4 Yr Old Son Desperately Wants a Puppy

I have a 4 year old, 6 year old, and two Boston Terriers. The BTs are wonderful with my kids. Romeo is 8 and has let both kids lay all over him since birth. Bruin is 3, we got him at 1, and he plays non-stop with both kids. My 6 year old plays baseball and has taught Bruin to bring back the balls during batting practice. Both dogs are about 22 pounds, so relatively small.
There are some BT rescue organizations locally, you could contact them about adoption.
http://adopt-a-boston-terrier.1-800-save-a-pet.com/

I understand you being scared of adoption of an animal, however if you use a good rescue group that has trained the dogs you won't have an issue. We got one of our dogs from an adoption event that petsmart was having. They had all the info on him and he was house trained. We have a lab and he's been great with the kids. He allowed them to use him as a step stool when they were learning to crawl on the sofa. Maybe a golden retreiver? I know that's probably bigger than what you may want, but both are great dogs. Good luck

We have a beagle who gets along wonderfully with our 11 month old. He is very tolerant of poking/prodding. Beagles are midsized dogs but the quintessential best friend for boy dog. I suggest going here: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/children.htm

I second the beagle-we have one and he is fantastic with all three of our kids (2,4 &7). He is great and he's not to big, doesn't eat too much and only has little poo! :) We used to own a black lab. The only thing with a beagle is that he needs a good deal of excercise and you would need a fenced in yard unless you are willing to walk him on a leash all the time because they are hunters. HTH

R.-

Ditto on the Beagle! I've had them my whole life and they are excellent with children and very loyal. I would NOT, however suggest a puppy. We found our current Beagle on Petfinder.com and she was 2 when we got her. She was over the puppy chewing stage and we got to see her true personality and how she acted around my son before we decided to adopt her. The adoption fee was $150 and included everything (shots, neuter, etc). I highly suggest going through a rescue or shelter. Good luck!

Labs, retrievers, German Shepherds, boxers and many different types of bulldogs are good with children. You can look at rescue shelters by yourself and if there are any suitable animals, you can then bring your son. When there is a known history and you can meet the animal to see what the temperament is, you can make a decision and also do check on the online information recommended relative to breeds that are good with children.

I have personally owned all of the above except the bulldogs (my mother had Boston when she was a child and one of my good friends now owns an English and he is the sweetest dog on the planet). I have also owned numerous good old-fashioned mutts with some of the above breeds mixed.

The owner, knowing how to train a dog, is usually more important than the breed.