How to Choose the Right Dog for Your Family (with Pictures) (2024)

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Co-authored bySheri Williams

Last Updated: May 23, 2022References

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   Consider whether you can properly care for a dog. You need to take a honest assessment of your routine and your lifestyle to figure out if you can properly care for a dog at all. For example, are you or someone else in your family home often enough to care for a dog? Deciding to adopt a dog, whatever type of dog you pick, requires you to have the time to take care of it properly, including feeding it, giving it exercise, and having enough time to spend with it.^[1]

   • All dogs require love and attention. Some dogs do require more attention than others, but with any dog you cannot be absent most of the time.
   • If you don't have the time to spend with a dog, for instance you travel often for work and live alone, consider adopting a more independent pet, such as a cat.
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   Assess your lifestyle and pick a breed to match. If you decide that you can care for a dog, then your next step is to figure out what type of dog will fit best into your life. There are dog breeds to fit a wide variety of lifestyles, so you just need to figure out your best match. In order to do this, you need to be honest about your lifestyle and research breeds based on your requirements.

   • Do you like outdoor activities or do you like to stay in the city? An active breed, such as a Labrador retriever, will do great on weekly hikes, while a toy breed, like a Chihuahua, will probably have a hard time with vigorous hikes.
   • Do you exercise outside regularly or are you a couch potato? These are questions that you need to answer honestly in order to find a dog that will adjust easily to your lifestyle. For example, if you love to exercise and you end up with an English bulldog, who does not need or want vigorous exercise, then you may end up with incompatibility problems.
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   Think about your family. Unless you are a family of one, you need to take the needs and personalities of the other people in your family into consideration when getting a dog. Debating what type of dog you all want, and coming to an agreement, will make the dog's transition into your home easier for everyone, the dog included.

   • Do you have young kids in the house? If so, be sure to choose a breed that generally gets along well with children.^[2] There are many popular breeds, such as the Labrador retriever and the golden retriever, that do wonderfully with children.^[3]
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   Evaluate your living environment. Your home should also impact your choice of dog. Are you living in a rural or in an urban setting? Are you in a tiny apartment or a large house? The size of your home and the space around it will dictate what kind of dog you should get. In general, a small living space is good for a small dog but a large dog requires a large living space.

   • For example, a Chihuahua or Yorkshire terrier may love your one-bedroom apartment, but larger breeds, such as boxers and Great Danes, need more room to roam.
   • If you are living rurally and have lots of room for a dog to roam, consider breeds that love to run and respond well to training, so that you can let it run but it will come back to you every time. These include herding dogs, such as the Australian shepherd, and guard dogs, like the German shepherd.^[4]
   • If you have a family that likes to travel, think about what dog breeds can go with you and adjust easily to new situations. Depending on the specific dog, good family dog breeds, such as the Labrador retriever, generally enjoy the outdoors, being with its family, and can adjust rather well to new surroundings.
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   Take into account any additional needs. There are a wide variety of reasons you may want to get a dog and you may have specific things you need it to do. These need to be taken into consideration when deciding on a type of dog. For example, do you need a dog who is a guard dog or watch dog? Do you need to train it to do certain tasks? Do you want it to play fetch or retrieve? If these are strong needs when it comes to a dog, be sure to take them into account when picking a breed.

   • Don't just assume that any dog will fulfill your specific needs. Assuming that all dogs can be guard dogs, for example, is simply setting yourself, and your new dog, up for failure.
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   Decide whether you want a puppy or an adult dog. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If you adopt a puppy, you will have to care for it when it is very young, which is a lot of work. However, you will be able to mold it and train it into the dog you desire. If you adopt an adult dog, you will have an already developed friend that is less likely to have the accidents a puppy would. However, it may have health or behavioral issues that a small puppy wouldn't.^[5]

   • Many wonderful puppies and adult dogs have been abandoned or given up to animal shelters or breed rescue groups. Adopting a pet from one of these sources may mean saving a life.

   See Also

   Dog | History, Domestication, Physical Traits, Breeds, & FactsThe Ultimate Guide to the 25 Best Dogs for Families 202432 Dog Breeds That Start With F [Complete List]20 Dog Breeds That Start With 'F' (With Photos) – Pet Advisers
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   Make a list of the characteristics you want. After you have assessed your needs and the limitations of your lifestyle and living conditions, you should make a list of all of these parameters. This list should include a combination of requirements and desires, desires being things you want but don't have to have, such as the color of dog you like but don't need for instance.

