Who is your breeder? Thx! |
No, DH is awesome with the kids. In fact, so calm and goes with the flow even when they were difficult teens. They are in college now. I am more "high-strung" with the kids. I realized that for DH and his family of origin owning a dog meant not doing anything with dogs other than that "fighting playfully" behavior. So, in fact, they never did anything with dogs at all other than that. I am from Europe and I was like, what the heck are you doing? He was, I know dogs, this is how you make the dog behave...er, no. that is how you get a dog that is nuts. The dog behaves perfectly now but is still an anxious dog. If we ever get another dog, DH will be absent from any engagement with the dog for the first year or so. |
Both myself and my son were bit and injured by different cocker spaniels, unprovoked. |
I had a cocker spaniel growing up and it bit multiple people (none of them did anything to provoke the dog). We have 2 recue dogs that are lovely and are about as non-aggressive as you can get. Our older dog lays down immediately and shows her belly when meeting a new dog. I would suggest going to some adoption events and meeting the dogs- you can tell pretty quickly when you find a sweet non-aggressive one. You can also ask the people who work at the rescues to point you in the right direction.... |
| Dachshund |
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Ill scream from the rooftops- Flat Coated retrievers. They are so human-focused and eager to please. The standard of the breed is penalize any dog that shows aggressiveness.
There are some drawbacks to the breed- high risk of cancer, relatively short life span, and VERY high energy needs. They also need lots of obedience training in the beginning and can be mouthy. We trained our FCR to get a wubbie or one of her toys when excited. For example, when people come over. It allows her to engage her excitement into the item vs the person. When shes outside she is a nutso (running, playing, zoomies, etc.) but inside she is calm. She is in whatever room we are in 99% of the time. We crate trained until 2 years old and then slowly relaxed. She has safe spaces in both our bedroom and the main living area. She is amazing with our toddler. She actually disengaged from him until he was taller than she was. It was really interesting because she wanted to be near him but wouldnt engage in play with him. Now hes almost 4 and they run together, fetch, she play bows with him, etc. |
| I have a Bernese mountain dog. He’s a sweetheart and way too tired to be aggressive. He doesn’t have the energy to bite anyone… |
They're kind of ragey.
http://www.best-behaviour.com/rage-syndrome.html |
Dachshunds I think are the #1 biter. We have one and it cannot be around other dogs. Beagle would be my top choice. Such gentle dogs! |
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If you look at the obedience champions, they are almost all goldens. So easy to train and so easy going they actually can’t be seeing eye dogs (because they won’t over rule their owner even when they should). I’ve never had a flat coated but they seem very similar except that they need more excercise. Any of the soft mouthed hunting dogs are gong to be relatively safe because they are bred not to bite down and also to be very responsive to their human. I had a spaniel that was never trained as a hunting dog who found a dead bird and brought it over to me without disturbing a feather on the bird (I was unhappy with this but it was impressive!).
Agree with PPs that beagles (but runners), pugs (but can’t breathe) are also super sweet. Springers also great but can be a bit nippy and very mischevious. Not as nippy as cockers though. I think newfies are also very sweet but sooooo big. |
+1. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were specifically bred to be lap dogs. We have a vet friend who says this is the best breed for a family dog. |
I had never heard of this dog until now. Incredibly cute! Right up there with Finnish Lapphunds cute. |
I posted in another thread that a cocker spaniel bit my dad to the point that he required surgery on his hand. |
I had an Elkhound who brought me a pheasant after I hit it with m car. Amazing! But not the type of dog that OP is looking for. Our Flatcoat Retriever was extremely gentle and kind, but he liked to wander. He was good about not challenging the fence, though. |
| We got a non aggressive dog breed but I could tell the first week she was going to be aggressive based on her behavior. I’m hindsight, I sometimes wish I had returned her to the shelter and got one of her siblings, she was 10 weeks. However, we kept her, did training (not enough) and exposed her to everything we could. She’s not too bad, just very protective and actually gets along with most dogs and people. She’s never bit anyone but showed aggression around toys at the dog park so we stopped going. Again, protective but not aggressive. Anyways, I would recommend getting to know the puppy for a week or so before committing. We didn’t have the opportunity to spend time with her litter at all but I think that would have helped us select a more laid back dog. |