going to look at new puppie this friday what to look for..

suki1964

frankie55 wrote: »

Hi there, I'm glad you've decided not to go for the Boxer/Beagle cross, mrs across the road got a beagle in October around the time I got my last pup and it has been a nightmare. Very difficult to train and keeps running away, we live in a rural area, many of the local cabal of dog lovers and walkers spent all of last Sunday searching the fields and woods for her in her latest adventure. She is also not very trustworthy with other dogs and had bit and nipped my pup several times....nothing serious but worrying....my neibhour is now considering returning it to the farm breeder where she got it from, and she is a sensible lady who has had several Beagles in the past, and employs a dog walker a couple of times a day when she has to leave it, it's also caused considerable damage in her home. Personaly I think she was unwise to take a dog that was 5 mths old and had only lived in the barn for most of the time, but there you go

Unfortunately if this "breeder" isnt a reputable one ( and this one from what you says isnt), they wont take the pup back. The best will be the pup will end up in rescue, the worse - destroyed


The sensible lady dosesnt sound that sensible IF shes supporting puppy farming

allIcouldwishfor

downs523 wrote: »

well maybe i wont have him fully trained in the 3 weeks, hes already paper trained the seller said. if he does pee and poo on the carpets ill clean them. only new furniture in my house is in the living room so will keep that closed when were out, shouldnt be a problem. we have no kids so not worried about that, but he has been raised in a household with children anyway. anyway i like a challenge lol.

Haha, when our springer boy was a pup, if we left him on his own for anything more than 5 mins, he'd drag all our coats off the hooks in the hall, eat the contents of the kitchen bin, drag the dirty laundry out of the laundry bin, chew the stair spindles, doors, door handles (metal!), carpets, dining room chairs, table legs, although mercifully he did stop short of eating the plaster off the walls which my friends labrador managed! I'd never go back to the puppy stage!

Good luck!

GonzoAston

downs523 wrote: »

ive also read boxers are great with children... on many sites

Hi. I know you decided not to go for this pup anyway, but with regards to Boxers being good with Children. Alot of people think that Labradors are good with kids, but did you know they are the most common breed of dog to actually bite or nip a child?

It doesnt matter what the breed is, its how they're brought up and trained. Most fatal attacks on kids are caused by dog owners trusting the dog too much around a child. We have to remember that, even with all the training, love and care we lavish on our pets, they are still animals.

Hope you get on great with your new addition to the family though. Just my tuppence worth above :rolleyes:

pboae

GonzoAston wrote: »

Hi. I know you decided not to go for this pup anyway, but with regards to Boxers being good with Children. Alot of people think that Labradors are good with kids, but did you know they are the most common breed of dog to actually bite or nip a child?

Although I agree that for the most part it's the upbringing that matters, and that every one should ensure kids and dogs are supervised, the fact above is often stated, but it's very misleading. Labs are numerically responsible for more bites/nips, but proportionally they are very low risk. In other words, the are involved in more incidents with children because compared to other breeds, there are many more of them living in households with children, not because they are more likely to bite.

GonzoAston

pboae wrote: »

Although I agree that for the most part it's the upbringing that matters, and that every one should ensure kids and dogs are supervised, the fact above is often stated, but it's very misleading. Labs are numerically responsible for more bites/nips, but proportionally they are very low risk. In other words, the are involved in more incidents with children because compared to other breeds, there are many more of them living in households with children, not because they are more likely to bite.

I agree that Labradors are a very popular breed, and the registered dogs by the KC are practicarly double the ammount of the next breed, so my earlier post actually could be misleading I guess My point was that if a Staffy or Rotty done it, it would be demonised by the press, if a Lab done it, it would rarely get mentioned. I love Labs, Staffs and Rotts (well, most breeds to be fair ) but it just annoys me when some people, not all, just blame the dogs breed for it, when its down to the owner/training of the dog.

foreign_correspondent

pboae wrote: »

Although I agree that for the most part it's the upbringing that matters, and that every one should ensure kids and dogs are supervised, the fact above is often stated, but it's very misleading. Labs are numerically responsible for more bites/nips, but proportionally they are very low risk. In other words, the are involved in more incidents with children because compared to other breeds, there are many more of them living in households with children, not because they are more likely to bite.

I agree, and I think the same circumstancial factors apply with the reported incidents of staffies biting - when I go to homes where life is quite chaotic, where there are several small children, parents who struggle with life skills and parenting, financial stresses, poor accommodation etc, the family dog of choice is normally a staffie, (who normally has a very high tolerance and super temperement btw!).

These are often families with young or unskilled parents, and who have limited understanding of the needs and vulnerability of small children and dogs and inconsistent boundary setting and supervision of play - we know that the children of these families are more vulnerable in general, sadly, due to many factors.

I have seen staffies being tugged about by a small child, sat on, or being bashed by a toy, or being fed chocolate biscuits, or the baby's dinner, whilst mum is in another room, or distracted, or unaware of the risk... without exception the dogs have tolerated it very patiently, however, any dog, when scared, hurt or threatened can bite, and chldren often are unable to understand thattheir interaction with a dog could be percieved as scary to the dog.

I think if the dog of choice for these families were a yorkshire terrier, or a greyhound, we would soon be seeing stories in the paper of the 'unpredicatable temprement' of these breeds!

Likewise, I think in sensible, knowledgeable families a staffie is a super choice of dog... when it was snowing recently I passed a group of small children on a sledge, who had harnesses their staffie to the front of it, like a husky - he looked so good natured and accomodating, bless him!

hethmar

So true fc. Whilst one has to acknowledge the tragedies of recent years, really each of those incidents have had very similar backgrounds.

BilberryCharlotte

I am so glad that downs 523 has decided to go for a puppy which seems to be better suited to their needs at the moment, and I hope they have a long, happy and adoring relationship.

I am now just terribly worried about the beagle/boxer cross pup and where it will end up. I really should stop reading these threads!

MaximumImpact

I too got my youngest pup from a ''farm breeder''.......But this was a farm as in, agricultural farm where they bred pups as a sideline and only had 1 litter at a time from family pets, so perhaps this is what the poster meant by Farm Breeder rather than Puppy Farm??????

foreign_correspondent

MaximumImpact wrote: »

I too got my youngest pup from a ''farm breeder''.......But this was a farm as in, agricultural farm where they bred pups as a sideline and only had 1 litter at a time from family pets, so perhaps this is what the poster meant by Farm Breeder rather than Puppy Farm??????

oh, the joys of diversification.... do be wary of people advertising 'farm bred' pups as a positive - many sheep farmers (among others) moved onto breeding pups in an enterprising move to keep their heads above water. Whilst I have some sympathy for their plight, they are in fact some of the worse culprits for breeding purely for cash and with little knowledge of the breeds, or understanding of the needs of pups!

But - we are going off topic (sorry downs!) - I agree that a whippet pup is a better choice, but some sighthoundy types can be a little nervy and suffer from seperations anxiety, and the housetraining will still be very hard work to get right.

I still think it would be kinder to get a steady older dog, but I am less worried than I was about the beagle x!