   • This list will help you to narrow down a breed that it actually right for you while looking through images of a wide variety of cute and cuddly faces. If you stick to the list, you are less likely to talk yourself into adopting a dog that is super cute but very wrong for you.
   • You can choose a dog that has a personality that is similar to yours or a complete opposite! Either way you are bound to have fun with your dog.

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   Decide whether you want a purebred or a mixed-breed dog. If you plan to show or breed your dog, then choose a purebred. If not, keep in mind that mixed-breed dogs can be just as loyal and lovable, and often have fewer genetic diseases and abnormalities than purebred dogs.^[6]

   • Choosing between a purebred and a mixed-breed dog will help you to direct your research, as the personalities of mixed-breed dogs are harder to determine.
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   Consult with a veterinarian about dog breeds. A veterinarian can provide useful advice on a different breed's behaviors and temperaments, as well as potential medical problems. A vet's opinion is apt to be less biased than that of a breeder, who is trying to sell a particular breed.

   • This conversation is easiest if you have already established a relationship with a veterinarian, for instance if you took a past pet to a specific vet. However, you should feel free to contact a veterinarian cold and ask them whether they would be willing to discuss the choice with you. Then, if they end up giving you good advice, you should consider using them as the veterinarian for your new dog.
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   Study specific breeds. Supplement the information you receive from a veterinarian with further study about different breeds. For an overview of breed characteristics, search the websites of dog organizations and dog experts or check the pet section of your local library. Once you have narrowed down the breeds, then you can look at the websites of specialty dog organizations and contact them for more information.

   • Talking to dog owners can also provide additional information.
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   Meet with dogs of the breed you select. Spend some time with the breed you select before adopting your own. Use Facebook or other social media to see if any of your friends own one, or find owners of the breed in your city and then meet up at a dog park or other location to visit with the dog.

   • Discuss the pros and cons of the breed with an owner so you get a realistic understanding of what life with that breed on a day to day basis is really like.
   • This is a great way to find out what kind of variety exists within a given type of dog, as far as energy, size, personality, appearance, etc.

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   Look for a dog in a shelter or rescue. Once you have decided on a breed or two that you would consider adopting, look at the websites of your local shelter and rescues or visit them to see if there are any dogs that fit the bill. You may just find a mixed-breed dog that is a combination of several breeds that you are considering.^[7]

   • If you see a dog in a shelter or rescue that is of an unidentified breed, but you think it may be a dog that you have researched and liked, then discuss it with the personnel at the rescue or shelter. They may have more information on the dog that will help you to detect its breed.
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   Contact reputable breeders. If you are set on getting a purebred dog, and you haven't been able to find the right one at a rescue, your must find a reputable breeder. Begin the hunt by looking for a list of reputable breeders on the websites of specialty dog groups in your area.^[8][9]

   • You will know if a breeder is reputable if they produce a limited number of litters a year, health test parents, have a health guarantee for the puppies, provide you with medical records for the puppies including vaccinations, ask you to return the puppy if you can't keep it to ensure it doesn't end up in a shelter, and generally seem concerned and picky about who takes home their dogs.^[10]
   • If you know someone with the breed of dog that you want, ask them where they got their dog and if they are happy with the experience. This could be a good lead to finding a great breeder.
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   Visit a potential dog. If you contact a breeder and they have a potential dog for you, don't adopt a dog sight unseen. You need to visit with the dog, preferably several times, in order to assess whether the dog is right for you. When visiting the dog you can assess its characteristics and personality, as well as assessing the conditions it was raised in.^[11]

   • If a breeder won't let you visit its breeding facilities, it is a sign that they are doing something irresponsible or unethical. Most ethical breeders will be happy to show off their breeding facilities to potential adoptees.
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   Assess the puppy's personality and health. It's important to be able to spot a healthy and happy puppy, as well as a dog that is right for you. Assess its demeanor and personality to make sure it appears happy, inquisitive, and friendly, meaning not aggressive or overly shy. You do this by interacting with the dog and gauging whether it is interested in you and in its litter mates.

   • Look over the dog's coat, eyes, nose, ears, and general physical status. Look for signs of sickness, such as a runny nose or persistent cough. In addition, compare its size, weight, and general look to its litter mates to gauge its general health.
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   Research the dog's history. Ask the seller to tell you about particular habits or personality traits the dog exhibits. If they are an ethical breeder, and thus have had close personal contact with the dog, then they should be able to answer these questions easily.^[12]

   • Also ask the seller about the parents of the puppies when visiting a purebred litter. Be sure that each parent belongs to an entirely different family and has been screened for common genetic or inheritable diseases.
   • If all this checks out, you just need to decide whether that particular dog is right for you.

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