Best dog breed for an inexperienced owner

[thisisit77]

Just that! What would you recommend?
I have a medium sized garden, I only have time for one walk a day/possibly 2 small ones

Please look up the health issues of brachycephalic dogs carefully before even thinking of any type of flat faced dog, such as a pug.

Well obviously we are going to recommend what dogs we have but definitely a border terrier. My border is my first dog and she's an absolute dream. Loves a walk, could go for miles but when she's home she's happy to chill out and she loves to sleep. My friend has a cavapooshon ;not sure of the spelling) and he's bonkers and never chills!!

I don’t think it’s the lack of dog ownership experience that’s going to be the issue here, it’s more the fact that you seem to have limited time to dedicate to it. You need to give serious consideration to what you can actually give to a dog before getting one.

Get a poor old dog who has been given up to rescue.

Not a fan of dog breeding. Far too many unwanted dogs in the world. Not all rescue dogs are damaged. Our rescue centre has lots of old dogs where owners have died or too sick to look after them. I have had old dog. They are no trouble and just want somewhere to live out their final years.

I’d recommend a cat instead.

I have a 3 year old Staffy. She sleeps all morning, comes alive at about 1pm when we go for an hours walk. She sleeps or plays most of the afternoon, has another walk in the evening, has her dinner, goes to bed at 10pm and wakes me up for a cuddle at 6am.

She has managed on one walk a day before (illness or prior commitment) and no walks when it is too hot.

She's very sweet, gentle but equally sassy and needy and very very chatty 😂 and loves to learn

Although our families have had working and non working springers respectively, she was our first dog and I'd definitely have another staffy. Just not two at the same time 😂😂

My DF also has a rescue Lhasa Apso MissMarple. Gets a decent walk in the morning although she says he's really slow then is happy to sleep a lot of the day away.

Suppose this illustrated the point that even within a breed there can be differences. My staffy would have been climbing the walls with this pattern and was ready to go and needing to be busy from first wake to after dinner.
If op knows she has limited time to walk she'll need to choose a breed that will be ok with this, they exist. Whereas I think staffys might be a gamble, you could get a low key one, or not.
Assuming it is only the walk time you have restricted op and you can give other attention because no dog will be ok with just that from day one. When they're old and slow and know you, maybe, but at the start you have to build a relationship and train. Obviously assuming you already know that though.

Oh gosh so slow offlead but great when on a lead now though she’d never been lead walked when we got her & has taken 3 years to get to where we are.

My family have a bedlington terrier mix.

He only needs one walk a day! About half an hour.

He has a garden that he sunbathes and potters about it.

I think a lot of dogs are happy with 1 walk a day. Not all dogs need so much exercise. He is more of a cuddler and playtime dog, so defo needs company though.

Another vote for a chihuahua. Very small appetites, healthy wee dogs, easy to train as they love treats. Easy to groom and don't need much exercise. They are so full of fun and personality and as long as you don't spoil them, train them they are quite an easy dog to have

Clever and hold a grudge!

I love that chihuahuas see something that's 100 times their weight and think 'yep, I'm gonna have him'. Fearless little scraps!

dachshunds are barky little brats!

Whippet, greyhound or lurcher. To the pp who thinks whippets are not easy, I think you just have bad luck with yours.

I bred and showed whippets for years. Easy dogs in all ways. Basically a cat pretending to be a dog with a bit of silly whizzing around once a day. Like all sight hounds, they are wonderful to watch run, twist and turn at full speed. So elegant.

Ain't that the truth 😂

I came on to say a whippet. They are fabulous. So graceful and chilled out.
Definitely not a collie!

Another vote for retired greyhound. Ours was toilet trained and never chewed anything because she was out of the puppy stage. Only needs minimal walks - ours has 10 min in the morning and 15-30min walk in the evening. Very chilled out, likes people, gets on with most dogs, doesn't mind being alone for a few hours at a time. Easiest dog I've had by a mile.

With the amount of time you have, I’d recommend a retired greyhound or older lurcher. Both will be brilliant dogs, but enjoy a lot of snooze time. Our recently departed rescue lurcher took about 6 months to fully understand our house rules (ok, we just locked the kitchen bin away in the end), but a more dependable and loving dog you could not meet… and yet he had spent TWO YEARS in a rescue centre. I will never regret the six years he spent with us, although when he got to ‘chatting’ I could’ve cheerfully strangled him 😂. Brilliant dog and we all miss him dreadfully.

Do not get a collie!!!!

Sounds lovely

Border terrier - low maintenance, easy going

Not sure why people are suggesting border collie. Lot of exercise and brain games needed.

Lots of smaller ones (chihuahuas etc) are more than prone to small dog syndrome behaviours. They really love their owners and are lovely companions but you'd want very high quality training from the outset.

We have a whippet. He would absolutely fit your brief now but definitely NOT in his first 2 years when he needed more exercise to tire him out.
young dogs (whatever breed) have loads of energy and you don’t have lots of time so I would suggest you rehome a smallish dog but be very picky about its history - make sure it’s not got any behaviour issues (and I think the a good rescue will help you find the right dog for you).
Dogs are the best and next time round I will definitely rescue…

Border terrier!

This thread is making me want a whippet!!

Another vote for a Yorkshire Terrier. We got our little lad last year and we are so happy with him. No bother. Can't be arsed with walks. Loves to be cuddled and sleeps a lot. Gets a lot of comments on how cute he is (especially as my daughter ensures he has a wardrobe far more extensive than mine).

Doesn't shed. Hardly eats anything and (ahem) very manageable poos (tiny).

Genuinely- without wishing to sound sarky - but why do you want a dog? You say you are inexperienced and can't spend much time walking the dog (what will the dog be doing all day?), so why do you want one? Is it just a 'trophy'? I am not a dog owner and would never want one but there are so many irresponsible dog owners around.