This is all going to be completely based on experiences of someone who does nothing more than work with bad behaved dogs.
Not once (unfortunately) has someone called me to book in and pay for me to come and visit them and their well trained and behaved dog. Surprisingly it's the opposite every time.
I do absolutely understand that for every breed of dog I criticize, there have been many people who have had no issues with these breeds and have and will own good ones. This is just about getting more info out there so people go into owning a dog with extra knowledge for their 10+ year COMMITMENT!
The way I train dogs does not change from breed to breed or change depending on their age. It's all about teaching the dog to be calm and focused from the get go. I don't even like talking about dogs and comparing breed with breed as they all do the same things we don't like. You can insert any dog breeds name and age to the following and it rings true -
"My (Dog Breed) who is (Any Age) is reactive on a lead, gets excited when we have visitors and jumps on them, barks at the neighbors through the fence and has separation anxiety. "
This dog could be a 9 month old Jack Russel. 5 Year old Border Collie. 18 month old Great Dane. 2 year old Oddledoolenoodle. 11 year old German Sheppard. And is almost guaranteed to be basically every French Bulldog that has been bred by evil people to the point of no return in the pursuit of fast cash regardless of ethics. These poor things need to go extinct as they are almost all mentally and physically stuffed due to inbreeding and shit genetics at the hands of greedy evil scumbags. No dogs should require surgeries to live a below average physical life. Please stop buying them. THEY ARE NOT A FASSION STATEMENT!!!
*cough cough* Anyway...
Humans are good at either expecting or accepting a dogs behaviour due to their breed. When I have an initial phone call from clients it usual starts out with a list of issues that is followed by the quote "but we expected that because he or she is a *insert breed*"
Example - "we have an 18 month of Dachshund whose barking is now out of control, we new he was going to be a barker because he's a dashy, but its now way to much" - These people allowed this behaviour as they just expected it from what they expected from the breed... Therefore they accepted the barking early on which then formed into an instilled behaviour they did not grow out of, but grew into!
Example - "we have a 2 year old border collie who is ball obsessed and now won't listen unless we have a ball, he also doesn't settle no matter how much we exercise him, we knew getting a border collie we were going to have to exercise him heaps but it's now he out of control and reactive no matter how much we exercise him"
Example - "My staffy is now 8 months old and we have virtually no control of her. She is a typical staffy who gets over excited by everything and won't stop jumping and is now so strong and pulls on a lead so it's too hard to walk her. She's destroying everything inside and outside like a typical staffy"
And so on and so on with all the breeds and their "Typical" behaviours.
Now, there absolutely are differences in breeds with their behaviours and instincts which do need to be addressed individually when training, but you can kind of group those together as working breeds.
Working Breeds
German Shepherd
Border Collie
Kelpie
Australian Cattle Dog - Almost every one of them I've trained the last 2 years is named Bluey, Bingo, Bandit or Chilli. Good old cartoons and kids influences.
Doberman
Hunting/Retrieval breeds like GSP, Beagle
There are lots more but you get the drift.
Belgian Malinois - DO NOT GET ONE! Unless you need it for your career in security, police force or military... or your desperate need for taking selfie videos of them headbutting your crotch while they stare you in the eye for your social media addiction.. (This makes me very uncomfortable to watch and weirds me out, i block them immediately.) . These Malinois dogs are lunatics and require a lunatic of a human to control them. Leave them to the lunatics please. No offense to these Lunatics.
What you end up battling with working breeds are generally the dogs instinctual drive and focus, and if you do not contain and control these from early on you will end up probably losing the battle. They are often stubborn and require very strict and consistent training. Show them a tiny bit of weakness and miscommunication and they will take advantage of you and show you little to no respect once they get to around 18 months of age.
I don't recommend these dogs to anyone unless you have loads of time and dedication to train them. Here's some comparisons as to whether you will able train them properly...
Have you ever signed up to a gym membership and used it 4 times for the first week, 2 times the second week, 1 time the following month, then paid each week for the next 12 months and not go again? Don't get a working breed, you cannot commit to yourself let alone a working dog..
Do you and your partner both work full time, have 2 kids with lots of extra curricular activities and a busy social life? Don't get a working breed. You don't have time.
Do your kids want one? Don't get a working breed.
