Dog Breeds NOT for 1st Time Dog Owners

Many years ago, a friend of mine, who happens to be a professional dog trainer, told me the worst thing that can happen to a breed of dog is for it to become popular. She was right.

You've just highlighted every reason why I will never have a dog. I love all animals, including dogs and I've had all sorts of other pets. But I have enough intelligence of my own to know I would NOT be a good dog owner. I wish more people would do their homework before getting any dog, because it's the dog that pays the price for every bad decision by a human.

I wish people would read what their dog breed is bred for and their behaviors

The general public doesn’t know a darn thing about dogs. They pick one out because it’s pretty sure it’s cute. They know nothing about the breed, nothing about what it requires, and most people are not willing to put in the hard work it takes. No matter what breed they get. It’s going to be a disaster. especially the terriers, working dogs, and guard dogs.

My fist dog was a Siberian Husky after her previous owners decided she was too much work for them. She was everything you say; active. smart and a hunter. She was a huge time commitment. Brisk walks/jogs 3 times a day, everyday were a must. Bathing her was a workout and cleaning up her hair was a constant. She was also calm and patient with children, strangers, other dogs and brought joy to my life for 15 years.

I just rescued a chihuahua who was found in a rural area fending for himself. Nobody claimed him for weeks so the local shelter put him up for adoption. I was only going to visit, not adopt. I specifically require a calm, zen like environment as an introverted minimalist. The calmest, sweetest little 5yr old chi and I connected as if I raised him from birth. He’s more than I could ask for. I’m so blessed. Love my little nugget.

I had owned cats for many years, and decided I wanted a dog. I love big dogs, so it had to be large. I wanted a dog with guarding instincts for my safety, as I'm a bit older and don't have the physical strength I used to. Finally, I wanted something unusual, a breed not often seen, and preferably striking in appearance. I settled on a Black Russian Terrier. My puppy was adorable; I took great pains to make sure he was well socialized, did puppy school, fenced in a huge portion of my yard, so we could train and play, and worked with him daily. It was a disaster. BRTs are extremely independent and make their own choices, and I had no clue how to make him want to please me. In addition they are tremendously strong, and walking him was just like you described, me on one end of the leash trying desperately not to get dragged all over the place. After almost two years of hiring trainers and trying, he knocked me down for the fourth time. I was determined not to fail this sweet dog and worked with my friend who is a groomer (she even took a course to learn the specialized haircut for BRTs!) and found him a home with a woman who had just lost her own BRT recently and was very experienced with them. She adopted him and now he has a list of titles as long as my arm, including his canine good citizen and trick dog! She sends me pictures and I get to visit him occasionally, but the important thing is that he's happy with an owner who can fulfill his needs. While I did do my homework I did not have realistic expectations and fell in love with the idea of this gorgeous dog being my pet, without being honest with myself about what that would really mean. I hope your videos help keep other people from making the same mistake I did.

There’s a YouTube channel where a woman just loves filming her Cane Corso being teased and becoming frustrated. She thinks it’s funny. I wrote her and strongly recommended she stop and take the dog to a qualified trainer. She’s setting this beautiful animal up for disaster. Some dogs should require a license to own. That includes pit bulls. Too many death and injuries due to selfish, immature people failing them.

You forgot Shiba Inu’s and Basenjis. Both are not easy to train for a first time owner.

Most dogs in US shelters that I have seen are overwhelmingly Pitties, Pitt-mixes, all types of mixed dogs not known, and huskies.

I am a first time dog owner and i got a husky. I did a whole lot of research about the breed and even watch hours and hours of husky-specific training videos. I still got really overwhelmed with my husky, and i considered giving him up but i loved him so much. I thought i was getting a dog, instead i got an intelligent 5 yo in the body of a dog. I held on and 3 (!) years later he’s finally calm and manageable. But it took a lot of consistency and a lot of patience and a few too many meltdowns on my part. I love huskies and would have more, but they are not for the faint of heart.

I have 2 standard poodles, awesome dogs. I believe that poodle and border collies are ties in 1st place for smarts. What I hate, is people breeding poodles with every dog under the sun.

First time dog owner here with a little toddler, loving my little bischon frise mix rescue. Not too energetic, not too smart, small but not fragile, no shedding or drooling or yapping, and really snuggly and sweet and eager to please. Real sweetie, PERFECT first dog.

I have seen farmers use Jack Russells to track large game animals in Africa. Those little dogs are fearless

II had a massive boxer. He was the greatest dog I ever had! He absolutely adored my granddaughter. We went to a dog training class run by a K9 officer. He was trained in German. He and my son wrestled all the time. He loved the whole family but I was HIS person. I moss that boy every day! I now.have a senior American Bulldog. She is a fantastic dog too! As I am getting older and can't be as active as I used to ne, when my old girl goes, I will go rescue an older dog that doesn't need as much exercise but needs someone to love him or her. One has to be aware of what you can physically do with a dog and what the dogs needs are.

