Discussions

Hi:  
My family and I are looking to add a pet to our pack and wondering what your experience is with Spaniels. We have two toddler aged children.  
 
What other breeds have been a positive experience in your lives?  
 
Thank you!

Not sure if it’s the breed or just the dog but the 2 spaniels I have known have not been great with kids, hyper and not well behaved

I think spaniel crosses are a better bet. We had a cockapoo growing up, he was a great, great dog and excellent with kids. We currently have a cocker-X and he's also great albeit a bit hyper (although we have a house with 5 kids, so there's that...). My brother had 2 cockers and they were the grumpiest dogs I have ever met...

I had an English Springer from show lines and he was not stable. I didn't get him until he was 2 so his socialization was maybe lacking with kids. He had weird reactions to other dogs and sometimes people. I am an experienced dog owner who has trained and competed in obedience trials. I had to euthanize the poor thing at age 6 because of behavioural issues I felt training was not fully compensating for and he was becoming a liability. Cavaliers King Charles Spanials are known to have pretty good temperaments and might be a better choice with kids - they are quite a bit smaller than Springers and smaller than Cockers. I have also met a lot of Cockers (English and American) with major behavioural issues.

I agree with other posters. American and english spaniels can be very temperamental and prone to epilepsy due to their heads being too small for their brain. I had a friend with a dog who was a cross between a cocker and a sheltie. Beautiful dog. Great temperament. Awesome with kids.  
Google online what Dogs are good with kids. Talk to a veterinarian.  
Whatever dog you get though the trick will be in the training. Read up on how to train a dog. Talk with local trainers. One good website is Dogstardaily.com. This site has a lot of good free information.

springer years ago with a young child. great dog, gentle. but sheds like a trooper long white and brown hair. had to get rid of her as the baby had dog hair every where.  
 
labs and Goldens are always a great animal, although still shed but not like the springer.  
 
our recent dog was a shitzu lasu cross, I would not recommend as they can be tempermental, they want to be pack leader.  
 
friends have a pomeranina, great little mutt.  
 
try humane society they may have some great dogs. benifit is you can see what your getting, rather than a pup that you dont know how they will develope.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and we totally loved her for the 9 years she lived. She was absolutely wonderful with children, very obedient, easy to train to go outside to do their business, very loveable, didn’t bark at all which could be either good or bad....the only bad thing about these dogs is they shed allot so they wouldn’t be good pets for people that have allergies....other than that I would highly recommend them.

A Bichon Frise pup....we recently lost our beloved Bichon of 12 1/2 yrs. to cancer and he was the perfect pet...he was everything that our Cavalier King Charles was except Bichons do not shed....so for another choice I would also highly recommend Bichons as well.

We have a 6 month old springer and she is the sweetest dog. Trains easy, eager to please. Loooooves other dogs and people. Of course all puppies have challenges: sharp razor puppy teeth, house training etc. I recommend highly as a family dog, although very energetic and needs daily exercise. Also definitely not a guard dog!! Love their people and family!

My mom got a springer pup 2 years ago, it still hasn't settled and needs to be on a leash all the time or she goes nuts. Hyper and jumps a lot, even after lots of training knocks my 8 year old daughter over when we come to visit. It is so distracted with birds, the large amount of training my mom has put in doesn't seem to make much of a difference when the dog is distracted, and that is most of the time.

Golden retriever. We got one because they are supposed to be great with kids. She is great with both my 5 y/o and 1 y/o. As a puppy they are hyper though lol