6 things to consider when choosing your dog’s breed

Getting a dog is super exciting, but it’s also a big decision. There are over 200 breeds of dogs here in the UK, and once you add in the many common cross breeds that means there’s A LOT of choice. And this is a decision you should spend A LOT of time on. Getting the right dog for your home, family and lifestyle will make living with a dog as joyful and easy as possible. But choosing the wrong breed can cause unnecessary stress and heartache.

The decision is slightly different whether you’re getting a puppy or an older rescue dog. Choosing a puppy is a bit like a guessing game. You don’t really know who that puppy will grow into. So carefully choosing the right breed and breeder will help you predict what your puppy will be like as an adult. But if you’re choosing an adult rescue dog you’ll have a good idea of their appearance and behaviour. So you can be more flexible on breed because you get to look at each dog as an individual. But considering what you do and don’t want from your dog can help you narrow down your choices when contacting rescues.

1. The breed’s size

There is a huge variation in size between different dog breeds - from tiny chihuahuas and miniature dachshunds to massive great danes and newfoundlands. Your home and lifestyle will affect what size dog is right for you. Large and giant breed dogs take up much more space at home, on the sofa and in your car. So they might not be the right choice if you live in a tiny city flat with a tiny car. Small children sometimes treat smaller dogs like toys, not living animals - so a slightly larger dog might be the right choice for your family. Toy and small breed dogs can more easily trip you over and may get caught in the wheels of a wheelchair if you use one. But they can sit more comfortably for a cuddle on your lap (although some larger dogs think they’re lap dogs) and it can be easier to take smaller dogs on public transport and to cafés.

Generally smaller dogs live longer than larger dogs. Which could be a big factor in your choice of breed as most of us want as much time with our dogs as possible. Small dogs also mature much faster. So a tiny dog will probably be a sensible adult by 18 months, while a giant dog might still be a chaotic teenager until they’re nearly 3. So not only will you get less time with a larger dog, you’ll struggle with their training and behaviour for longer. Larger dogs are usually more expensive to look after. They eat more food, need bigger and therefore more expensive toys, chews and harnesses. And just due to their size, their veterinary care is more expensive too.

2. The breed’s coat type

This can feel like it’s purely an aesthetic decision, but different coat textures and lengths need very different maintenance. Dogs with long and curly coats will usually need daily brushing to stop their fur getting matted. And will need a trim every 6-8 weeks - so that’s something you either need to budget for or be prepared to do yourself. Dogs with short, straight fur usually require much less grooming, but can shed heavily so you’ll find tiny hairs everywhere. Wire coats can be easier to maintain than they look - but wirey dogs are definitely the least soft dogs to stroke.

The diversity in dog coat types does have a purpose - every breed’s fur is perfect for the job they were bred to do and where their ancestors lived. So think about the climate and your lifestyle when choosing what type of coat is best for you. If you live in a very hot place, a dog with a very heavy coat will overheat easily. Dogs with thin fur will get very cold if you live in a cold place and may need to wear jumpers and coats to stay warm. Dogs like poodles have a curly coat because this keeps them warm in water - so this could be a good choice if you love swimming and water sports. Many terrier and hunting breeds have wirey coats because these protect their skin when running through undergrowth - so if you do a lot of walking in the country a wirey dog might be right for you.

3. Your lifestyle

We all have different dreams for a life with our dogs, and the huge variety of breeds means there’s usually a dog who will love your life. But there are also a lot of dogs who won’t. Think about your life now and any changes you want to make when you bring your dog home. Will you be mostly at home or do you have to go out to work every day? Can you take your dog to work? While all dogs are social animals who benefit from lots of time with people, dogs bred purely as companions or to work closely with people will struggle when left alone much more than independent breeds. Dogs who are bred to be less friendly to humans (like guarding breeds) may not cope as office dogs. High-energy working breeds (like collies, spaniels and malinois) might struggle to relax in an office full of people and distractions.

Think about what kind of walks you want to go on, how long you’ll be walking and how often. If you’re super active and love long walks or trail running then you’ll want to choose an active breed who can keep up. But if you’re only wanting to do short 30 minute walks around the local park and to the café then a high-energy dog is going to get very bored and a toy breed might be a better choice for you. While all dogs need training - some dogs were bred to use their brain a lot. And these dogs will go stir crazy without regular training to make them think and this could lead to a lot of problem behaviours. If you choose a working breed you need to be ready to dedicate time daily to training.

