The dog trainer said that they can be hard work, and many people don’t realise until it’s too late
First-time owners are being warned that some breeds are best avoided. And while they may be cute, a trend is putting them at risk of ending up in the wrong forever home.
In fact, the home you take them to may not end up being their forever home after all. With some people realising their chosen dog breed requires far more work than they thought.
Taking to TikTok, Adam Spivey aka SouthendDogTraining, has said it is a mistake people may make – and one you need to avoid. Listing specific breeds, he also lists two categories and states that if you have one and they are acting out, there’s probably a good reason for that.
Siberian Husky
Listing the “top three worst breeds for a first-time dog owner”, the expert states that “number one” is the “Siberian Husky”
He explains: “Yeah, that dog is designed to basically run all day, sleep for a very short period of time and then go again. Most people that have a Siberian Husky do not give it close to what that dog is capable of in terms of exercise.
“They wonder why it howls the house down and destroys their house, why it becomes problematic and hard to manage. Also, this dog is highly independent.
“This means that that dog has no problem f****** off and leaving you behind. It means it’s very smart, very intelligent and very independent. So if you don’t know how to manage this, recall training is super, super difficult.”
As their “prey drive is very, very high”, he also notes that it’s “a very difficult dog if you don’t know what you are doing.”
Working line breeds
Some dogs “need a job”(Image: Getty)
Rather than a specific breed, Adam notes that any “working line breeds” should also be off the table for first-time owners. “Working line Labradors, working line Cocker Spaniels, working line German Shepherds” are just a few of the breeds he names.
He explained: “Just don’t. If you’ve never had a dog. Because the reality is, the clue is in the title, working line. These are what the police, these are what the military, these are what actual working people look for.
“There’s nothing wrong with a typical Labrador, a typical Cocker Spaniel. There’s going to be more than enough for your average active family.
“We see so many reactive working line dogs because they simply don’t have a job. They’re not getting enough exercise, not getting enough mental enrichment” and “they need to work”
Livestock guarding breeds
Kangal dogs(Image: Getty)
Next on that list are Caucasian Shepherds, Anatolian Shepherds, Kangals, and similar breeds. “Big, powerful, massive jaw strength, massively strong protective instincts, very quick to act when they perceive a threat.
“These dogs need lots of land to be able to do their job. They’re very inactive, very laid back until they sense danger and then they spring into life and they have massive stopping potential.”
Adam warns that these type of breeds are “growing in popularity” but so often he sees them in apartments in London, and then have people contact him going: “Hi, my dog’s reacting to everyone in the garden, everyone in the lift, everyone in the communal stairwell’ and I’m like, yeah, you took one of the most protective, loyal breeds on the planet and you put it in a little community and wonder why it’s going wrong. You don’t know what you’re doing with these dogs.”
Adam cautioned that whilst this is “not a hate on any of the categories or breeds” he mentioned, as he loves these breeds a lot, he said that the “reality is that this is for first time dog owners.
“This isn’t what dogs you should never get. This isn’t what dogs you should never own. This is for first-time dog owners.”
