Tis hard to answer that. My daughter is now 15, she has been brought up with various breeds and x breeds. I have found my akita's, staffy and my shiz tu x pug to be the most gentle and tolerant out of all the breeds I have owned. But she was never left alone with any of them until I felt confident that she had enough respect for them.

Staff

(I don't own one so it's not personal bias)

I also brought my son up with large breed dogs, eg, GSD's, bullmastiffs, rotties...and a BC thrown in for good messure lol

many breeds have the potential to be great with kids, depending on the owner, kids, dog, amount of effort your prepared to put in, your home, I had no stairs in the house I lived in with my son for the first 7 years of his life, so dogs knocking by him on stairs and so on were not an issue,

Im going to stick my neck out here, and say staffies can be good with kids as many breeds can,

its all down to what you can cope with, how much training you can do, how well behaved your kids are what experiance you have had with rearing dogs in the past,

there is a lot to be said for a good old x breed to.

Of that list, labs would be the most suitable IMO. Several pups my mum has bred have gone onto homes with kids of all ages and we have only ever had really good feedback. We had a couple of pups from previous litters round yesterday, one of those went to a family with children of about 2 and 5 and the parents cannot speak highly enough of their "puppy" - apparently he absolutely dotes on the children and is incredibly careful around them.

As i think someone mentioned earlier, labs can be very bouncy and boisterous, it wouldnt take much for an over-enthused labrador puppy to knock a child over and hurt it. So you do need to be very strict on the training (of puppy AND child) and be sensible about supervising everyone very carefully.

The rest on the list... Well, i know boxers can make fantastic pets but dont have any experience of them. Elkhounds i love, a favourite breed of mine. Im sure elkhound owners can give you more info but i think they can be a little uncertain on their recall...? Akitas are lovely dogs, and im sure some akita owners will disagree, but i wouldnt advise those as a family pet unless you were experienced with the breed. I've never seen one be aggressive, but every single akita i have ever come across has been kept on a VERY short lead by its handler, and one did go for my pug once, from about 10 foot away, just launched at her. If the handler hadn't had a good hold of her it could have been very unpleasant... So i imagine they are a breed you have to keep an eye on.

My mum got Golden Retrievers, I was 9 when we got Bonnie, and 11 when we got Clyde.

During the period of having these dogs, my mum had two more children (7 years apart) and both the dogs were great with them.
Bonnie was especially good, letting my sisters crawl over her when she was trying to sleep! She used to sit by the sofa when it was naptime and keep an eye on them for my mum.
Clyde was also the same, he still is great!

Unfortunatly we had to have Bonnie PTS before xmas, but she was a brilliant dog and I definatly want to get another Golden Retriever in the future!


Sarah x

Thumbs up from me about Goldies too but watch out for not so good breeders, who seem to producing some of not so great nature But, a Goldie from a good breeder should make a fab family pet, but any breed IMO can make a family pet My kids from babies have lived with GSDs , a Collie, Jack Russells, mack dog, and a goldie.All of them though very different, good with the kids.
Socialistaion is more imporatnt IMO with kids than the breed.

I am biased of course but what about a retired greyhound ? they have excellent temperaments - i have two children - older than yours but she is so good with them. Of course you have to teach children to respect the dog and to leave them alone when they are in their bed and not to pull them about etc. They are very low maintenance dogs as well - they only need two 20 minute walks a day, although i do take my dog out for quite long walks. Apart from that they are complete couch potatoes. Depends what you want but with a couple of children i would imagine you are pretty busy so the lower maintenance the better. They don't shed much so no dog hair everywhere either which is a bonus imo. There are lots of greyhound rescues but you could try Retired Greyhound Trust which have branches all over the country. Good luck x

I grew up with Boxers. Lovley dog.

IMO all those breeds can be great family pets, if there is murual respect taught between them and the kids. Boxers and labs can be particularly bouncy when young, so research your breeders and look for steady temperaments. We had an Elkhound and he was really great with the kids. Not boisterous at all, but they are strong willed and can be challenging, as can Akitas. If you find a good training class and have good support and advice though, that shouldn't be a problem. Elkhounds and Akitas are very independent and will jot always be super obedient, so you have to have realistic expectations of them.

Good luck with your search

i agree with most of the posts saying that no one breed are guaranteed to be any better than any other.

I have a staffie and a 2 yr old, my staffie is a rescue and he was here first, he took to my son the instant he arrived from the hospital and is absolutely superb with him, i couldnt ask for a better dog.

However they arent the breed for everyone and neither are some on your list, I think you need to research each of the breeds there throughly and speak to some breeders etc of them to discuss their exercise needs etc and then make a decision based on what will tie in with your family life.

What are the ages of your children? Bearing in mind with a pup you will have housetraining, socialisation, bite inhibition etc etc to do do youhave the time for that with 2 kids under 4 aswell??

Some rescues wont even look at you with 2 kids under 4 but many will, so its worth looking into as an option as there are plenty of wonderful dogs waiting for homes who are tested and lived with kids and are fine.

good luck