Before you pick an exact breed, sometimes it’s helpful to pick a group of dogs that vibes with your lifestyle and within that group, find the perfect breed. There are seven groups (within the classification of Dogs Australia), and they vary from country to country, but in Australia we use the following terms: toys, terriers, gundogs, hounds, working dogs, utility and non-sporting. Some of these terms make a lot of sense, working dogs is self explanatory, but others like utility and non-sporting can be head scratchers if you aren’t familiar with the dog world. Lets break down the groups, what they’re best known for and how they might fit into different lifestyles.
1. Toys. No, not literal toys but rather a group that are all a certain size – small. The breeds in this group were typically bred to be companions, although several in the group were perfect for hunting vermin. The personality types in this group can vary immensely from the sparky spitz attitude of a Pomeranian to the cheeky and amiable Pug.
Toy breeds make great little companions, but keep their small size in mind if you have a young family. Many toy breeds are easily picked up by children, but if dropped are at risk of serious injury. They are also prone to being harassed by small children because of their portability – and this can lead to snaps and bites.
2. Terriers. The name has Latin origins, meaning “go to earth” and that is where terriers would traditionally go, chasing and killing vermin such as rats and mice. As time went on, larger terriers were developed with differing purposes, but all with the terrier tenacity and fearlessness. Terriers have a lot of pep and a "go get 'em" attitude, and have a variety of sizes too! They can make great active family dogs (although same goes as above with toys for the smaller terriers) but some can be prone to dog aggression.
3. Gundogs. These dogs were bred to work under the loud booming explosions of a gun, with purposes varying from flushing to pointing and retrieving birds that their owners desired. They required not only a strong desire to find quarry, but also had to possess a “soft mouth” so that they could carry a downed bird back to the hunter without damaging it.
I’m a little (read – a lot) biased on how great I think many gun dogs are as pets – I mean Labradors and Golden Retrievers are both gun dogs! This doesn’t mean you could just pick any and slot them into your life though – a Clumber Spaniel is a very different dog to an Irish Setter.
4. Hounds. Divided into two types – sight and scent. Sighthounds were developed to hunt using their speed and keen eyesight. They are often tall and lean, with a very narrow skull that suits their streamlined physique – the Greyhound is one of the most well known sighthounds. Scent hounds were developed with endurance and scenting abilities in mind. Often with long, pendulous ears, large nostrils and loose lips, they have a face designed to trap scents and help them track down prey by smell alone. The bloodhound is a very well known scenthound.
The Hound group contains breeds that, I believe, need owners who understand their origins to manage them well and have a safe life. It is well known amongst sight hound owners that you don’t let them off lead in an unfenced area – because if they see a small prey animal, they will usually take off in chase. Similarly with a scent hound like a Beagle, their ears suddenly become painted on if they catch an interesting scent and once they’ve gone bush you might not see them for a while! They can make beautiful family dogs, but understanding their needs will be essential.
5. Working dogs. The most self-explanatory group name, these dogs were bred to work alongside humans in various capacities, but usually for herding or guarding livestock. These dog breeds have a strong desire to work, and are amongst the smartest breeds in the world, thriving on mental stimulation.
Living in an regional area in Australia, breeds such as Border Collies, Kelpies and Australian Shepherds are very popular breeds here, out of the city but not quite in the bush!
But as much as I love them, and they are beautiful dogs, twice daily walks is not enough for many of these breeds and they will resort to boredom barking, destruction or develop fixations if they lack mental stimulation. They will keep up with an active household no problem at all, but physical exercise only makes the body fitter – it doesn’t work the brain.
6. Utility dogs. Similar to working dogs, the utility group houses dogs that are often larger and were used for protection work, hunting, carting or rescue. Many of the dogs in this group are no longer needed in the capacity that they were bred for such as Rottweilers no longer being used to protect carts, but others like Newfoundlands are still used today (albeit not as often) in water rescues.
Utility breeds are eye catching, they always draw attention….sometimes for the wrong reasons. Many people want to own these big breeds for the impression of “toughness” for lack of a better word (honestly, the amount of people who just want to brag about how big their dog is. I don’t care about your 70kg Rottweiler. It sounds morbidly obese and like you shouldn’t be a dog owner). The problem here is, that these dogs ARE tough and will develop a natural territoriality either over their home, or their family and if they aren’t trained and managed correctly, this can get out of hand. Choosing your breed wisely can help prevent problems like this from developing, as well as keeping dogs like this out of rescue when they become “too much”.
7. Non-Sporting. The oddest group of all, many of the breeds in this group could easily slot into another, while others are stand outs and definitely need their own group. The name non-sporting originates from the time when there were only two dog groups – sporting and non-sporting. While other breeds were reassigned when new groups were created, some remained in the non-sporting group to this day. I would argue that many of the breeds in this group deserve to be elsewhere (Standard Poodles were retrievers, Dalmatians and Great Danes had utility-type jobs).
Due to the diversity of the group, it’s hard to narrow down how they are as pets. French Bulldogs are not like the Xoloitzcuintle, so a little more breed specific research is needed from the start if any breeds in this group catch your eye.
Overall, these groups (I’ve followed the Dogs Australia names, but the American Kennel Club and The Kennel Club groups are very similar) are just a rough guideline. After all, we have terriers in the toy group, toys in the non-sporting group, livestock guardians in both working dogs and utility.
But from these rough guidelines we can figure out that no, a dog that was bred to spend eight to ten hours a day herding sheep in the dry heat of outback Australia might not be the best choice for my 400m2 suburban block where the most stimulation it will get is a walk twice a day. Or that a terrier purposefully bred to chase and kill vermin may not be a great pet when you also own pocket pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs.
Knowledge is power, and the more you know before committing to a particular dog, the more heartbreak you may avoid. Nothing is guaranteed – I have a Dalmatian who will stalk and catch (slow) birds in our backyard. But the time I had a pet cockatiel escape his cage, she caught him gently and delivered him to my back door – unhurt (just really, really confused).
Obviously, nothing of what I’ve written includes popular mixes. When we look at characteristics of a breed, often we are looking at more than just a few generations. Some of the breeds above have been honed and selectively bred for traits for thousands of years. And yes, they were obviously more inclusive of introducing new genes into the pool before the conformation ring, but remember that this was generally always for a purpose. So when we’re looking at dogs today who are only a few generations removed from their purebred ancestors, taking into account the variety of genes is quite important – not just the “non-shedding” ones.
-S
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