Spinone Italiano - spin.own.ay.  A large hunting dog up to 28" in height and 86 lbs. in weight with a wiry coat.  A loyal, friendly, alert hunting, pointing, and retrieving gun dog (not afraid of a gunshot).  They are affectionate, docile, intelligent, and therefore easily trained, patient, relaxed, and strong.  Among dog breeds, the Spinone should not be used as an aggressive guard dog.  Motivational training works best as they may be stubborn if they see no point in a task.  If handled incorrectly these dogs have their feeling hurt easily!  It's a great dog to jog with as it will not run ahead, preferring a relaxed constant pace.  It can be happy in a small yard along with its daily walks.  Life expectancy is 9 years.

Non-Sporting Dogs – A lot of the most popular dog pets come from this group.  It’s a group that is too varied to be generalized 

American Eskimo

Bichon Frieze

Boston Terrier

Bulldog

Chinese Shar-pei

Chow Chow

Dalmatian – A muscular medium-sized dog up to 24” in height and up to 70 lbs in weight with dense, fine, and short hair.  Puppies are born with pure white fur and develop spots as soon as 2 weeks.  Be warned, even though this is one of the most beautiful dog breeds, this breed sheds a lot and will shed their fur all year long, however, the Dalmatian has a lack of dog odor.  Be warned again, this is a very active dog breed that needs a lot of exercise.  Not only do they love running, but they are extremely fast and have lots of stamina.  Be warned yet again, among dog breeds, they thrive on self-reliance and if given freedom to roam on a farm or ranch, they may take multiple day exploration excursions all by themselves.    They have an inborn love for humans and horses, but be warned yet one more time, this breed’s high energy and lively, high-spirited nature may knock over children or small adults.  Their feelings are easily hurt and they will not forget ill-treatment and therefore, can’t be trained using rough methods.  They must be trained to accept their master’s absence or else they will become ill or thin through grief and longing.  Life expectancy is up to 16 years.

Finnish Spitz

French Bulldog

Keeshond

Lhasa Apso

Lowchen

Schipperke

Shiba Inu

Tibetan Spaniel

Tibetan Terrier

Sporting Dogs – Instinctively alert and with an active disposition, they are in their element in water and in the woods.  This breed group needs intense exercise.  Excellent at finding, flushing out, and retrieving game, sporting dogs were originally bred by hunters. 

American Water Spaniel

Brittany

Chesapeake Bay Retriever

Clumber Spaniel

Cocker Spaniel

Curly-Coated Retriever

English Cocker Spaniel

English Setter

English Springer Spaniel

Field Spaniel

Flat-Coated Retriever

German Shorthaired Pointer

German Wirethaired Pointer

Golden Retriever

Gordon Setter

Irish Setter

Irish Water Setter

Labrador Retriever – A medium dog up to 24” in height and up to 80 lbs in weight with double coated short hair.  It is the most popular breed in the world.  It is also the most popular service dog.  They are affectionate, friendly, gentle, full of energy, intelligent, loyal, patient, reliable, willing, and have a good nature.  If left untrained they will become quite unmanageable due to their energetic nature.  They respond to praise and affection and once trained by these methods, Labrador Retrievers will become the most dependable, talented, and obedient dogs you’ve ever had.  Among dog breeds, it’s a poor guard dog due to its friendly nature, but a good watch dog that will alert you of strangers.  Life expectancy is up to 12 years.

Pointer

Sussex Spaniel

Vizsla

Weimaraner

Welsh Springer Spaniel

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Terrier Dogs - Can be very small or quite large, but one thing they have in common is their feisty behavior and a lively high-energy character.  They were originally bred to hunt and kill mice and rats, because of this they cast an eager argumentative personality.  Wiry coat terriers require a special grooming technique called stripping in order to maintain their coat.  They make determination a necessary trait for their masters to have in plentiful supply!

