Please help!!!! Too many choices...they are all cute

Hi All.......Thanks for reading my inquiry....... We want to get a puppy, and I neeed some answers to questions.
We are looking at maltipoo, shipoo & yorkipoo.....Well, I was wondering if you could help:

1. They are all BEAUTIFUL, hard to pick
2. Which bark the most......not crazy about that????
3. MY MAJOR CONCERN.....how long does each one take to housetrain outside???? Is one smarter in that area than another????
4. I need a dog that is good w/ children....ages 10/11??????

Please give me many opinions, it is hard to know. Everytime I go on the internet one person likes this one and hates the other & vice versa......

Help!!!!!!!!......... :roll: ..... :y_the_best:

 

Hi,

Whenever you buy a mixed breed puppy you never really know what your going to end up with, meaning if you went out and bought a yorkshire terrier from a reputable breeder you would have a better idea of how big the dog is going to get, the hair type will be pretty standard etc.

I would recommend finding a breeder that has done all the relevant testing and screening for the dogs they have bred....its okay to ask for verification of this, in fact you basically have an obligation to ask, any reputable breeder will be happy to show their clear results, some diseases are more common in some breeds, with the dogs youve mentioned, things like epilepsy, luxating patellas, eye problems, kidney problems, skin problems....without the testing/screening then you are risking getting a puppy with any of these and more, many of the problems wont ever show up until the pup is about 2 years old.

As far as the housetraining is concerned, its really not a matter of how smart a dog is, puppys from either puppy mills or pet stores (which is where the puppy mill puppies usually are sold through) do have a harder time learning this, mainly because they have been forced to spend part of their crucial imprinting stage (between 8-12 weeks) living in a small cage, theyre conditioned, because of this to use their sleeping area as their bathroom....one of the keys to succesful housetraining is our reliance on a dog naturally not wanting to use its sleeping area as its bathroom.

A dogs major imprinting stage is between 3 -12 weeks of age, everything they learn during this time will stay with them for life....negative behaviours can be worked on but generally it takes a lot longer to fix (and there are always exceptions at both ends of the scale).

As far as which breeds are good with children, Ive seen good and bad in almost every breed (breeds that I have never really seen any or seen very little agression in is whippets and shelties). It all depends on the dogs personality, if it was socialized properly as a younger pup (between 8-12 weeks) and it depends on how the children handle and interact with the dog.

The only dogs that dont bark is a Basenji, otherwise the dog will bark at some point and its up to you to keep that in check.

 

What DeLaUK sez, and here is my 2 cents worth, as well. All three of the mixes you are looking at can be lovely dogs. However, all three are small, and you do have children........how are they with little animals? Kids can tend to rough up little dogs, and make them barky. I would strongly suggest the family discussion of: Don't roughhouse so much that the pup is barking hysterically. It can happen very easily, and becomes a lifelong habit. Of course, this is not just kids, this is adults, too. Definitely something all of our friends know :lol: None of our small dogs are particularly barky, but we made sure they wouldn't be.........no rewards for talking, and plenty rewards for being quiet.
Housetraining a little dog is different than a big dog. The joke in our household is: 6 months, or 72 days, they'll be trained. Regardless of what we do, that is the deal. So, lots of outside time, lots of praise, and they do get it.
Off the top of my head the defects you want to look out for are: Luxateing patella, (the infamous kneecap problem) eyes, heart murmur, and alopecia (the bald thing)
Best of luck! You have a wonderful decision to make, and one that will be rewarding for many years to come!