Find the perfect dog breed

You put a lot of thought and planning into the big decisions in your life – buying a house, having children, deciding on a career. One thing that often gets done with too little time and research is bringing a new dog or puppy into the household. All too often the choice is made at the spur of a moment and unfortunately, these are the ones that most often end up in shelters. If you are thinking about getting a dog or puppy, the best thing you can do for your family and for the pet is to do some research about the breeds so that you choose one that fits with your lifestyle. There is also advice on selecting the best breeders. Below are ten sites that can help you in selecting your next dog or puppy responsibly.

1. Find the Best: http://dog-breeds.findthebest.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 1,384

This site is an excellent and easy to use site for selecting a dog breed based on various criteria. You select the temperament you desire, size in pounds, whether you need the dog to be good with children, how much grooming you can manage, whether you desire purebred or cross breed, size in height, life expectancy and if you desire a hypoallergenic breed. Once you enter all your criteria, it will bring up those breeds that fit those criteria. You can then see details about them and compare various ones. They also have an excellent guide and an “assist me” feature.

2. Dog Breed Info: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 18,367

There is a ton of useful information on this site besides helping you find the right breed. One thing a new pet owner should do is read their article entitled, “Ready for a Dog?” They have two dog breed quizzes – dog breed picture quiz and dog breed selector quiz. The first is fun for testing your knowledge while the latter is intended to assist in finding a breed right for you based on a few questions. The site is most useful for looking up breeds and finding out more about them. Each breed offers plenty of pictures so you can see what that cute puppy will grow up to look like.

3. American Kennel Club (AKC): http://www.akc.org/

Global Alexa Rating: 25,688

Who better than the AKC for helping you find the right breed from a breeder in your area? The site is full of other resources as well including registering your AKC puppy, training your puppy and resources for responsible dog ownership. They also have a veterinarian search on the site. Be sure to download their eBook, “How to Pick a Puppy.” With continuing advice such as how to board your dog and traveling, this will be a good resource for beyond bringing the dog home.

4. Pedigree: http://www.pedigree.com/all-things-dog/select-a-dog/default.aspx

Global Alexa Rating: 95,221

Pedigree is more than just a dog food – they also want to help pet owners do the best they can to be responsible owners and that includes finding out what breed is right for you. To that end they have both a helpful article and a survey-type interactive for selecting a breed. Other useful tools on the site are a breed gallery and dog age calculator. There are also articles about adopting. They also have a puppy section with a free puppy guide.

5. Select Smart: http://www.selectsmart.com/DOG/

Global Alexa Rating: 114,126

This is one of the most thorough dog breed selector quizzes in existence. It includes more selectors than any other helping you fine-tune your selection – 21 in fact. Not only do you make selections but you also rate their priority. Keep in mind that the more you add, the more likely it will come back with no breeds at all. However, if all the things that matter to you are critical in your mind and this happens, it might be a good indicator that you shouldn’t have a dog. When you get done with the breed selector, go to the root website and check out tons of other selectors, quizzes and flowcharts.

6. Your Pure Bred Puppy: http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 132,409

This site is more than just a dog breed selector as it gives 190 dog breed reviews with positives and negatives you don’t find other places. There are plenty of articles written about dogs – all by an author of 15 books on dogs from choosing then to training them to raising them healthy. She also offers a dog breed consulting service which comes with 7 bonus eBooks for $90.

7. Dog Channel: http://www.dogchannel.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 143,647

This is a useful resource for all dog owners as it includes tons of articles and videos. You can sign up for newsletters – one will keep you up to date on the latest recalls, which is a good idea with all the problems that have befallen the industry as of late. There are articles about breeds as well as their Dream Dog Selector for finding the perfect dog. Once you have a list, you can select those you are interested in and then read articles and fast facts about them.

8. Breeders.Net: http://www.breeders.net/

Global Alexa Rating: 155,186

This site is mainly for locating a breeder once you decide on a breed. However, they do have a listing of the top ten popular breeds and a link to www.doggies.com for finding the best breed for you. This gives you two websites as a resource. With the second site, in finding a breed, they begin by having you select the main criteria – dogs for kids, hypoallergenic, guard dog, friendly dog, apartment dog and watch dog. The site further offers information, photos and advice on purebred dog breeds.

9. Purina: https://www.purina.com/dogs/dog-breeds

Global Alexa Rating: 155,627

This is another example of a dog food company offering assistance with selecting a breed. They offer help in finding breeds that fit your lifestyle, such as the best breeds for families, best companion dog breeds, best dogs for multi-pet households and more. They also list the most popular dog breeds. Their breed selector is fun to use with fill-in-the-blanks to get to your ideal breed.

10. Just Dog Breeds: http://www.justdogbreeds.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 164,081

This site offers must-know information on over 160 dog breeds. It includes descriptions and photos. It discusses temperament, behavior and more. They also offer a dog breed selector in which you select two or three traits then press submit. This is not by any means an in-depth selection process but it will help you eliminate quite a few breeds based on your key criteria. You can also select breeds that fit a certain category, such as smartest, easiest to train, super athletes, guard dogs, fastest or low shedding.

There are about 200 purebred dog breeds in the U.S. and, of course, tons more of crossbreeds and mixes. It can take some time to learn which would be your best choice for a harmonious connection. Ten to fifteen years is a typical lifespan of most breeds and you want that to be a happy period of time instead of a misery for you and the dog. Think of choosing your dog as you would a mate – for better, or worse until death do you part.