Best Small Dog Breeds for First-Time Owners: Your Perfect Pup Starts Here

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you. The new Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer is now at McDonald's. Made to lock in.

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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host, Jack Lawrence. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast for some free dog training advice. You know, Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like, I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah. Go, oh my God, that's awesome. And then I get one like, oh my God, what the fuck have I done? And Max O'Neill.

You would not believe how many people I meet And I go, what made you want to get, say, an Aussie Shepherd? They go, I don't know. I go, had you met one before? They go, no. If you want to ask me how often I walk my own dog a week, it's only twice a week.

It's the Dog People Podcast, the podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, he's friendly. My name is Jack Lawrence, not a dog trainer, just a dog training enthusiast. But of course, Max O'Neill, the Down Under Dog Trainer, here to give us his expert knowledge. And that today will be on Breed recommendations. If you're a newbie, a beginner wanting a dog, Max has compiled a list of his suggested breeds for small, medium, and large dogs for beginners.

We're going to break this down across 3 episodes so we can give each dog or each breed a couple of minutes of our time to kind of, I guess, sell their case as to why they're a great pick for beginning dog owners. And then at some stage, we'll also do breeds we don't recommend for beginning dog owners. But—

Malinois.

Yeah.

Episode over.

Exactly. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yep.

Too many of them. So do you want to start with small? Go up from there?

Cool.

All right.

So 3 small breed dogs that we recommend for first-time or fairly new dog owners. These are breeds that we think are going to give you the least amount of problem. You're going to have the best time with in the long run, et cetera. So starting at number 1, we've got the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. Recommended this one to a friend of mine the other day who was asking about first-time dogs. Dude, you're all over it. Mate, King Charles, honestly, you can talk about it more than I can, but, um, just a good sweet little dog, man.

They just always have such sweet little natures. Sometimes they're a bit dopey and doughy, but that's kind of cute. They kind of potter around, you know, a bit oblivious to the world at times, and other times they're really nosy and onto it. But, um, so that's kind of cool. You can kind of get, you know, in a litter you can kind of get different, uh, temperaments, I suppose. But they're always just— when they're raised well, they're super soft, super gentle. They'll take as much as you can give them. Like, if you wanted to do 2, 3 walks a day, they'd be up for it. If you only had time for 1 walk a day and the rest of the day you just want to cuddle, they're also equally happy with that. And I think that's what's really, really good about them. Um, you see, I see a lot of these for work and it's never anything too major. It's just, you know, standard little pet dog obedience sort of stuff. But I do see a lot of them obviously crossed with poodles. We've now got like a Cavoodle outbreak, you'd almost say.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're absolutely bloody everywhere, which, which is cool.

I get, you know, crossing them for the high So that's the hypoallergenic element.

Me personally, I think though that the Cavalier part is generally the sweeter side of them. The Poodle's always the more neurotic, feisty side. So if that's sort of the dog you're looking for and you don't need the hypoallergenic element, just go straight to the source. Just get a King Charles Cavalier. They're, in terms of like coat maintenance, it's really not as bad as people think. Like a couple of brushes a week and honestly you're all over it.

And they're great with children as well, those dogs. Great with kids.

Yeah, they don't have a crazy high prey drive, most of them. They're not going to go for your cat. They're not going to get overstimulated and whatnot. They're gentle with kids and just, they're, they're a really cool, easy little dog. So that's our number 1 pick. Not with these 3 breeds. It's not in any particular order. These are just 3 small breeds that we think you'd, you'd have a lot of fun with. So that's number 1, King Charles Cavalier or Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Number 2, we've got the Italian Greyhound.

The dog we described before we started recording as a stick insect.

Yeah.

Or a praying mantis.

They are cute as dogs, but they are so thin and sort of— Oh, they're dainty.

Genuinely, their legs are about the thickness of a human male's finger.

I mean, a strong breeze you feel would snap them in half.

Oh yeah, they're paddle pop sticks, honestly.

