Breeds that ENJOY children

[maybe532]

I see/hear people often asking what breeds are good with children but I am interested in knowing what breeds enjoy being with children.
Lucy is the most even tempered dog, will tolerate a lot of "abuse" from the little ones, but she would much prefer a belly rub than a game with the kids. She is good WITH children but doesn't interact with them much. Now Koda, she LOVES children. She is gentle with them, will choose to lay next to my baby, lick her toes, etc. as well as interact with the preschool crowd.

I will start the list-Newfoundlands. I met one while on a road trip when my oldest was 2. This huge dog was so excited to see us, you could visibly tell from across the store. I walked over with my daughter and as we got closer the dog sat down and waited for us to get there. The dog wanted nothing more than to interact with my daughter. I knew that I needed to find out more about this awesome dog. Apparently the owner had rescued her from a shelter and didn't have any kids and didn't really get around kids much. She was as surprised as we were at how "into" children her dog was. The dog was so gentle and just snugly with my daughter. We ended up getting a newf/golden mix ("accidental" pregnancy-owner surrendered 9 pups to a local rescue) after researching both breeds.

 

[Tankstar]

Pitbull's is all I can truly think off. they are the "nanny breed" from back in the 30's (20's?) would be left to baby sit the children. (not that I recommend that with any breed. But they were used for it)

 

[milos_mommy]

I think a lot of it depends on the individual dog, really. But yeah, pit bulls, goldens, newfies, and some herding breeds are what i think of.

 

[bubbatd]

My Goldens loved to be with my kids ,

 

[Saeleofu]

Boxers. Not every single boxer, of course, but a lot of them. Gavroche LOVES kids. There's nothing he'd rather do more than play with my nephew. When he sees kids his tail starts going a million miles an hour lol.

When we go to the playground with my nephew Gavroche is always DYING to go play on the playground xD

 

[sammgirl]

Keeshonden are known for their fondness of children, even when not socialized to children. Same for samoyeds.

Cardigans- although Cardi people might argue with me, I would say that they have to be socialized towards kids as sometimes they can be protective of their space.

 

[Pops2]

pretty much all bull & terriers (bostons, ebt, staffy bull etc), well bred bulldogs (boxers, alapaha, american, oldes, rotties etc), in fact most molossers, & most curs love kids and will fawn over tham greatly and often will interfere w/ discipline & punishment. JME

 

[HayleyMarie]

Im going to say Bouvier de Flander, I grew up with one and she adored me and my brother. Her whole purpose and reason for living in her mind was for me and my brother.
She was our protector, our rescuer, our babysitter, our friend. She was just a darn great dog!

 

[PoodleMommy]

I think a lot depends on socialization and the individual dog.

I grew up with a toy poodle she was the best dog ever even though they usually say small dogs and kids dont mix well... she would let me do pretty much anything to her.

When I got Armani he was great with kids, the breeder had a toddler who handled him a lot... but I really dont know any kids at all, so over time he has become worse and worse with them.

 

[MicksMom]

This may sound stereotypical, but Labs (in general) love kids. I can understand dogs growing up with kids loving them, but Caleb is just one example of many of a Lab that was not raised with little ones in the house (his breeder had a teenage step-son, and our youngest was 18 when we got him). But, from the very first time he saw youg kids, he went insane with happiness to be with them. He is in total heavan when we have people over who have kids. And, in all honesty, his favorite "toy" to play with is our grand daughter.

 

[StillandSilent]

I think hounds, particularly beagles, tend to be very child friendly. Most of the labs and goldens I have known enjoyed children, though many of the young ones were a little overenthusiatic with their love (training issue, not breed). I've met very few pits who disliked kids.

 

[Fran101]

Every lab and golden i've met lol

 

[maybe532]

We had a poodle growing up that loved us kids, despite me remembering picking on him quite a bit. I think

It is so special when a dog that really hasn't grown up with kids loves them. I just think that is the neatest thing.

Pops2-is a Rott considered a bully breed? I always thought it was a herding dog? Not to get into semantics, I just had no idea. You learn something new every day!

Yay that most of the dogs I want the most have been listed.

My great-aunt's rat terrier loves to play fetch with my 4 year old. But he is kind of sharp so I don't trust him too much.

 

[drmom777]

Uncle Fred, totally unsocialized as a young dog, is terrific with kids and adores them. He has never jumped on a child, instead he goes into the bow position and arrooooooos at them. Even kids he has never met before get this treatment.

And most kids seem to know that all that racket is friendly. Usually they laugh. Unfortunately their non dog savvy parents often think the howling means he wants to eat them.

I do not know if other Walkers are similar or not. I rarely meet them.

 

[Laurelin]

Nard. Nard loooves kids.

 

[Romy]

I've met a lot of kennel raised collies who had no previous experience with children who go crazy with happiness when Aurelia is around. They moo and wiggle, and try to get close to her just so they can be touching her.

Same thing with a friend's maltese. She was raised by a little old lady who passed away and never met a child before Aurelia. She thinks Aurelia is the most fabulous being in existence.

Lots of hounds like kids. Don't tell any of the borzois they aren't supposed to get along with kids. Strider gets a barely contained body wiggle when he sees them at the store, and if he's allowed to say hi he has to kiss them behind the ears.

I don't know if it's true of all afghans, but my uncle's afghan adored all children. He hated strangers and was pretty fierce about guarding the property, but if the intruder was a child, forget it. lol. I remember trying to ride him and stuff as a kid, and giving him weird haircuts. He took it all happily, he was a really good dog.

Akitas like kids, especially their own children. The only major problems I have heard of with them and children are when strange children come over and rough house with their kids. Some don't understand that they are only playing and can get defensive of their kids.

WHPGs as a rule love kids. Charlie is kind of boisterous and knocks Aurelia down once in a while, but it's all good. He's growing out of his puppyhood and getting more careful.

And yeah, pretty much all bullies. Our neighbor's bostons adore Aurelia and she is the first kid they have ever spent any time around. We have several friends with pits whose dogs get crazy happy when we bring her over. They just want to smell her and lick and and sit with her. lol.

 

[MandyPug]

Izzie does her wiggle dance when she sees a kid. She LOVES them so much she'll even leave a chewy or bone to go say high and do her wiggle dance. She also loves to give them high fives lol!

 

[maybe532]

It is so great to hear about so many dogs that love children. Especially since you always here about labs and goldens being so great with children and they just are not for everyone. They are both great though, don't get me wrong on that!

 

[lizzybeth727]

I've always heard that chihuahuas are not good with kids, and I've seen a lot of chis that made me nervous around kids. But Luna LOVES kids, she seeks them out and practically begs them to pet her. It's almost bad, though, because we've met a lot of kids whose parents say "Hm, maybe I should get my *baby* a chihuahua, they seem so easy," which means that Luna is being very misleading. I ALWAYS tell them to make sure to get a chi that's good with kids, because most of them are not.

 

[BostonBanker]

most curs love kids and will fawn over tham greatly

Meg is a Mountain Cur, and adores children more than any dog I've met. She seeks them out, she actively engages with them without being pushy or rude, and will tolerate everything they've thrown at her (not much, because I don't allow much). She was practicing somersaults the other day with my cousin's 5-year old and having the time of her life.