Help me give my sister ideas! Which breed for me?

Very true. Nobody I know has endless supplies of cash, or is home all day yet all have content dogs.

"Dogs are just like children, you can wait around planning for a point in life where finances are right, you have the time, the right lifestyle, the right situation or accept that life ain't perfect and you'll be waiting a long bloody time for it to be so. You work with what you've got" as my granny said to me once, she had six children on a small wage and always had dogs, cats, and everything else.
Bowing out now.

wanted to rep you for that but it wouldnt let me because i repped you before.

Exactly. God if I posted my personal circumstances on here I wonder how many people would inform me that i shouldn't be getting a dog!

Lurcher, whippet, sbt, sbt x.

As for the rest of it, I can't bring myself to care, it's her choice, if she thinks she can manage, I don't know how a bunch of strangers who've never met her, can say otherwise.

Totally agree with the above.

My recommendation would be a retired greyhound.

Good luck to her, whatever decision she makes

thank you. i think the staffie or staffie x may be the route to go. there's plenty out there there is bound to be one to fit her requirements.

yes think strong choice (if she can get over skinnyness) is greyhound, or a staffie.

You and me both.

Singing from the same hym sheet, you work with what you have

Greyhounds can be a bit vulnerable with boisterous toddlers - not a lot of padding. Presumably depends on dog and toddler. Lurchers' exercise desires vary from couch potato to duracell bunny.

G'luck

If she feels she can cope then I won't try and persuade her otherwise A staffie would be a great option, and there are so many stuck in rescue that I am sure there will be one to suit her

Let us know how she gets on.

For those of you that had dogs and babies at the same time - how did you cope? How did you fit in the dogs around the baby etc?

i think i did a thread on that somewhere because i wondered how it all fit in.. i suppose its one of those that you dont know till your in the situation.

i scared myself thinking about it yesterday how would i ever fit a baby in between the dogs, the horses and the hounds when hunting season begins again safe to say i wont be having any for a while

Not had the baby yet, so will let you know!

Well, as I said, I struggled for a while - mainly with having enough time away from the baby to socialise Yogi as fully as I would have liked.

Ben was born prematurely, so spent the first two months of his life in SCBU (100 mile round trip). Thankfully my MIL was living nearby at the time and she let the dogs out for me when I was visiting Ben each day and I didn't have Yogi then. He came along when Ben was around 6 months.

I managed mainly by having a helpful hubby who has the sort of job (and employer) where he could take my dogs out during the working day for me, and he would run the collies on sheep to tire them, and Flame got to travel around in the front of the Landrover and have walks as and when she could.

Once Ben was a bit older, and spring/summer came, it was a bit easier because I could put him in the baby carrier or all terrain buggy and take the dogs walking around the hill tracks.

Not only did I have dogs and kids at the same time I also worked full time. Where there's a will there's a way.

My Hubby works hard and is out the house longs hours, i've coped easily with a baby and 2 kitas, plus until he was 6 months old and we relocated I didnt have a single family/in law member less than 120 miles away.. mind you, now the baby is 9 months and toddling around it's not quite as easy, little menace!

I hope she goes for a rescue staffy, so many to choose from, the perfect one will be out there for her, keep us updated!

Quite easily really( because I planned and knew what to expect) and my son is autistic so
Although he is 5 he behaves like a toddler a lot, all the dogs walk with a buggy no problem, around the house I have baby gates to ensure that the dogs can have peace and quiet!! I don't plan to do anything differently when this baby arrives, I'll just pop him in a carrier and away we go!

As long as the dog can walk sensibly alongside a pram or buggy I don't think there's any problem at all - babies like being pushed in a pram and dogs like being walked, so I used to just combine the two!

Though I do remember one occasion, when motherhood was very new to me, struggling to get myself ready, the baby ready, the dog ready, and finally triumphantly setting off on the dog walk. Several minutes later I realized I hadn't actually got the dog with me - she was sitting, bewildered, with her lead on, in the hall!