But temperament-wise—

They're just awesome. And you're going to see that the, you know, quick little, I guess, teaser, you're going to see these sorts of dogs pop up a lot in our breed recommendations going up in size. But the Italian Greyhound for a small dog, I don't see enough of them. I think they're a really cool little breed. And I feel like they tick a lot of boxes. A lot of people won't know what an Italian Greyhound is. So you might need to go and Google what they are. It's basically a very, very, very miniature Greyhound. And when I see what people really want versus what they get in little dogs is this ticks the boxes. Most people who want little dogs aren't like, look, I'm going to cast a wide net here. Apologies if, you know, make a bit of a generalisation, but Most people want a little dog. Aren't these like crazy dog people who want to be like, I want to do all this cool hectic stuff with my dog? Is they just want like a cool, fun pet, right? That's not everyone. That's most people. And again, people end up getting these pretty intense dogs a lot of time, you know, your French Bulldogs, your Jack Russells, your Dachshunds, etc. But if you just want a dog who's like, wants to cuddle with you all day, is happy to go with you or happy to stay at home, they're happy with one walk a day. They're not going to need you to throw the ball for hours. They're not going to rip your stuff up. Italian Greyhounds, man, are so good. That is the world's fastest pocket rocket, but also the world's fastest couch potato. Just the same as the large Greyhounds. Same with our Greyhound Turtle. She loves to go for like a 20-minute run 3 or 4 times a week now in her old age, and the rest of the time she's on the couch just chilling. She's— they're so happy just to do absolutely nothing. So Italian Greyhounds, and they look cute, man. I think they're really, really cool. So that's our number 2 recommendation for small breeds. And also as well, we don't really see that many of them with work, which is a good thing. I guess you don't— they don't get that many problems. So. And for breed number 3, we're looking at the Pomeranian. This is probably one of my favourite breeds of all time. They're actually the next dog on our wish list for dogs is we always like to have, I think, one hectic or working dog. That's Nelson and one chill dog. Uh, which is Turtle, our greyhound at the moment. And sadly Turtle won't be with us forever. Um, so I guess when Turtle goes, that slot at some stage when we're ready to move on, uh, will be filled by a Pomeranian. We absolutely love them all, wife and I. They're a really, really cool little breed. The reason why I recommend them, obviously there's a little bit of coat maintenance, this and that, um, but they're just a really cool, sassy little dog. It's funny, a lot of— when I chat to a lot of trainers about this, they're like, what, you like Pomeranians? I'm like, yeah, I think they're really, really cool. And I think the other really good thing about the Pomeranians, too, is that they are bred just to be a toy breed, which means they're not like this little crazy, drivey, demonic killer in disguise, like, you know, your dachshunds and things are. Is they were genuinely just bred just to look cute, sit on your lap and do your thing. And if you want a small dog who just wants to do that, like, go for it. Again, they've got a bit of energy. They'll like you to throw the ball. They're playful. They're super sassy and cheeky and all that sort of stuff. But... If you just want a small dog who, like I said, isn't gonna require a lot more exercise than you anticipated, a couple of brushes a week, Pomeranians are a ripper of a dog. And I promise you, you'll see me with one in the not too distant future.

Oh, please.

Yeah, I'm going to try and do like a BH or something.

You're going to go from Nelson to a Pomeranian.

Mate, 100%. When I lived in the UK, so when I lived and trained over there, I did more of a service where dogs would come and either stay with me for the day or a week or whatever else and did that sort of adventure daycare and training sort of scenario. And of course, like most of the dogs I had eventually became like German Shepherds, Mals, Weimaraners, Rottweilers, all that sort of stuff. But we had this one little, um, Pomeranian called Percy who had come along, man, and he just hung out with the dogs. And if he saw them jump up this 1.5-meter-high cliff, he'd go, well, fuck it, I can do it too. And it was— he was just a cool dog, and he really turned me on to them. And since then, I've met a lot that have made me love them all the more.

So Yeah.

Shout out to Pomeranians. I reckon they're a really cool dog. And like I said, they're, you know, a lot of people get these dachshunds and things thinking that they're just, they're a little lap dog. But again, we know they're a highly predatory little drive monster a lot of the time, and they're quite often these little nerve bags. So no, Pomeranian's a great breed. So there are 3 breeds. So Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Italian Greyhound, and Pomeranian. That's part 1 of our 3-part series for breed recommendations for new or beginner dog owners. There are small ones.

If you've got any questions in regards to those breeds or anything else that maybe you've got a small breed idea in your head that you think, oh, I'd love to get this. What do you think? Let us know. Ask the questions. The Dog People Podcast Facebook group, jump in there right now. The Dog People Podcast is a Mashed Pumpkin production hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill. Edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence.

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