List of All Kinds of Dog Breeds

What is a dog breed?

A dog breed is a variety or a strain of dog that has been bred by humans to perform specific tasks. Humans bred dogs for tasks that best suited the physical and behavioural traits of each dog breed. These tasks included hunting, herding, guarding, etc. Over the years, dogs evolved and their different breeds, as we know them today, came into existence. When we generally talk about the types of dogs, we’re simply referring to the different dog breeds. There are currently more than 340 different kinds of dogs recognised throughout the world.

Why do breeds matter to dog owners?

All of the different breeds of dogs exist because they have grown and evolved to perform a particular task that humans needed them to. Hence, now when you adopt or purchase a dog, it is important to know the details about their breed. The dog breed that you choose matters because the dog will be living with you and will become a part of your family. Its behaviour, which is directly related to its breed, will have an impact on your lifestyle, family, and environment.

It is important to choose a dog from a breed that is best suited for your lifestyle. Moreover, different dog breeds react differently to a change in environment or territory, which will affect your decisions of moving to a different place in the future. A dog’s lifestyle needs also depends on its breed, and this should be one of the primary deciding factors while adopting a dog. For example, if you are someone who cannot invest a lot of time in taking your dog on walks, do for breeds that require minimal exercise.

Which breed traits should one consider?

Before you begin going through a list of all dog breeds that you can adopt or purchase, here are some breed traits that you should consider:

• Size
• Allergies
• Friendliness towards family/known people
• Behaviour towards strangers (indicates guarding trait)
• Friendliness towards kids
• Hair/fur shedding
• Activity/energy level
• Lifespan
• The difficulty level of training them
• Behavioural history of the breed
• General health

What are the different categories of dog breeds?

The different types of dogs that the world recognises today can be categorised into 7 major groups based on their sizes and/or the reasons they were bred for. Here is a list of the dog breed categories:

1. Working group:

   The type of dogs that were bred for functions like cart-pulling, sledge-pulling, or as watchdogs.

2. Herding group:

   The dogs that were bred for herding livestock.

3. Hound group:

   The kind of dogs that were bred for hunting.

4. Sporting group:

   The dogs that were bred to assist hunters.

5. Non-sporting group:

   This group contains dog breeds that were not bred for any particular purpose and hence, do not fit any other group.

6. Toy Group:

   This group contains dog breeds that are particularly smaller in size.

7. Terrier Group:

   The dogs that were bred to get rid of or kill pests.