't always dote on our dogs for a continual 7 hours.

There are some people who are more organised than some others will ever be. Just like there are really crap parents and very good ones.

Each case judged on its individual merit. Just because someone works full time should not automatically exclude them from owning a dog. There are some people who do work from home or part time I would not even give a flea off my dog to... There are others who are probably better "parents" than I am.

100%

I thnk it's ridiculous to expect a person to be home each day in this financial climate ..

They need to set the puppies environment up for being left during the day , take time off when puppy arrives and get them used to being alone for longer periods during the day , it's not rocket science if you prepare ..

I read this a lot on FB pages where people say, if you can't be home 24/7 with your puppy you shouldn't get one .. Just a ridiculous thought in my opinion .

Not that many years ago women were criticised for going back to work when they had children but now that is expected.

Personally I don't think it's a good thing for my dogs to have access to me 24/7. They need to be able to learn how to self settle and cope with being on their own. It's the same reason I will always separate pups from older dogs, so they can learn to be on their own happily. It isn't nice for a dog to develop separation anxiety or to have an inability to relax and settle if left on their own. If you don't work or only work very limited hours it's harder to ensure your dogs learn to cope being on their own than if you left the house each day for work.

Yep and my dogs are a great example of this as I work from home. They are not used to being home alone.

Being in such a numerically small breed I would always help any Fauve in need BUT there is a financial limit on my ability to help dogs that I didn't breed.

If I bred it I care for its life. I feel the same about dogs I have rescued in my 6 years of rescue and recently had to look at fitting in a dog that we had rescued who had ended up in a pound. Thankfully he went home so it was a moot point but I will ALWAYS do what I can for a dog I have been responsible for.

I have a Grand Basset Griffin Vindeen who I had intended to call "Curly". After spending a few hours with her it was immediately obvious that her name was "Bubbles".

I have names I like but I know agree with Showdog - I need to know them first but I do like if their call name fits in with their registered name.

If wanting a dog to make you feel safe then most Fauves probably wouldn't be very suitable. Some will alarm bark, certainly, but just as many will happily greet every visitor to the house. It is one of their attributes that makes them so great for families with kids as they never mind when random children rock up :laugh:

I've rehomed a number of Fauves into homes with children and actually prefer them as homes for this breed. Fauves adore children - in fact at shows such as a Royal when the Fauves are on display they nearly turn themselves inside out trying to get to children, even Fauves who haven't grown up with children are the same.

I've yet to meet a Fauve who isn't great with kids.

can't reply on the poll but my answer is - whatever the rules are. If they are allowed in side, on the furniture then that's where they are, allowed inside but not on the furniture they are crated, not allowed inside they sleep in the car or trailer. Pretty easy really.

Pretty much!

How am I best to contact you? :D

Thanks Anne

You can have adverse reactions to anything, natural, man made and in between! Best is to try and see, if you have an adverse reaction don't try that again, if not give it a go it might just help.

Yep exactly.

Anyone who has had children with food intolerances or has looked into food intolerances with their children wouldn't be remotely surprised that some weird hippy shi!t works with dogs too.

Lets face it - if your dog isn't doing well and you've tried a few things how on earth could it hurt to try something else? Sure you might add it to the pile of "crap that didn't work" but better to try it and fail than to wonder if it may have made the difference.

Weird hippy shit can make these things worse too. Speaking from experience of someone that has food allergies. For instance 2 of the ingredients in this formula have caused major issues for me (chia & maca). Maybe that is why I am quite careful now. Vitamins, herbs, minerals can cause harm.

ETA: have had nasty issues with flaxseed too!

Yep so obviously trying this particular stuff would be stupid for you personally BUT that doesn't mean that for someone else it won't be very helpful. Same goes for dogs IMO. What helps some will hurt others but if you're at the point where you've tried loads of things without success then I, personally, would try this.

My son has developmental motor dyspraxia - the thing that helped him the most was, when we first went, the most hippy dippy thing I couldn't imagine it could ever help YET within hours there was a marked improvement and within days a huge difference. Due to that personal experience I'm a big fan of trying anything that to the best of your knowledge poses no risk.

I'll let Underfoot confirm BUT I'm pretty sure each of her bitches had 9! 18 noisy mouths and stinky bums in 3 weeks time :laugh:

Anyone who has had children with food intolerances or has looked into food intolerances with their children wouldn't be remotely surprised that some weird hippy shi!t works with dogs too.

Lets face it - if your dog isn't doing well and you've tried a few things how on earth could it hurt to try something else? Sure you might add it to the pile of "crap that didn't work" but better to try it and fail than to wonder if it may have made the difference.

I have a Fauve boy here who came to me when he was 4 1/2 years old and it took him a good 6 months to become comfortable enough to show us his silly self. He has now been here 15 months and he is the most delightful, silly dog and so different to the dog we lived with at first. I'm betting (as you know :) ) that Toby will be a totally different dog in a month, 2 months etc. Enjoy, he is a lucky boy.

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Not really practical separate them in the yard.

But there is no resource guarding. Esky has no interest in well...anything..

It's never really practical here at feed time. Six dogs need to be totally separated here. One inside, one on verandah, one in back yard, one in paddock, one in front garden and one in driveway. If you have food aggressive dogs meals become about management rather than whats quicker, easier and more practical.

Yep - no dogs get fed together here. Everyone is crated separately and fed and I NEVER have to worry about a fight over food.

Can I just say a very big thank you to those who have been helpful, honest but not horrendously judgmental in this situation - who knows but the OP could one day become a registered breeder through having enjoyed this experience. Rescuing and whelping pregnant bitches was THE thing that led me to becoming an exhibitor and registered breeder.

I agree that good conformation is essential for a top performance dog. And you shouldn't be breeding on the Limited Register. Then there's the added complexity of the skill of the handler/trainer.

But if we talk about the genetic potential of temperament (see the other thread re Nature vs Nurture) we need to consider the genetic potential of working ability. My dogs do pretty well at agility and obedience but the talent my field bred ESS pulls out of her pretty little head in retrieving trials simply blows my mind - you just can't teach some of it. She's not bred for the show ring quite obviously - less coat and feathering, shorter ears, slightly longer than tall (rather than square) - and I'm sure show ESS are considered much more beautiful by many. She struggles to trot when outside the house - either runs flat out or sleeps. But her ability lies in the way she tackles terrain (blackberry is a piece of cake!), her focus to work with me and her desire to retrieve fur and feather that will see her swim 150m through icy water in the middle of winter.

Great example TSD!

Yep an awesome example. I recently rehomed a Fauve puppy - he went to a Fauve experienced home BUT his level of hunting instinct was way beyond what they'd experienced with their other two Fauves. A GPS Collar showed that at 9 months he was travelling up to 27km a night hunting across farmland (thankfully his family own a very large property). He now wears an electric collar that keeps him within a 5 acre boundary BUT IMO it shows that true working ability is just there.

I live rurally....... in my village the most common breed is a tan and white terrier - somewhere between a JRT and a Foxy and generally called a JRT. Next most common would be a border collie.

When I ran the local dog rescue a staffy mix was the most common followed by a fluffy thing.

When I visited my friend in Sydney I was AMAZED by the number of oodles & apparent purebreds by comparison to where I live.

I'll be there 15th with the Fauves.

What a difficult position to be in,I feel for you but I believe you have made the right decision.

So true - dealing with a pup with ONE of those issues is doable, albeit more difficult but all of them is just too much for the poor pup.

Have PMed you - completely your decision but someone I know who I can personally recommend very highly for dealing with dogs with issues would love to talk to you more about their possible suitability.

Thanks

Can you give the link to the other UK site Showdog?