Choosing the Right Dog Breed for Your Home

Most dogs that end up given away are not badly behaved. They are dogs whose needs never fitted the household they went to, and in almost every case that mismatch was visible before anyone brought them home.

None of which is said to make anybody feel guilty. It is said because the whole thing is avoidable, and avoiding it comes down mostly to being honest with yourself about four things.

1. Exercise, measured honestly

Not what you intend to do. What you did last month.

High-drive working breeds, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Border Collies and similar, need substantial daily physical and mental work. Under-exercised, they do not become calm; they become destructive, noisy and frequently reactive.

A large share of "behaviour problems" in these breeds are a working animal with nothing to do.

2. Heat tolerance, which matters more here than most guides admit

This is where breed choice has real welfare consequences in a hot climate.

• Flat-faced breeds, pugs, bulldogs, boxers and similar, cool themselves badly because panting is inefficient with a compressed airway. They are at genuine risk of heatstroke and many need constant management
• Heavy double coats, huskies, malamutes, Saint Bernards, are built for cold. Keeping them comfortable requires air conditioning and restricted daytime activity, permanently and expensively
• Dark coats absorb more heat

A dog that must be indoors with cooling for most of the day is a legitimate choice if you can genuinely provide it, and a poor one otherwise. Deciding that before buying is kinder than deciding it afterwards.

3. Grooming, as an ongoing cost in time and money

• Short coats: weekly brushing, occasional bath
• Double coats: several times weekly, heavy seasonal shedding, and they should not be shaved
• Long coats: daily, or they mat
• Curly and woolly coats: daily brushing plus professional clipping every few weeks, indefinitely

Grooming neglect is not cosmetic. Matting is painful, traps moisture and parasites, and sometimes has to be shaved out under sedation.

4. Space, and who else lives there

Size matters less than energy: a greyhound is calmer indoors than a terrier a fifth its weight. What matters is whether the dog can be exercised properly wherever you live, and whether it will be alone for long stretches.

With children, temperament and predictability matter more than size, and no breed removes the need for supervision. With existing pets, consider whether high prey drive makes cohabitation with a cat realistic.

Health problems worth knowing before you commit

Some are strongly breed-linked, and knowing them turns a surprise into a plan.

• Flat-faced breeds: airway disease, heat intolerance, eye injuries, skin fold infection, frequently caesareans
• Large and giant breeds: hip and elbow disease, cruciate injury, bloat, shorter lifespan
• Deep-chested breeds: bloat specifically, which kills within hours
• Small breeds: dental disease, collapsing trachea, luxating patella
• Long-backed breeds: spinal disc disease

None of these are reasons not to have the dog. They are reasons to know what you may be paying for and what to watch.

Where the dog comes from

This affects health as much as breed does.

• See the mother, and see where the litter is kept
• Ask for dated vaccination and deworming records, not assurances
• Do not take a puppy under eight weeks. Earlier separation costs both immunity and social learning
• Be wary of several breeds available at once, of meeting in a car park, and of any seller reluctant to let you see where the puppies live
• Consider adopting. Adult dogs come with visible temperament, which is more information than any puppy offers

The mixed breed argument

Mixed-breed dogs are often healthier, avoiding the concentrated inherited problems of narrow gene pools, and locally adapted dogs are frequently better suited to the climate than imported breeds. They are also cheaper, and there are many needing homes.

What you trade is predictability: a puppy of unknown parentage is harder to size and temperament-forecast. An adult mixed-breed dog removes that objection entirely.

The honest questions

1. How much exercise did I actually do in the last month, not intend to?
2. Can I keep this dog cool through the hottest part of the year?
3. Will I brush this coat daily, for a decade?
4. Who looks after it when I travel?
5. Can I absorb an unexpected vet bill for this breed's known problems?
6. Am I choosing this dog for how it looks or for how it lives?

The breeds with the highest ongoing veterinary needs, the flat faces, the giants, the long backs, are also among the most popular, which means a great many owners meet a predictable, expensive problem as though it were bad luck.

A Skeepy Pet HMO plan covers consultations, treatment and surgery within your plan's sub-limit at any vet clinic in Nigeria, which is worth having in place before the breed-specific problem you were warned about arrives.