Be really honest with yourself about the life you want and what’s actually practical for you. There’s no point telling yourself you’ll spend hours every day training your dog and taking them for long country walks if you work long hours in an office and live in a large city. You and your dog will have a much happier life together if you choose a breed who’ll love your reality, not your dream life.

4. Behaviours you’d rather avoid

As well as thinking about what behaviours you want from your dog, you need to think about any behaviours you couldn’t cope with. When you get a puppy, there’s never a guarantee of their future behaviour. But different breeds have very different traits. So you’ll want to avoid breeds that have a stronger tendency towards any behaviours you think are undesirable.

All dogs bark (well, except basenjis who yodel) but how often they bark and how loud their bark is varies massively. Guarding breeds tend to be very barky because that’s exactly what they were bred to do. Larger dogs have louder ‘boof’ type barks while small dogs might be quieter but their barks are much more high-pitched. All dogs also have some prey drive, but how strong that is and what behaviours that leads to will depend on their breed. Dogs bred for hunting like hounds, terriers and gundogs will have much stronger prey drive. So they can be much harder to teach a recall to and may need to be muzzled on walks. These dogs might not be the best choice if you have small pets like rabbits, hamsters or budgies. Herding breeds will herd anything, including terrified small children. And some breeds like corgis herd by nipping at cows (and people’s ankles) which isn’t a particularly pleasant experience.

The best place to get an idea of the behaviour of a specific breed is to ask people who know the breed well. This could be breeders, breed clubs, dog trainers or anyone who's had several dogs of that breed. Sometimes it can feel like these people are being negative. But if someone loves a breed they’re probably just being truthful. The behaviours you would hate may be strongly desired by other people. So if it sounds like someone’s just being super negative about a breed they say they love, that possibly suggests that’s not the breed for you.

5. Breed-related health problems

Most breeds are susceptible to some health problems. But what they are, and how likely it is your dog will inherit them will depend on their breed. There are two rough types of inheritable health conditions. Confirmation issues like hip dysplasia and brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome are caused by the physical shape of a dog’s body. While genetic issues are caused by a faulty gene. A genetic test of a puppy’s parents can rule out genetic issues common in their breed, but confirmation issues are more complex so they can’t be ruled out in the same way.

When you’ve narrowed down the breeds you think might be right for you, look at the health issues common in those breeds. A good place to look for the list is breed clubs and the Kennel Club. Because there are common health issues with most breeds, considering health is almost like picking your poison. Think about what level of risk you are happy to accept and what health issues you could or couldn’t deal with. But choosing a responsible breeder will help reduce the risk of any health issues as low as possible.

6. Pure breed or cross breed?

The final decision to make when choosing what breed is right for you is whether you want a pure breed or cross breed dog. A pure breed dog has parents who are both the same breed while a cross breed dog’s parents will be different breeds (and sometimes one or both parents will be cross breeds too). Pure breed dogs can be pedigree meaning they come with papers from the Kennel Club listing the dog’s ancestry. But not all pure breed dogs have a pedigree and some breeds aren’t registered with the Kennel Club.

There’s a lot of debate and myth about the ethics of breeding cross breed dogs and their health. It’s absolutely possible to find a responsible breeder of a cross breed. They just need to be putting in the same care and thought into breeding as a responsible breeder of a pure breed dog would. You’ll often hear people claim that cross breed dogs are healthier than pure breed dogs - but that’s not inherently true. In many cases, a cross breed puppy could inherit the same health problems from both parents as if they were a pure breed. So usually both parents will need the same health tests as if they were being bred with the same breed.

Your dog’s size, coat type and behaviours are less predictable when getting a cross breed puppy. And the less similar the parent’s breeds are, the less predictable your dog will be. So you know what you’re likely to get with a sprocker because springers and cockers are both similar size spaniels with similar behaviours and similar coat types. But a mini bernedoodle is harder to predict because miniature poodles and Bernese mountain dogs are very different in appearance and behaviour. Because of this variety in the puppies, you should always make sure you’d be happy to live with either of your puppy’s parent breeds. You’ll often see people say you’ll get the positives of both breeds (e.g. the friendliness of a cocker and the coat of a poodle). But you can just as easily get any negatives. So if you’re thinking about getting a cross breed because you don’t like certain aspects of one of the parent breed’s appearance or behaviour, that cross breed probably isn’t right for you.

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Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter