Top 10 Sporting Dog Breeds
Posted on May 2, 2007
Filed Under Apartment Living | 9 Comments
The Sporting Group includes pointers, setters, retrievers and many spaniels. This group of fairly active dogs is composed of a wide variety of breeds, which were developed to aid hunters by finding, flushing out and retrieving game. Members of this group all need a fair amount of exercise but you don’t have to be a hunter to own one of these dogs. Many breeds in this group are usually very good with children and include the: English Setter; Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Welsh Springer Spaniel, English Cocker Spaniel, and Flat Coated Retriever. Dogs in this group range in size from small dog breeds like the American Cocker Spaniel up to medium to large dog breeds with the setters (English, Irish and Gordon) and the Weimaraner being the largest The two most popular family dogs in the world are the Labrador Retriever and the Golden Retriever. The top ten most popular sporting dogs in the US are the following.
1.Labrador Retriever
Labrador Retrievers are the most popular dog in the US (#1) and one of the best family dogs in the world. The Lab is gentle, loyal, intelligent and extremely reliable with children. These large-sized Retrievers are not apartment dogs but can adapt well to city living if they are given sufficient exercise. The Labrador is good natured and eager to learn and can be easily trained to do everything from competitive obedience and field trials to becoming a “seeing-eye” dog for the blind.
2.Golden Retriever
This Retriever is a good hunting dog, seeing-eye dog, obedience and agility competitor, and outstanding family dog. The extremely popular (#2) Golden is a gentle, confident and loyal dog that is cheerful, trustworthy and responsive to training. This breed makes a wonderful family dog that is friendly with everyone – both human and other animals. This large-sized Retriever does very well with children but toddlers should always be supervised as young untrained dogs can be over exuberant.
3.Cocker Spaniel
The American Cocker Spaniel is smaller than its English cousin – the English Cocker Spaniel. This beautiful spaniel has a luxurious thick and silky coat with trousered legs. This small- to medium- sized gun dog can be used for hunting and retrieving but is extremely popular (#15) as a companion and show dog. Cockers get along extremely well with children and strangers and can adapt to apartment living if exercised twice daily.
4.German Shorthaired Pointer
The German Shorthaired is a very athletic gun-dog that doesn’t belong in the city. This large-sized dog is loyal, intelligent and eager to learn and can be trained for field, agility and obedience competitions. This breed is extremely popular (#20) but needs to be challenged both mentally and physically. The breed makes a good family dog but may be too exuberant for toddlers and small children
5.English Springer Spaniel
The cheerful medium-sized English Springer Spaniel is the progenitor of the English hunting spaniels and the largest of the spaniel dog breeds. These popular (#28) Spaniels make both excellent hunting retrievers and good family dogs that get along well with children. Some Springer bloodlines have shown some aggression and dominance so early socialization and obedience training for males should be a priority.
6.Weimaraner
The popular (#30) Weimaraner is a large-sized hunting dog breed. This high-energy dog needs an athletic family that can satisfy his demanding exercise requirements. The Weimaraner needs an experienced owner who can manage and control this headstrong breed and provide early socialization and on-going obedience training. This dog doesn’t do well with children unless it is raised with them. Weims need to live indoors and spend a lot of time with their families. Well trained Weimaraners are a delight but poorly trained dogs can be destructive, rambunctious, have a high prey drive and try to dominate other dogs.
7.Brittany
The Brittany Spaniel is an active medium-sized dog that is intelligent, loyal and easy to train. It makes a terrific hunting dog or family pet and requires very little grooming and does very well with all children. This popular breed (#30) needs lots of exercise and makes a fairly good watchdog.
8.Vizsla
The Short-haired Vizsla is a popular (#44) medium- to large-sized hunting dog breed with an elegant bearing and strong and muscular appearance. The Vizsla is lively, sweet, affectionate and somewhat sensitive. This athletic, sporty and agile breed needs lots of exercise and lots of human companionship. Vizlas must be socialized and trained early to build confidence and prevent neurotic behaviour. This is not a city dog and it needs to live with a very active family.
