Sporting Breeds: These are breeds of dogs that were originally used for flushing up and or retrieving game. These are for the most part, your bird dogs. Most of these breeds are very active. Many are very bright. Most are very trainable, but not all of them. There is a good bit of variation in breed standards in this group so do your research. For example, in this group is the Golden Retriever (generally considered to be very bright) and the Irish Setter (generally considered to be not so bright).

Hound Breeds: These are breeds of dogs that were originally intended for hunting. They are mostly divided between sight hounds and scent hounds. In general sight hounds are more active than your scent hounds, but there are exceptions to this. In general, most of these breeds enjoy a good bark. They love to hunt and want to let the world know where they are hunting. They tend to be sweet natured dogs (if you aren’t a rabbit) but many can also be quite stubborn.

Working Breeds: These dogs were bred to work. What that work entails varies greatly from breed to breed. In general, these are your personal and herd protection dogs. Some were rescue dogs from antiquity. Because their breed functions varies greatly, so do their breeds temperaments. In general, these are bright athlete dogs that are very active and can be very strong-willed. Pick out one of these dogs for your family with great care.

Terrier Breeds. These dogs were bred to seek and destroy vermin. Sometimes the vermin they were seeking and destroying were MUCH bigger than the terrier. What that means is that in general these are very active and tenacious little dogs that can be quite a handful. Oh, but aren’t they cute???

Toy Breeds: These are little dogs that were bred as companion animals, usually for royalty. They are almost always adorably cute and sweet. Toys can be a bit quirky and a bit slow to learn important lessons like potty training. But they were bred to make your heart melt every time you look at them and they do.

Non-Sporting Breeds: This is a "catch all" category for dogs that didn’t really fit anywhere else. The breeds in this category vary greatly. You will have to research the specific breed here.

Herding Breeds. These dogs were uhm…bred to herd livestock. Yup. In general, these dogs are very bright, very active and NEED a JOB. Throw one of these into your backyard for hours on end alone and you WILL be SORRY. Consider carefully what job you have for one of these guys before you bring it home. They don’t have to herd sheep but they will definitely need someone to keep them busy.

I hope that will help you get started on your journey to the perfect dog for your life.

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