You want to do Instagram videos of you training a working breed in the hopes of fame, fortune and discount codes with your dogs name in it? Don't get a working breed unless you are willing to change when you realise this is exhausting and probably not gonna work out, OR still willing to continue this style of full on high engagement training for 8 more years while your dog teeters on the edge of over stimulated insanity every moment of it's life (please train your dog an off switch). OR willing to change this style and re train your dog to calm down so you can enjoy a better life with an actual pet. I'm sick of dealing with these high energy dogs that have been trained to be high energy for every engagement, which tends to wear thin on the owner by the time the dog is 2 years old. These poor dogs have been taught to use their high drive for every individual command flat out, which the human rarely continues with, but the dog knows no better and goes insane. These training sessions with these dogs are the ones I dread the most. If you train your dog to engage at 100%, 100% of the time it engages with you, expect a dog to live its life at 100%, 100% of the time.
Do you have the time and/or pride to maintain your own lawns and garden? If not, don't get a working breed.
Think hard and smart about getting a working breed please. They require a LOT of training and dedication, and when it goes wrong, It goes wrong very bad!
All the other breeds
They're all pretty similar in behaviours we like and don't like. These can be grouped into 2 categories - BIG and small.
BIG DOGS
Labs
Golden Retrievers
Staffy's (both American and English as they both grow into super power strong meatheads) There is also obviously a secret society form you must sign that forces every single Amstaff owner to tell anyone and everyone how much their dog weighs and how strong it is.
Big Oodles
Great Dane
Mastiff
Dalmatians
Boxers
Greyhound
Mongrel bred Bull Arabs
Bistzers which tend to end up medium to big
The main reason to not get a big dog is you cannot and should not own a dog that you cannot physically handle!
Too often I'll meet Ol' Betsy and her German Shepherd and there is absolutely no way in the world she can hold that dog back if it decides to run off on the lead. She has no physical control. Yes, I know she owned many German Shepherds in the 80s and 90s and was a member of the Geelong Dog Obedience Club for many years, but she is not longer in her youthful physical state... and the dog figures that out pretty quickly. The dog is almost always rehomed in a terribly state by the age of 18 months.
If you are a petite little lady, man or modern day ladyman, an Amstaff, Great Dane or Bull Arab might not be for you. Sure, you might want to feel secure and safe, or like the idea of a huge cuddly cute wuppy dog on your couch each night, but you need to be able to hold this dog on a lead. You cannot have it drag you around everywhere. You need to be able to physically handle your dog.
Or simply a big dog in a small home is probably not a great option. If you live in a address that starts with "Unit" or "1/2", do you really have the space for a large breed?
Big dogs also tend to cost more due to the size and how much they eat as well as vet bills. So this should be a consideration.
small dogs
All dogs that are small. You know the breeds.
Small breeds are good for the majority of people wanting a dog. They don't take up too much room, don't eat heaps and in most cases you the human can physically control them regardless of the situation.
Small dogs do have their flaws here and there, but most of these are trained flaws rather than what the breed causes. Read about those HERE
Modern Day Dogs:
The unfortunate thing that happened during covid was the explosion of Puppy Farms and terrible breeding for legit registered breeders. It has been the worst I have seen since around 2005/2006 when backyard breeding was still happening flat out in the Geelong Region.
Everyone during Covid wanted and needed a new puppy so dogs became valuable. When it come to money and popularity and demand, ignorant humans always throw money to crappy humans who have the goods in stock. Premiums are paid regardless of ethics.
I've seen more weird mixed breeds in the last 12 months than probably the last 5 years combined. This is simply because people are breeding anything with anything because Puppy = Fast Cash. Although this is slowing down as demand settles.
I've also seen lots of puppy's sold to people that were absolutely not the breed they thought they were getting. Like they looked like the breed as a puppy but by 6 months were not that breed. Lots of Labs that were not full bred labs, same with German Shepherd, Staffy's, Beagles, and anything brindle colored simple being sold as the breed that demanded the most cash moneys at the time.
I've also seen more fake breeding papers than ever, as well as heard of lots of people losing deposits from fake breeders who simply disappeared once money was exchanged.
Covid has also made me see a monstruous spike in Adopted Female Breeder Dogs that have been treated like a caged slave to pump out as many pups as possible. It's horrible. I have worked with roughly 15 of these dogs in the last 6 months and the backgrounds and dogs are all the same -
- 2 to 4 years old, were not desexed when the new human got the dog, shit scared of everything. Loved hiding in their crate because they were obviously always locked up. Resource guarding of food and toys. Big nipples from their puppy production. Once they were no longer needed they were sold. Almost every single person to get these dogs met these breeders "Half Way" a couple of hours from Geelong and exchanged cash... and surprisingly were uncontactable from then on.
It's been eye opening for me as I love dogs more than most people combined, hence why I risk everything in my life to work with dogs to make a full time income helping where I can. It's not easy to make a full time income as a dog trainer, but it's often harder doing the actual training day in and day out as it does take it's toll emotionally.
