Any dog is hard work. A dog with children is very, very, hard work. My youngest son was eight when we got a golden retriever. It was hard work with her, and I definitely wouldn't have wanted any children younger than eight.

Golden retrievers are lovely dogs, but they need lots of exercise, they moult a lot, they are quite large, and they tend to be greedy. The greedy side means they can be difficult when food is around, due to food stealing and eating rubbish if you want to let them off the lead. However, they have a lovely nature, especially with children. Labradors are pretty similar, but they are probably more boisterous and are guilty of wanting to chew most things for quite a long time. My son's labrador is nearly a year old and he's just eaten a DVD compilation he got for Christmas. So you can't leave anything lying around, and this includes the kid's toys.

Dogs poo a lot, which means lots of clearing up in your garden to stop the kids and you treading in it.

Currently we have a labradoodle. She is brilliant with my granddaughter, but she is a real handful in other ways.

Springers are brilliant with kids, mine plays with my 6 year old niece all the time and is very gentle and patient with her. That said springers are also very active dogs and they need lots of attention and exercise, with such a young kid it might prove to be a bit too much of a handful.

If you can handle it though they are well worth it, they are very loving and mine makes me laugh on a daily basis with his antics.

We have a Basset Fauve de Bretagne. They are very good with children.

We have a 3 year old yellow lab and my son will be 3 in August. She was hard work from day one but has improved dramatically.

She is very patient with my son who enjoys sticking his fingers in her eyes and giving her mighty hard pats on the back. We also re-enact scenes of the never ending story where she plays falcor the luck dragon and he plays atreyu riding on her back. Our rescue cat Buster plays the part of Gmork - the evil wolf thing in the swamp. But I digress.

Whatever dog you choose - it will need walking and looking after. many people think you can just lock a dog up from 9-5 when you are work

I'd just like to fly the flag for Golden retrievers and have highlighted the words I have for a reason. Male Golden retrievers are everything you have said, large, bositerous, slow to mature ect.. However female Golden retrievers are (in my experience) a different kettle of fish. My bitch isn't large at at all, more collie size. She is the laziest, calmest dog in the world, always had a mature head on her. If I remember rightly by the time she was a year she was doing pretty much every trick under the sun and taking part in showing/obiedence classes. My mum is a childminder and she is fantastic with the kids, I can't even begin to count the amount of children my mum has had that started out with a terrible fear of dogs, my dog totally cured them and most now have family dogs of there own. I can let children as young as 4 or 5 walk her on a lead, they plag with her and shes so careful. She will play all rough and tumble with me but soon as you hand say her tug toy to a child, she pulls it with the slightest force giving the child the upper hand to tug it back. I've been known to walk outside and half the kids are watching as one asks her to roll over or beg ect and the daft mutt is rolling repeatidly over and over trying to please the child who is asking her to do it.

Its not just her I know/have known atleast 5 or 6 other golden retriever bitches that are exactly the same. Obviously all dogs are different but i've never come across a bad behaved female golden retriever. Wheras I know 3 males (of my friends.. different friends) plus meeting some out on walks, who are all everything JulieD mentioned above.


Im intringued as to what sex your golden retriever was?

I have a staffy mix and two children under four my dog is great with the kids she was a rescue dog

I took my kids to the rEscue centre to meet the dogs

A Yorkshire Terrier would be ideal. They love children and are very faithful. I doubt you would have any trouble with a Yorkie.

I honestly wouldn't get a dog at all while your child is so young. Pulling of ears and poking of eyes can cause upset for the dog, and danger for the baby. And for goodness sake, whatever you do, don't get a 'working' dog such as a springer, collie etc unless you have oodles of room and all day to spend with them. Dogs of a working breed can become very distructive and naughty if they're not given the time, mental and physical exercise required. If you are set on getting a dog though, the only breed I can think of that may suit and that has the patience and build to withstand little people is a Staffy.

I agree with the above poster that i would put off getting a dog until your child is a little older, perhaps when they are 5 and start school. They will be old enough then to be a lot more involved in taking care of the new family pet and won't be kicking or biting it, as my friend's two year old often does with my boxer. Fortunately he's a gentle giant and puts up with it all. In fact I would really reccommend a boxer dog, providing you have time to exercise him and stop him from getting bored. Boxers adore children. Mine sits on his bum everytime I try to walk him past a child in the street because he expects them to come up and fuss him. I grew up amongst boxer dogs and they really are great family dogs.

Agree, boxers are great family dogs - as long as the family are as bouncy and energetic as the dog!

I agree about waiting until your child is older (say 5 or 6) then get one. Dogs can be expensive too (vet bills, vaccinations, food, treats, poo bags etc etc) so hopefully finances are fine. Think very carefully about your time too, having dog is in some ways like having a toddler for life and they need looking after daily.

I have a swedish vallhund, beautiful dog, very intelligent, generally very peaceable but can be naughty if he wants to be. They're quite rare but he's an ideal size, small enough to pick up, large enough to be interesting.

Rubbish to the above few posts. Introduce your children to pets as soon as you can. My daughter's been around dogs and cats since she was a baby. She still remembers my mum's old curly coated retriever who was just wonderful with her when she was a toddler. Our collie on the other hand wasn't fussed on the little person.

We've had a Jack Russell since she was three and they adore eachother.

I had two dogs when my kids were tiny and had two Yorkies they were good family dogs, having said that I now have a Staffie and is just fabulous with kids but do think with toddlers possibly too big. As family dogs though they are great

I had my first dog when I was two... A black lab, adored him, he adored me, and lived to the ripe old age of 17. I was devastated when he died. The reason I don't advocate small children and pets is because kids don't understand they're not toys or dolls. And some parents don't seem bothered about enforcing this either. Especially with dogs, if you have full time jobs and children, I firmly believe you do not have time for a dog.

Also look at how much it will cost to keep - I'm thinking especially of how much it costs at the vet, and how much it will cost to insure if you want to do that. Even a cat-sized dog seems to cost a lot more at the vets than a cat.

This ^^

My cats are insured, and for nearly five years, I never had any problems. Then in the space of three weeks, one of them got hit (just a glancing blow but still) by a car, and the other got bitten by another cat on the tail. Bang goes £300... I got the money back less the excess, but I still had to find the £300 upfront...

It's not "rubbish", it's an opinion, as is your post. People really need to get to grips with the fact that others may have different views on things, and not get so rude about it, it's very annoying.

get a beagle.

it'll be non stop adventures

I've got a 19mth old female Golden, who is currently in behaviour training! She is fantastic with my kids (who are aged 5 and 7) and with people in general, but does not seem to like some dogs. She was fine initially when we were doing training a year ago, loved playing with other dogs, but then over the summer months she started to get really growly when other dogs got near her. I went to a trainer who specialised in Golden's but it didn't help much, so we are now with a duo who focus on behaviour - we just started today.

OP, GRs are lovely dogs, my two adore our dog, but if I could do it again I'd get a smaller breed who didn't need as much exercise. My kids don't want to walk as far as our dog needs - so I walk her when they are at school rather than the family walks I'd envisioned.

Staffies are fab with kids althought we've never had one as my H doesn't like them. My mum, my brother and my niece have all had them and they are extremely good-natured and friendly with all people, but they do hate all other animals as a rule.

A well trained dog.

Your dog is gorgeous

Is Alfie a shit-zu or a lhasa apso?

Mine don't. In fact they are all in love with the neighbourhood cats - most of whom don't even bother to run away any more.

I have a lab x springer, he's pretty much like a little labrador, is soft as anything, and so long as he's had his exercise for the day is happy to cabbage out and sleep all day, or if you want to he will also play all day.