9.Chesapeake Bay Retriever
The Chessie is the strongest and most powerful of the sporting dogs. This large dog loves hunting but also is a great family dog and gets along well with all children. This intelligent breed is quite popular (#49) and somewhat distrustful of strangers and makes a good watchdog. Chesapeakes are not city dogs and need a lot of regular exercise and love to go swimming.
10.Irish Setter
The popular (#67) Irish is an exuberant, happy-go-lucky, goofy, kind, charming and intelligent dog. This breed has no aggression and welcomes everybody. These Setters can be somewhat independent and easily distracted but are intelligent and eager to learn and therefore can be trained fairly easily. The Irish is a superb hunting dog and must have lots of exercise with challenging field and retrieval exercises. If these dogs are given early obedience training, they adapt very well to older children. However this breed is so lively and impulsive when it is young that it could knock toddlers over.
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Help answer the question about dogs for apartment living
What is the best dog for apartment living in san diego?I had a jack russell, but my mom made me leave him back home. He probably would not like an apartment anyways. But, I need a dog! Any ideas?
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Mike Mathews is a contributing writer and editor for the popular dog breed site: www.dog-breed-facts.com . He provides informative, real-world advice and tips on dog breeds, dog health , dog grooming and more.
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9 Responses to “Top 10 Sporting Dog Breeds”
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I'm going through the same thing. I want to find me a small dog that will be good for a small 1 bedroom apartment. I have one particular dog in mind though, which is a maltese. They're hypoallergenic, non-shedding, and cuddly!! But i dont know about for a guy. You might want a terrier or something like that. Look up toy breeds on yahoo search or google and look up the different types. I'm sure you'll find something you'll be interested in.
By the way, if you plan on searching for a puppy/dog through the internet, beware of scammers. Most come from Africa, Cameroon and other places outside of the country as well as in the U.S. They'll ask for the money first and then something will go wrong and you'll end up paying again then waiting and waiting for a dog that doesnt' exist. Also, best way to buy through the internet is buying in your state and asking them to send you a picture with a certain sayin on a sign in front of them or something like that. Also, ask for a phone number so you can speak with them personally.
I just moved from a home to a condo with a patio 26'X6'. I have an 80lb 6 month old pup…so I do 2, one mile walks aday..my husband takes him on a 2 mile walk every other day and the days in between and the weekends we are at the dog park… hes great and we are all healthier : )
I would say Yorkies, Chihuahuas, Pekingese, or Toy Poodle.
Definately not a Doberman Pinscher! Your best bet would be a Bullmastiff. They are very large dogs, yet relatively quite indoors. They do need daily exercise, however.
Get a healthy dog with a temperament that best suits your active lifestyle. Since you have an apartment, you should avoid the hounds, terriers, herding and toy dogs that tend to bark a lot. English Springer Spaniels, Vizslas, Golden Retrievers, German Shorthaired Pointers and English Setters are great if you've got the time and energy to exercise them regularly. The bigger the dog, the longer they can go between walks and the easier they are to housebreak. And they can carry their own backpack on your hikes!
Irish Wolfhounds, Greyhounds and Whippets are terrific apartment dogs, as long as you can take them out for a long daily run. They ARE couch potatoes (like our Borzoi – Russian wolfhound) and you won't even know they're around most of the time. They are quiet and easily housebroken and much better than most small dogs. Be careful if you're adopting a racing greyhound off the track. They are often fine, but many have behavior problems (like destructive chewing) from being locked in a cage with little socialization. Also, remember that sighthounds are hunting dogs and some will kill small animals (cats, rabbits, toy dogs) if they haven't grown up with them.
BEFORE you get any dog you should read some great books on training. (Try not to pick books randomly – there are a lot of bad books out there also!) These are some of my favorites and you can get them on Amazon.com
What All Good Dogs Should Know – Volhard http://www.volhard.com/
Good Owners, Great Dogs – Brian Kilcommins
Dog Tricks : Eighty-Eight Challenging Activities for Your Dog from World-Class Trainers by Haggerty and Benjamin
Don't Shoot the Dog – Pryor
Training Your Dog: The Step by Step Method – Volhard
Dog Problems – Benjamin
Cesar's Way – Cesar Millan
Also, watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Cesar Millan is the best trainer I've ever seen on TV.
http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/
Find a good breeder by going to http://www.akc.org or talking to people at dog shows. You can also find info about the breed clubs on the akc site – they probably have a rescue group where you can get an older dog for less money. The best breeders will be members of their breed club, promoting healthy dogs with great temperaments. They should ask you a bunch of questions to make sure their puppy will be getting a good home. If all a "breeder" seems to care about is whether your check will clear, you can be sure he won't care a week later when the pup is dying from distemper or parvo and you want your money back.
