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Never owned a dog but would really like a companion on my van travels.
Any advice or tips of what to look for in choosing the right one? It'll be a rescue and a cross no doubt but what breeds should I avoid, being a complete novice?
Age? Size? Male or female?
Any help gratefully received 🙂
P.s. feel free to show yours..
I've owned 3 dogs:
- Rescue greyhound, beautiful to look at, but just ignored any recall attempts, and really couldn't have cared less about his owners (us).
- English springer - adores us, but mad as a box of frogs. Can bark for England. This is not a good thing.
- Springer/lab cross - the perfect dog, other than his liking for other dogs' poo and his habit of slicing open the end of his tail on barbed wire and brambles and then spraying dog blood around the house when he gets home.
Is that helpful? Thought not. But they've all been great.
lab. A good one will do 20-40 km with you on the bike, will chill out the rest of the time and train themselves. If you have food, you can get them to do almost anything.
Female black lab....will always stop chasing potential food for actual food.
Not under any circumstances a male jack russell... will starve to death on the off chance of a fight or the opportunity to chase anything.
The above is based upon having multiple versions of the above.
Depends hugely....
How much time do you want to spend walking it?
How long do you want to be able to leave it alone for?
What do you actually WANT a do for? To join you in outdoor sports? To sit on your feet on an evening? To teach the kids a bit of responsibility? To mooch around the house and garden? To work or show?
None of the above are mutually exclusive...you can't go far wrong with a general purpose lab, but they are bloody big daft lumpy things and by no means insignificant in the impact they will have in your house and life!
After a protracted period of window shopping, I would love a cocker poo at the slighly calmer end of the spaniel spectrum....but we're out for too much of the time.
I've quite liked a couple of Borders that I met, and the odd Pug for general chilled out companionship.
Brilliant! Just the kind of advice I'm looking for. A lab never occurred as thought it might be too big for the van but if its happy to sleep plenty i dont suppose it really matters...
There's a handsome looking lurcher local to me, anyone any experiences?
Lots of rescue Staffies about?
Lurchers and staffies freely available for a reason..
You have to pay for a lap for a reason....
Cross post plums..
It will be with me pretty much 24 - 7 in a campervan travelling here and there.
Lots of biking and walking will be involved so no probs with exercise.
Vans not huge through which is why I've discounted a big dog.
What reasons though oldmanmtb?
but they are bloody big daft lumpy things
A working lab (at least ours) will be smaller. Not daft, but he does want all of the attention.
You can have ours, very friendly, smaller than a lab, only barks in the morning for a couple of hours, will eat anything, rolls in cat/fox/sheep poo and everyone thinks she's "so cute" Can only run for 20 minutes when she realises she's not as young as she used to be and then goes to sleep.
Likes chicken
£20 posted
I applaud you for thinking rescue and being open on other criteria.
You could spend some time walking dogs for a rescue and see if any bonds form.
As space is limited, a staffie cross could be worth considering as they can cuddle up into the smallest spaces and sleep anywhere.
We've got a collie lurcher, it's small for a lurcher at about 20kg. Loves being in the van and surfs down the road staring out the front window.
The collie bit is good for stamina, the lurcher(deerhound) for speed so has been superb with the bikes until she got too slow at about 10 years. She will still climb munro's till the cow's come home though at 15.
I would avoid a 'pure' collie as they can be a bit neurotic - the lurcher in ours has cancelled it out. Also you can tire quickly of throwing the ball up the garden, believe me!
Cross dog so never been a regular at the vets nor insured. Just run ragged every day, fed on best food and has 24/7 company. No dog has done better IMO, she is slowly growing old with grace.
Lurchers and staffies freely available for a reason..
You have to pay for a lap for a reason….
Yeah what you want is an inbred lump of lard that thinks its a dustbin and has dodgy hips.
Get a lurcher, fold up small for storage, will happily sleep all day, run about a lot when needed can be trained very well despite what some say and hate cats, rabbits and TJ...perfect
Some kind of scruffy mongrel from a rescue centre is what you want.
Yeah what you want is an inbred lump of lard that thinks its a dustbin and has dodgy hips.
Is that referring to Staffies or Labs?
I'll pass thanks Smokey Jo 🙂
A Lab cross of some sort, lovely temperament and generally well behaved (if you have food). I have a Lab Collie cross and she's great, until she sees a cat, at which point she becomes an unguided missile.