Top Medium-Sized Dog Breeds for First-Time Owners: Balanced, Friendly, and Just Right

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. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Def Leppard with 4-time Grammy Award nominee U2 Dolls. The most anticipated tour of 2027 with special guest The Struts. Live across North America. Get tickets Friday, October 16th at livenation.com. Def Leppard, U2 Dolls. Hey man, you hungry?

Let's order delivery. Yeah, I was thinking Italian burgers.

Oh, game night just got tense. 2 bros on different sides of the fence. Burgers or pasta tonight? Why can't we have food without the fight?

With Wonder, you can combine 20 restaurants in one delivery so no one has to settle. Use code MEALTIME for 50% off your first Wonder order. Terms apply. See wonder.com/newcustomer. I love football. I love football season. The games, the rivalries, the food, getting everyone together. No game day feels complete without a trip to Total Wine and More. I can find everything from cold beer and canned cocktails to wines and spirits for the whole crew. And if I want to bring something different to the watch party, the Total Wine team always has ideas. Plus, it's nice knowing I'm getting the lowest prices. Get your game day lineup ready at Total Wine and More. Spirits are not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly. Be 21.

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 they get one like, oh my God, what the fuck? 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 is the Dog People Podcast, a podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, it's friendly. Jack Lawrence, not a dog trainer, just a dog training enthusiast. But of course, we've got Max O'Neill from the Down Under Dog Trainer who's giving us at the moment His recommendations for first-time dog owners. We've covered the small breeds and his recommendations for those. Now we're going to look at medium-sized breeds. This is for first-time dog owners. If you're thinking about a dog, not had one before, or maybe you haven't had one for a long time, these are ones you want to potentially look at.

Yeah. So if you're a beginner or even just looking for a low-maintenance dog, one that's not going to, you know, absolutely just exhaust you and require a whole heap, these are, these are 3 great choices. Again, in no particular order, we're going to start with number 1, which is the Whippet. For those that don't know, Whippets are a medium-sized dog that is basically a slightly shrunken Greyhound. Whereas a Greyhound might come up to your mid-thigh, a Whippet will come up to just below your knee and maybe get to— I don't think I've met many Whippets above 20 kilos. So, they generally hover around 12 to 15 kilos. Nice smooth coat. They don't really smell or anything. They're very easy to keep clean. And again, they, while they do have like a, they're a sighthound, they do love to chase things. If you socialize them early on and just be like, hey, we're going to go sit by the kids' playground and I'm going to reward you for not chasing them. And if you do try and chase it, nah, I'm going to stop you from doing that. If you do a bit of that sort of stuff early on, you kind of teach them what they can and can't chase. You give them an outlet for the stuff they can chase. They're not going to cause you any troubles. They're a really easy dog to own because again, they're the world's fastest couch potato. They love to have one really good run for about 20 minutes and then they are gassed. They will sleep 23.5 hours a day. And, um, fun fact again, when I lived in the UK, one of the places I lived for a few months with, with, was with a whippet breeder called Jane. Shout out to Natar Whippets in the UK. And I lived there for a few months and lived with about 18 whippets.

Oh my God.

Um, so they're like cats. They're on top of the bookshelf, they're walking along the TV stand, they're up behind the sofa, everything. And they just sleep in these piles and I fell in love with them. They're a really, really great breed. And like I said, if you just raise them right and you're a semi-attentive dog owner, they'll turn out so good. They're so cuddly. They've got such sweet little personalities. And yeah, Whippets are a great breed. You'll have a lot of fun with them.

Why is it you think that those sorts of breeds— because obviously there's a— we're following a sort of breed specific here in small breeds. We had the Italians here, we've got the Whippets. I won't give anything away in the large, but you can see where that's heading. Why do you think that, you know, these specific breeds Oh, 'cause I mean, at the end of the day, most people are used to seeing greyhounds on a dog track chasing things and known for like, you know, I mean, coursing in Ireland was a big thing. You know, they use those dogs to chase after rabbits and maul and kill them. So you would think that, oh God, I can't have one of those dogs. Every time I take it out, it's going to want to race off and chase after a rabbit or a hare or whatever, or another small dog.