Whatever you do, DON'T go to a pet shop, a flea market or buy one sight-unseen off the Internet!!!! You'll pay top dollar for what is usually a poor quality puppy mill dog. And you'll be supporting one of the cruelest industries in the country. The breeding animals are often kept in deplorable conditions – spending their entire lives in small wire-bottomed cages. They probably haven't been vaccinated against contagious diseases or tested for any health or temperament problems or genetic diseases – that costs money and cuts into their profits. A female is often bred every time she comes into heat. When her poor little body can't take it any more, she is often clubbed in the head and tossed into a dumpster or an open ditch. Most puppy mills ship their pups to pet stores at wholesale prices and many pups die before they even get there.
These so-called "breeders" have now figured out that they can use the internet to ship a dog directly to the customer and thus make more money by cutting out the middleman. If you buy a dog from out of state, good luck getting your money back if there's something wrong with the pup. These people count on you becoming instantly attached to the poor little guy and being willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars at the vet to treat whatever is wrong with him.
I think it depends on whether you are home all day with the dog, or need to leave it alone when you go to work.
If you are at home to take the dog out 3 times a day to poop and pee, any dog that is quiet and low energy is fine (size doesnt matter). In this respect, the greyhound can be a very good choice!
If you are not at home during the day, and the dog will need to poop/pee inside then the smaller the better, as you cannot have a mid or large size dog crapping in the house. A long haired chihuahua is good, as they are not as yappy or highly strung as the short hair chi (or similar breeds like poms).
But first check with the body corporate rules for your apartment block. Some apartment buildings ban all pets, others ban animals of a certain size. All will require a pet that becomes a nuisance (in terms of smell, noise, destructive behaviour, etc) to be removed.
What about every day? How much exercise he gets everyday will determine what kind of dog you have. I live in an apartment and have aussies, so where you live is not the issue.
Any dog can be a good apartment dog with proper exercise and training.
What a load of crap saying "large dogs need fresh air and can't be in apartments." They are more calm than smaller dogs and dogs don't need lots of room to run, they need exercise and companionship. Been there, done that. I currently live in a basement apartment with a yard and my aussie would prefer going on a run with me than playing in the yard.
Since you don't want the small yippy ones, you can try the following breeds:
Mastiff = A few 20 minute walks a day are adequate exercise for the Mastiff and lots of mental stimulation and socialization are a must for this breed. Grooming requirements consist of brushing to prevent excess shedding.
Greyhounds = they are more accurately described as couch potatoes! Most Greyhounds like nothing better than to lay on a comfy bed for much of the day. They do need regular daily walks, but they do not need excessive amounts of exercise. All exercise must be done on leash as they will chase anything fast moving and you will NOT be able to call them back. Their grooming needs are minimal.
Italian Greyhounds = They are quiet and require a few short daily walks to keep them happy and healthy. They need to be handled carefully to prevent injury to their fragile limbs.
Great Danes = Great Danes are smart, friendly, loyal and make excellent companions. While they are very good watchdogs, they are not huge barkers and thus will not get you evicted! The Great Dane is usually fairly inactive in the house but will need a decent amount of exercise per day. If you have an active lifestyle, this may be the dog for you! Danes have very short fur and can be brushed easily to remove dead hair.
Poodles = the Standard Poodle needs to be taken on a daily walk. Although they adore water and love to go for walks, Poodles are not demanding as far as exercise goes, so long as they get their walk in. They however, will keep in better spirits and be fitter if given regular opportunities to run and play off the leash in a safe area. The Standard retains its sporting instincts, has great stamina, and needs more activity than the smaller varieties.