Which dog breed?

[Landlord]

Hello,

Not sure of the best forum so trying the lounge...

We are looking at getting a dog but we have no idea what breeds to consider. Our circumstances are a little unusual and so don't really fit with the online "What Breed" Q&A sites.

Our circumstances are:

Our home is a pub! Moderate to small living area (2.5 bedrooms) with a large garden (1 acre). Always someone around near enough (maybe a couple of random hours a week where there isn't).

Dog must be comfortable with other dogs/safe around children/docile enough to leave people alone - think classic pub dog, we won't just let it wander anywhere but if it's out in the garden it needs to be comfortable around strangers. We have plenty of time to give it exercise - including the huge garden for it to run around.

We'd like it to bark when, for example, our private front door goes (to alert us to strangers) but obviously with being a pub, it shouldn't bark for every single disturbance.

We've got two children 7 and 9.

No allergies or anything. Grooming shouldn't be a problem but we'd prefer short haired dogs.

My current thoughts are a chocolate lab but that's pretty much only because I've seen one! We've just lost a dog (well, my parents dog who lived with us) who was a staff/boxer cross and she had most of these qualities - apart from being a bit too territorial and therefore not good to leave out with other customers' dogs.

We're happy to have a rescue dog but would need to really know what we're looking for first. We'd prefer a puppy too so we can train from an early age.

Any suggestions peeps?

Thanks!

[Landlord]

Dusty964 said:

A labradoodle.

Funnily enough we had a customer last night with two of these. They were gorgeous. One had a kind of mop of hair/fringe and looked a bit "surfer dude". Really cute. Owner had nothing but positive comments about the breed.

Thanks for all of the replies. I hadn't thought about dogs' propensity to steal food/beg for food and this certainly would be a problem.

I have to say, I've always wanted a mastiff but I'd discounted it given the size of our living area (not the garden). I love the Northern Inuit though... just off to do a bit of research on ownership...

My wife took the kids to the dog's trust yesterday. The eldest wants a GSD, the youngest a pug. The youngest said that he'd look after the pug and if it's face ever popped out he'd push it back in for it... I think we'll have to limit his alone time with any dog we get.