And that's what people worry about. But I think people also underestimate the rest of the dog population. Honestly, most breeds you see have got a a lot more prey drive than people give them credit for. And these guys are no different. And I guess in terms of like, yeah, I guess why they only like to do like, you know, one good run, they're good, is I think they're mostly fast-twitch muscle fiber.

Yeah.

They're certainly not an endurance athlete. And again, yeah, that's what they're bred for. But I guess the blessing curse, whichever way you want to look at it, is where dogs are today, is a lot of their instincts have been really watered down, um, especially with, you know, Yeah, I mean, greyhounds, I guess they're mostly bred for the track, but your whippets and whatnot, people aren't really breeding whippets for actual work anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so most of them come from, yeah, generations of just being house pets. So yeah, they're, they're a good little breed to own. Like I said, they shouldn't give you too much trouble.

Medium breed number 2.

Is the Aussie Shepherd. So hear me out. So generally with herding breeds, they can be pretty intense. Think your Kelpies, Border Collies, Australian Cattle Dog, etc. With these guys, I do feel like Aussie Shepherds are probably the most chill out of all those, provided you go to a good breeder. I certainly see some that are in pretty poor health, both physically and mentally. You see some that are just pretty fried from day dot, if I'm really honest. But a good Aussie Shepherd, I think, is a great dog. Same thing, they'll take as much as you can give them, but they don't require anywhere near as much as a lot of people or a lot of other herding breeds. And yeah, coat maintenance and things like that. It's a little bit like, it's definitely more than your average dog, but it's also not as crazy as you would think. If you brush them a couple of times a week, have them on a decent diet, they're not too bad. Same thing, if you see a well-bred one, if you get them from a good ethical breeder, not just some rando on Gumtree, is you're generally pretty free of behaviour problems too. They're pretty, you know, generally fairly confident. Things like that. They love to have fun, good with kids. Same thing with any herding breed, you want to socialize them properly, show them what is and isn't a herding opportunity. Get them something like a Collie Ball. Um, reach out Collie Ball if you want to be a sponsor.

Yes, please.

Um, and just, you know, show them like, hey, look, here's a kid's playground, they're not to be chased. That's a dog that probably doesn't want to be herded. That's a car.

Just everything you would normally do generally with any—

With any dog.

Exactly. Yeah.

No, I've worked closely with like a lot of, um, Aussie Shepherds They're stunning dogs as well. Yeah, really pretty.

Good looking dogs.

They tick all the boxes. They're a good medium dog. So if you're sort of thinking you want a Border Collie, I'd probably go one of these instead and try that on for size first. And you might just find that's enough dog for you.

Would you, would you say that the Border Collie is kind of almost like the working line version of an Australian Shepherd?

Yeah, it's just a variant. Like, it's just a different herding option, but I guess With Border Collies, I find they're generally a lot more drivey. They can be a little bit more neurotic, and they're probably more for advanced owners because they, uh, can and need a whole lot more from you. They can do a whole lot more, but they also need it. Is— you can't get a Border Collie and just have it as, you know, not a key priority in your life. They don't like being number 5 on your priority list. They want to be number 1 or 2. Um, whereas Aussie Shepherds, like I said, a bit more chill. I meet plenty that are just happy to cruise around the home all day. Go for one good walk, play with the kids a bit, and they're pretty sorted.

Yeah. I mean, if you were thinking about a— and I know we're getting off topic here, but if you think about a border collie, go and look at Shaun the Sheep. I think he's Shaun the Sheep Man on TikTok. He's a shepherd over in Scotland. Yeah, I've seen him and he's got border collies and you just look at them and you just— he's like 4 of them who are working dogs. But you look at those things run herd and you just go, do I really want one of those in my house? I think I might have seen one of those videos actually. It's nuts.

And then you go like, why are people trying to clip these things on the lead and get him walking at 5 k's an hour around the block and then wondering why rather unhappy.

Yeah, seriously crazy. The new Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer is now at McDonald's. Made to lock in.

It's purple, it's teal, it's your new favorite flavor at McDonald's. For real. Blue raspberry syrup topped off with freeze-dried dragon fruit, which is especially fire with some fries. Get the new Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer only at McDonald's. Energizers contain caffeine.

Anyway, all right, next dog.

Number 3. So our final medium breed recommendation is the Labrador Retriever.

Classic.

