The Best Family Dog
The best family dog can mean different things to different families, but certain types of dogs tend to work best as family dogs, and family-friendly traits show up in certain breeds more than others.
We will attempt to list for you some of the most dependable breeds for family dogs, talk about the traits that you should always strive for in choosing a family dog, and go over some ways to ensure that your dog stays the best family dog it can be.
Let's look first at the most important traits for a family dog, and then the breeds that tend to exhibit these traits consistently.
Best Family Dog Traits
To find a dog that has the majority of the best family dog traits, you need to think about a few things regarding kids and dogs.
Your dog's traits and personality are extremely important to think about when you have young children in your household. Many of these traits are even impotant if you have kids with age ranges that reach into their teens. Kids have unpredictable behavior, and you want to look for a dog that isn't startled or territorial and that can have fun with your family.
Here is our list of the best family dog traits to look for in your new dog for as maximum family-friendly experience. You want dogs that:
- Are social with other dogs and people
- Are trainable, learning behaviors easily
- Do not startle easily
- Are tolerant
- Are slightly submissive rather than dominant in personality
- Display consistent behavior that you can depend on (rather than have a personality that vacillates)
- Are able to be distracted from a task, so that when your child "breaks in" to whatever it is that they are doing, they can switch gears without becoming angry or frustrated.
- Are non-territorial
Good Family Dog Breeds
There is actually a science and logic to choosing good family dog breeds.
We have chosen to consult books only in doing our reseach on this topic, because much of the information presented on the internet is not backed up with solid research.
Our recommendations are of course subjective, but we have taken every effort to thoroughly research the general dog traits for as many AKC registered breeds as possible and find the ones that have as many of the traits listed above as possible.Our complete list of good family dog breeds is located here.
Because dogs are individuals, you will need to evaluate the temperament of your choices carefully, but this will give you a good starting point.
We have a solid list of books about dogs to recommend here, in case you would like to read more thorough information about how we made our recommendations.
Also, for some specifics of the different breeds and our recommendations of the best dog breeds within the AKC (American Kennel Club) breed groups, be sure and check out our entire section devoted to the best dog breeds by group