Airedale Terrier

American Staffordshire Terrier

Australian Terrier

Bedlington Terrier

Border Terrier

Bull Terrier

Cairn Terrier

Dandie Dinmont Terrier

Fox Terrier

Fox Terrier (Wire)

Irish Terrier

Kerry Blue Terrier

Lakeland Terrier

Manchester Terrier

Minature Bull Terrier

Minature Schnauzer

Norfolk Terrier

Norwich Terrier

Parson Russell Terrier

Scottish Terrier -  Also known as an Aberdeen Terrier, a small dog up to 10” in height and up to 22 lbs in weight with a hard, long, wiry, outer coat and a soft under coat.  They are alert, feisty, and quick.  They show confidence and poise, are intelligent, and ever playful!  If they fixate on something, they will have limitless determination.  It is a very loving breed, but also a very stubborn dog breed.  An assertive yet calm training regimen from puppyhood is needed or the Scottish Terrier will grow to dominate the family home.  Among dog breeds, they are extremely loyal to their family, but can attach themselves to individual members and be aloof to the others.  It is a fearless breed that needs to be dog socialized at an early age or it may grow to become dog aggressive.  It is a top-of-the-line watchdog as this breed does not bark unless necessary.  As the breed is reserved around strangers, their bark alerts their masters to something out of the ordinary.  As a dog bred to hunt rats and mice, it likes to dig, and requires a leash while walking to prevent it from running off after a squirrel and the like.  Life expectancy is up to 13 years.

Sealyham Terrier

Skye Terrier

Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier

Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Welsh Terrier

West Highland White Terrier

Toy Dogs – Bred for pure happiness and enjoyment some are extremely diminutive in size while others have whimsical physical characteristics.  Even though they are small, many dog breeds of this breed group have a harsh attitude and a bark to match!  The dogs of this breed group are excellent for apartment dwellers and as lap dogs.

Affenpinscher

Brussels Griffon

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Chihuahua

Chinese Crested

English Toy Spaniel

Havanese

Italian Greyhound

Japanese Chin

Maltese

Miniature Pinscher

Papillon

Pekingese

Pomeranian – A small dog as little as 7 inches in height and 3 pounds, to as big as 12 inches and 7 pounds, like other dog breeds it has a double coat, but it has copious amounts of fur that stands off from the skin.  Females shed during breeding season and at times of stress.  Males shed once a year.  Pomeranians are adaptable, alert, cunning, loyal, disrespectful, outgoing, proud, smart, and temperamental.  Due to their alert nature, awareness of their surroundings, and being quick-witted, this breed makes an excellent watchdog.  They can be extremely feisty as well as stubborn, and therefore need a lot of attention.  They can be a joy for children and the elderly, especially widows and widowers.  They only need mild exercise another plus for the elderly.  Supervise them with children since they are temperamental, Pomeranians can become annoyed and bite!  They don’t do well with other dogs as they demand attention as the top pet in the family home.  Training is the key to making this dog an enjoyable pet.  They will become people aggressive if not trained as a puppy.  Incessant barking is a common problem that must be absolutely limited anytime somebody comes to the door, then again when your guest enters the family home.  Without training this dog breed will become unmanageable.  You must TAKE the role as the dominant pack leader and put this breed in its place as a submissive follower amongst your pack.  Life expectancy is up to 15 years.

Poodle

Pug

Shih Tzu

Silky Terrier

Yorkshire Terrier

Working Dogs – Among dog breeds this group was bred to fulfill specific jobs—pull a sled, guard members of your pack, protect my property, and jump in water, amongst others.  They are quick learners, extremely intelligent, talented, and superb companion dogs.  Many dog breeds in this group require an advanced knowledge of dog training in order to maintain a stable family household due to their sheer size and weight. 