One of the hard parts is seeing how physically and mentally ruined dogs are becoming.
Here's a list of the stand out worst dog breeds I'm encountering these days and their issues which is in no particular order -
French Bulldogs - I just said no particular order but these are the absolute worst. I said earlier they need to go extinct and I mean it. They are a broken breed thanks to popularity and greed at both ends the transaction. They can barley breathe or walk and are mentally stuffed. Every one I deal with, I leave the session hoping to never see another one of these poor dogs. Go buy a designed handbag or fancy clothes, not a designer dog. This really goes for all smashed up flat faced breeds.
German Shepherds - The things resemble a boomerang more than a dog these days. So many of their gaits are terrible. Reactivity is at an all time high from my experience.
Border Collies - By far have been the most aggressive and violent breed I have worked with the last 2 years. BY FAR! This is probably due to popularity and desperate immoral breeding for fast cash for breeders, as well as people not training them well in the beginning. They do have a natural nipping habit with livestock though. The stand out worst dog for anxious aggression, lead reactivity and biting. This breed requires a smart and dedicated human. This dog cannot be smarter than the human, but often are.
Dachshunds - The poor things can hardly walk and most or them can't even come close to sitting. Their poor little legs look like they are made of sticks glued together randomly by a toddler. They are mentally broken and anxiety is at an all time high for them. But they do look cute being carried around everywhere as they tremble in anxiety and fear of the entire world.
Australian Shepherd/Blue Red Heeler - Almost the same as the Border Collie but slightly less violent and aggressive, but way stronger and stubborn. These dogs have a love for pain. Not inflicting it but copping it themselves. Their need to be kicked in the head by a bull is what gets them off. Their need to be punished physically should be x rated. They live for 2 things - working livestock and dying a gladiators death doing so. They are warriors. You are not a warrior. You are a human that gets bed ridden by a mild cold. Don't get one unless you are ready for battle.
Kelpie - These dogs are fine as pets as long as you have time to dedicate training them physically, but more importantly MENTALLY. These dogs are geniuses in an athletes body. You cannot exercise this dog to it's physical potential but you can wear them out mentally if you are smarter than them. BUT I grew up with them and love them more than just about anything on the planet. Their importance in my life goes in this exact order - Kids, Kelpies, Wife, Our dogs Bonkers and Stella, being in the bush away from civilization, then whatever. I don't like seeing any Kelpie that will never see a days work with livestock. For that reason alone don't get a Kelpie.
Husky - These are not dogs, these are cats in a dogs body. They only care about themselves and are often difficult to train. If you want a husky, get a cat. Don't fall for their cute eyes and fluffy gorgeous looks. They don't like you. They don't like humans. They only want you for your food. They are selfish. They genuinely don't like you. They will most likely be aggressive to you. Don't get one. (OK some are good for those who are very experienced at training dogs and love cats but are allergic to cats so they get a husky).
There are other breeds, but the above are stand outs in there behaviours in recent times.
Please do some real research before getting a dog. Check out the breed properly and determine whether or not you genuinely can give this dog what it deserves. Remember, the reality is you are paying another human a good amount of money to steal this dog from its birth Mother and deny it of a natural dogs life, so the least we can do as a human is give it the absolute best life possible. Yes they are domesticated, but they are more of a dog than a human.
Dogs are a commitment for a decade in theory. All shelters are full so don't think you can just send them off when they become a burden on your human lifestyle.
Don't get a dog if you cannot guarantee it has a home with you for it's entire life. If moving for a job means you cannot take your dog with you, you should have never gotten a dog and should never get a dog again. Stick to working and get a cat. You are a cat person not a dog person.
Dogs don't know anything of our human way of life, yet we force it upon them when we get a dog. It is up to us to spend dedicated time training and teaching them to be able to handle our world with us. Do your breed research, but more importantly do some responsible human thinking to whether you're going to give the next dog in your life a sensational life.
Regardless of the Breed, get into training the dog immediately. Be consistent with the training. If you see any issue starting, even at a young age, work to training them out of it asap. Dogs do not (DO NOT) grow out of bad habits.
The phase "They're still a puppy" is a humans subconscious saying "I hope they grow out of this because I can't be bothered training them out of it". The will not grow out of it. A small issue at 8 months old will probably be a major issue at 18 months old, and the reason you give up and consider getting rid of the dog.
Let's all be better and give all of our dogs a sensational life!
Give your dog a pat for me!
Cheers, Scott
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