Dogs

444 photos across 76 breeds

🐕 Dogs have lived alongside people longer than any other domesticated animal — the archaeological record puts the relationship at fifteen thousand years at least, and probably a good deal longer. Everything that followed is selective breeding, which is why a chihuahua and a great dane are the same species.

That range is the point when choosing one. Breed is a reasonable predictor of size, coat and exercise need, and a rough predictor of temperament, but it says less than people expect about an individual dog. A working line and a show line of the same breed can want very different lives — a field-bred English springer spaniel and a show-bred one are barely the same proposition.

🧠 What a breed was made to do is the most reliable predictor there is, and it is the one people discount. A terrier bred to kill vermin will kill vermin. A livestock guardian bred to make its own decisions at three in the morning will make its own decisions. A bloodhound will take its nose over your recall, and a border collie with nothing to herd will find something. None of that can be trained out; it can only be given somewhere to go.

⏱️ Size is not the same as exercise need, and the two get confused constantly. A greyhound is a big dog that sleeps most of the day and wants two decent walks. A jack russell terrier weighs six kilos and will still be looking for something to do at ten o'clock at night. If you are choosing by how much dog fits in the house, you are answering the wrong question.

🧬 The three that actually decide it: how many hours a day the dog will have company, how much coat you are willing to deal with for the next twelve years, and how much dog you can physically handle on a lead when it has decided otherwise. Breed follows from those. Almost nobody regrets thinking about them and a great many people regret not.

Any breed Labrador retriever (18)Afghan hound (3)Airedale terrier (3)Akita (3)Alaskan Klee Kai (3)Alaskan malamute (3)American bulldog (3)American eskimo dog (3)American hairless terrier (3)American pit bull terrier (3)Aussiedoodle (3)Australian cattle dog (3)+168 more — use the search

Dogs feed

SizeToy & small 26 Medium 49 Large 70 Giant 28

CoatShort 81 Medium & double 91 Long 43 Curly & wavy 25 Wire 23

FromBritish Isles 111 Europe 173 North America 66 Asia 28 Africa & Middle East 21 Latin America 5 Oceania 9 Crossbreed 28

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Cane corso

Titan crosses the courtyard after rain as though he owns the building, which he believes he does.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Borzoi

Nika walks the top of the hill at dusk, because that is where the sky is best.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Bloodhound

Gus found something by the beech tree this morning and we did not see him again until noon.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Brussels griffon

Hugo stands on the trunk because it makes him taller than the dog next door.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Bernese mountain dog

Alfie waits all year for weather like this and then refuses to come back indoors.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Bergamasco sheepdog

Otto has not seen his own feet in three years and could not be happier about it.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Basset hound

Bertie has picked up a scent, and the ears are simply along for the ride.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Belgian Malinois

Nero has never once used the stepping stones.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Biewer terrier

Tilly walks the garden path like she is being formally presented at court.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Bichon frise

Coco was completely dry ninety seconds ago. So, for that matter, was I.

FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

Jagdterrier

Clemence III was promoted to post-office clerk sorting blank miniature parcels; unfortunately, a domino line stops one piece before the finish.

FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

Icelandic sheepdog

Heather II was promoted to librarian managing an avalanche of blank books; unfortunately, a heap of wooden spoons spills from a cupboard.

FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

Ibizan hound

Vetch was promoted to wedding planner facing a runaway bouquet; unfortunately, a domino line stops one piece before the finish.

FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

Hovawart

Sorrel II was promoted to detective examining one suspicious biscuit; unfortunately, a parade of rubber ducks heads the wrong way.

FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

Hanoverian scenthound

Basil II was promoted to camping guide assembling a tent much too small; unfortunately, a balloon bouquet pulls a tiny chair upward.

FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

Before you get a dog

Time, not space, is the real constraint. Most breeds cope with a flat and a routine; almost none cope with eight hours alone every weekday.
Exercise needs vary enormously and are the most commonly underestimated figure. A border collie or a dalmatian needs two hours and a job; a bulldog needs two short walks and shade.
Grooming is a running cost. A poodle needs professional clipping every six to eight weeks for life and a bichon frise every four to six, and a double-coated breed will cover the house twice a year regardless.
Flat-faced breeds — bulldogs, French bulldogs, Boston terriers — carry real breathing risk and overheat dangerously fast. It is worth choosing a moderate muzzle within the breed.
Ask any breeder which health screening the parents have had, by name: hips, elbows, eyes, heart, and the DNA tests relevant to that breed. A breeder who cannot answer is telling you something.
Where the dog comes from matters as much as which breed it is. A puppy that cannot be seen with its mother, in the place it was born, is a puppy to walk away from — and rescue is worth looking at first rather than last, because a five-year-old dog of known temperament is an easier animal than an unknown eight-week-old.
Check what is legal where you live. Several of the breeds listed here are banned or licensed in some countries, insurance and rented housing keep their own lists, and none of that is discovered comfortably after the dog arrives.
The socialisation window closes early — roughly sixteen weeks — and what a puppy meets calmly in that time it will probably accept for life. It is the one thing that cannot be done later, and it matters more than any obedience class booked for six months' time.
Budget for the whole dog, not the purchase. Food, insurance, vaccination, parasite treatment, grooming, kennels or a sitter, and the one unbudgeted veterinary event that most dogs have at some point. The cheapest part of a labrador retriever is the labrador.

General guidance, not veterinary advice. Anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.

Dog breeds worth knowing about

A place to start rather than the whole list. Every name is a page.

Labrador retriever
The most popular dog in most of the English-speaking world, and popular for a reason: biddable, food-motivated and genuinely good-tempered. The catch is appetite — labs gain weight faster than almost any other breed, and a fat lab is a lame lab by ten.
German shepherd
Clever enough to be a problem if underemployed, and the classic case of working and show lines diverging sharply. Ask for hip and elbow scores, and read them against the breed median rather than against zero.
French bulldog
Charming, compact, and the breed that best illustrates why a flat face is a health question rather than a look. Choose the most open nostrils and longest muzzle in the litter, and expect a dog that cannot cope with heat.
Border collie
Two hours daily plus real mental work, which is the part people skip. A collie run for two hours and left with nothing to think about becomes fitter, not calmer.
Golden retriever
Softer and hairier than a labrador, with the same sociability and rather more coat. Cancer rates in the breed are high enough to be worth asking a breeder about directly.
Dachshund
A hound on short legs, with the stubbornness that implies. The long back is the thing: keep it lean, discourage stairs and jumping down from furniture, and know that disc disease is common.
Cavalier King Charles spaniel
As affectionate as any breed going, and burdened with two serious inherited problems — mitral valve disease and syringomyelia. Heart-tested parents are not optional here.
Greyhound
The surprise of the list. Enormously fast for about thirty seconds and then asleep on the sofa for the rest of the day, which makes retired racers one of the easiest large dogs to live with.

Guides for dogs

The subjects that come up on breed page after breed page, written out properly.

Coats, and what each type actually needs
Single, double, wire, curly and hairless coats need completely different things. Why you never shave a double coat, and why a mat has to be cut out.
Dental disease, and why bad breath is not normal
Most dogs and cats have periodontal disease by three years old, and it is almost entirely silent. What it does, what actually prevents it, and what to avoid.
What the extra weight actually costs
Around half of dogs and cats are overweight, and lean-fed dogs live nearly two years longer. How to body-condition score, and how to feed for it.
Leaving a pet alone
Some breeds were made to be companions and cope badly by themselves. How long is reasonable, how to build up alone-time, and when it is a panic disorder.
Gene pools, popular sires and closed studbooks
A great many of the breed profiles here mention a narrow gene pool. What that actually means, why one stallion can reshape a breed, and what to ask a breeder.
Heatstroke, and the first ten minutes
Heatstroke kills quickly and is entirely preventable. Which animals are at risk, the signs, and the cooling that current evidence actually supports.