Those are great categories. Seasoned dog person here. A lot of people don't realize with giant dogs, the medical conditions they will likely have, the shorter life expectancy, and the food they eat comes out in huge dino piles. Not saying people shouldn't get them, but for a lot of these dogs, you need the right lifestyle for THEM. They will not be accommodating yours for quite some time until there is routine. I adopted a dog from a County shelter. I knew he was pug and something else. I couldn't figure it out until one day, "boing! Boing! Boing! boing!", off the back door. I just sighed and said, "you're a damn Jack Russell!!!" Jack Russell's are the Tiggers of the dog world.

Add to this the Welsh Corgi, both types. I have had 5 from 1988-2021. They have requirements that many novice dog owners may not be able to give them, they are not for beginners. Its not if a Corgi right for you, its are you right for a Corgi. They need an assertive confident owner and training for both dog and owner, they need a fenced in yard, they dont need a home with many stairs they can have back problems that can cost big $$$, they dont need a home with or the potential of small children or children that are rough, they WILL defend themselves, they need very good quality food in 2 small meals daily, they have very strong herding instincts and will herd children, animals and adults, they need daily brushing they shed massively year round, they will live 12-15 years. Anyone not up for this physically, financially or mentally, dont get a Corgi. Their popularity now has some winding up in shelters because owners did not do the homework.

Growing up we had lots of pets, now just cats but first dog when we was little was a miniature poodle. My mother spoiled that dog which resulted in us on the receiving in of sometimes vicious behavior. Years later one of my brothers came home with a Doberman, which I ended up raising. My rules were nobody teases this dog, no tug of war period. I’m 5 feet tall and on all fours she was half my height. The she had no formal training but when I went outside and she was excited and she put her paws up on me I’d gently hold them a moment until she wanted down, she stopped doing it. And when I needed to groom her I put a leash around her neck and she learned to stand still and behave when that leash was on, no pain or violence needed. She, Star, was the sweetest dog and I never thought about her as a guard dog except from looks. One day she surprised me. And cousin needed to leave his dog over for the day and they seem okay together. But I went outside once to check on them and my cousin’s dog start barking at me and Star came charging across that yard and backed my cousin’s dog all way to the other side of the yard without touching and that dog didn’t make another peep again while it was there. She impressed me.

As someone who has worked in progressional grooming salons in Europe and UK; I would personaly say that curly coated breeds (Poodles, Doodles etc) are really not first time dogs. People get them because they are cute/have a good temperment etc but it was extremely rare to get a Doodle or Poodle that was not matted. Often owners never brushed the dogs or if they did they didn't brush parts or only brushed the top of the coat and so it would matt solid underneith. Curly coated breeds do not shed outwards, so their coat basically sheds inwards and basically collects the hair and causes more matting. They need daily burshing all over, with the correct brushes, even if they are "short". Most people don't know how much grooming they need and neglect to groom them, pushing it onto the groomer. In addition to that; most people do not teach their dogs to be okay with being touched in certain places (such as to get their face cut, nails trimmed or tail touched), which makes grooming them SO much harder and way more stressful on the dog.

I am shocked at the stats for returning dogs to shelters in the USA, I had no idea it was that bad. I utterly agree on border collies, they are definitely not a first time dog, or in my personal opinion (which could be wrong), not good as a family dog. They are intense and require so much attention and also they bond with one person in the family. Border collies rarely appear in shelters here, this is farming country here in the south of France, and the border collies bred here are working sheep herders. I found my 3 year old male border collie in my local shelter 10 months ago and it was fate or something with the timing. He was literally starved by his last owner and finally surrendered to the local shelter (the French version of the SPCA) with all his papers and breeder info. I went through a rigorous process to get him. In addition to filling out the usual forms of personal info, I had to bring in the other border collie that the new dog would be living with to meet the new dog at the shelter, provide proof of the size of property I was taking the dog to (1 hectare of land), and even sign a government mandated form testifying that I knew how to look after a dog and that I would ensure feeding, vet care, grooming, exercise etc. In addition I was charged almost 300 euros for the dog, to cover the shelter's costs. After that I was supposed to wait 7 days before I could pick him up, but they offered to let me have him after two days as he was really not doing well at the shelter. The shelter said that he was a problem dog, aggressive to other dogs over food, hyper obsessive and inattentive. But as this would be the 6th border collie I would have I recognized and recognised a distressed border collie and their unique way of acting out their distress. They were wrong about him, he is the sweetest, gentlest angel that I wouldn't part with for love nor money. Not remotely agressive to other dogs or over food at all. You can do anything with him or to him, he is so gentle. You really cannot get a good handle on a dog's personality for months after bringing them home, as they take time to settle in and reveal their true personality so I cannot blame the shelter for not knowing him better. Anyway, I am not sure what the process for adoption from a shelter is over there, but the system here certainly weeds out inexperienced potential first time owners from making breed mistakes.