Absolute classic dog. They could slightly go in large. You do see some pretty big males, but mostly like a good well-bred lab should just be in the medium if they're of breed standard. Little caveat here is I'm actually going to be a little bit colour specific, a little bit racist, if you will, in the dog world and recommend the golden or black variants. They are always a lot calmer than the chocolate. I've owned a chocolate lab before, and I can say they absolutely live up to their reputation. They're absolutely mental. They really struggle to settle down and emotional regulation, things like that. And also when I was a volunteer at Guide Dogs Queensland, they only use golden black labs, as do a lot of other agencies.

I was going to say, the guys that I was working with for a little while, the guide dogs, not guide dogs, the assistance dogs people. Yeah. They again, no chocolates. It's all black or golden.

I remember when I got there, I was like, hey, do you guys use chocolate labs? Are you mad at chocolate labs?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fair point. So yeah, like, don't get us wrong, choccy labs are a heap of fun, but they're a lot more boisterous and crazy. And again, if I was to crunch our numbers and look at all the labs we see, I would say 60, 70% of them are the chocolate ones over anything else. It's not necessarily because they're more popular. It's just because they can be a little bit more difficult to deal with. So stick to the gold or black, I would say.

And avoid the working line Labrador.

Yeah, avoid a working line Labrador.

Make sure it's a show line, not a working line.

Exactly. We just said don't get a Malinois work—

a true blue working line lab, which is pretty hard to find. So you probably won't accidentally stumble across this, but you will know it when you see it. It is, uh, it is a lot and intense. So just a good honest Labrador. They're just one of those safe dogs. Like I said, you have to do quite a lot to, you know, fuck it up with a Labrador. They generally turn out pretty bloody good.

Yeah.

Um, like I said, just like with any dog, it's just kind of that general— you socialize them well, you do a bit of obedience, in that first year and you've got a pretty good dog on your hands.

The only thing I would say that I'm sick of when I see Labradors all the time is fat Labradors.

Yeah, that's it. People say, oh, Labs put on weight so easy.

No, they do if you feed them. Yeah, exactly. I mean, they are food monsters.

Yeah.

But it's like, you know, I've had a dog come here and it was a Labrador. It was severely overweight and it's just like, yes, they love to eat, but all dogs love to eat and you're in charge of portion control.

So yeah, exactly.

I always find that nonsense. Labradors everywhere drives me insane because I look at, obviously I follow a lot of gundog Instagrams and they're, again, they're different. They're working lines. But you look at their Labradors and they are muscular and sleek.

They look like Kira.

Yeah. I mean, they are just machines and obviously yours doesn't need to look like that, but there is just so many factors. Like I was out the other day with Kira in training and I had, I had Kira on a slip lead and some lady walked past me and she, she, she looked at me. She goes, I don't like those. I said, what's that? She goes, those leads you use. I mean, it's just, it's just a choke. It's just choking the dog. And she's walking a Labrador and the thing was so fat and so huge. But I bit my tongue. I said nothing. And I just went, oh, well, you know, we all have our different ways of handling situations.

As Kira's walking beside you, not choking herself.

Yeah, not choking herself, not panting and trying to breathe.

And there's this struggling thing there with its freaking fat clogged arteries.

Just nice and natural. Please stop overfeeding Labradors.

Yeah, exactly.

You see so many fat ones. But anyway, again, we digress. But those are your 3 breeds for medium-sized first-time dog owners. If you've got any questions again related any of those breeds, the Dog People Podcast, jump on there and look out for our next episode as we cover the large breeds. 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.

There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still? Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we're here to help you keep going further. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more.

Hi5 Casino is the top choice for social casino gaming that's free to play. With chances to win and redeem for real cash prizes, free spin rewards, and tons of exclusive games, you can experience more high-five moments than ever before. You're gonna wanna high-five everyone! The neighbors, the mailman, all your coworkers, of course your friends. Well, you get the point. Your high-five moment awaits at highfivecasino.com. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Must be 21 years or older. Terms and conditions apply.

With the American Express Platinum Card, you can access over $3,500 in annual value with benefits and eligible purchases across travel, entertainment, and more. There's nothing like Platinum. Learn more at americanexpress.com/platinum. AmericanExpress.com/explore-platinum. Enrollment requirements, monthly and other limits and terms apply.