Akita

Alaskan Malamute

Anatolian Shepherd

Bernese Mountain Dog

Boxer

Doberman Pinscher

Giant Schnauzer

Great Dane

Great Pyrenees

Greater Swiss Mountain Dog

Komondor

Kuvasz

Newfoundland

Portuguese Water Dog

Rottweiler

Saint Bernard

Samoyed

Siberian Husky - Since I’ve had both a male and presently own a female Husky, I’ll go in depth with regards to this dog breed.  The Siberian Husky is a medium-sized beautiful dog up to 24” in height and up to 80 lbs. in weight with a double coat.  Their outer coat is called a guard hair coat that is composed of multi-colored (white, then black, then white, then black, stacked on top of each other on one hair), long, straight, coarse hairs that keep (guards) the snow from getting to the dense, soft, fluffy, body-heat keeping, under coat.  This double coat is much thicker than a vast majority of other dog breeds.  Due to this fact, and the fact that I live in sunny Southern California, I don’t take my Siberian Husky, Lokee, out for walks during the summer.  Instead I bring her into our air conditioned house and put her on the treadmill for 45 minutes to 1 hr. and 10 minutes.  Beautiful facials masks are a significant plus in AKC competitions and Lokee has this in spades!  Other facial markings can include spectacles around the eyes and any number of variations of the two.  While they have a wolf-like appearance and a wolf-like stare, they are not closely related to wolves at all.  They’re just a dog like other dog breeds.  My first Husky had silver eyes, while Lokee has beautiful sky blue eyes!  Brown eyes or closer to a cinnamon color for cinnamon coated Huskies are common too.  Two different colored eyes are relatively common, but when I looked at a Husky with one silver eye and one medium brown eye, it was not only disconcerting, but very weird looking.  It definitely distracts from the beauty of this breed.  The ears are perfectly proportioned (not like our family’s third dog a German Shepherd—Apollo, it had huge ears), erect, and are well furred inside and out (not like Apollo it had no hair on the inside of its ears) with a triangle shape that comes to a point at the tips.  Lokee has beautiful jet black ultra soft fur on the back of her ears with long white fur on the inside of her ears.  Beautiful!  Her tail is exactly like a fox’s tail, very bushy, a diameter shaped like a thermos brush, but black on the top three-fourths and snow white on the bottom, with a beautiful all white tip!  When hunting insects or lizards, or playing, her tail is carried in a curve slightly above the back in the shape of a sickle.  Nose color varies with coat colors.  Lokee’s nose is neither square, round, or pointed and is black as all should be for the breed.  Be warned, even though this is one of the most beautiful dog breeds, it’s also a high-energy dog requiring plenty of exercise…trust me.  Not only does Lokee get her daily walks of approximately and hour, she gets 2-3 fetch sessions, and a long flirt pole session per day.  Sometimes when supervised, she’ll just run full-speed back and forth along the length of our back yard, maybe 50 strides, and around the outer circumference of our grassy area, maybe 10 strides.  Huskies are absolutely fearless and will walk up to any stranger asking to be petted.  They are therefore not what you’re looking for if you want a guard dog.  They are also unsuitable as a watch dog as Huskies don’t normally bark.  A definite plus in many regards.  They usually vocalize with whines, cry outs, growls, murps, and weird ululations (they use that thing hanging down from the back of your throat).   This is an utterly amazing difference if you’ve ever had an irritating bark-loving dog (Rusty, my Doberman Pinscher/Weimaraner woke me up early each morning with incessant barking).  The only time Lokee barks is if I ask her to, with a command.  Definitely an amazing trait of this dog breed.  Huskies have a strong hunting drive, a propensity to dig, and a drive to escape.  They must be on a leash when walked, for any distraction can lead them to rocket off in any direction, especially lizards, squirrels, large insects, and other pets.  If your fence is not dug in 2 feet deep then you must “tie down” your Husky with metal, anything else it will chew through and do what it loves to do…dig and escape!  In the case of this dog breed it’s ok to keep your dog chained for its own good so it won’t escape and get run over by a car, but make sure it gets adequate exercise, discipline training, play time, affection and love off the chain!  Also if your fence is not 8 feet high your Husky can possibly jump over the fence, especially if it’s a larger male.  Our 6 feet fence keeps our 22" in height, 50.2 lbs in weight, female Husky easily penned in.  She doesn’t even try to jump it.  Huskies are friendly not only to humans, but to dogs and cats as well.  But be careful with that cat, Huskies are energetic and cats seem like play things to them, while cats are low energy creatures and can be petrified of a Husky’s rambunctiousness.  Supervise the first few introductions.  Huskies are also, so lovingly devoted to their owners as Huskies are sociable pack dogs that need to feel that they are always part of the pack.  Huskies also need oils in their diets for their super thick coat and their nails.  Use sardines or flaxseed oil.  Don't use raw avacados, they're too high in saturated fats.  After all this, the number one reason I went back to this dog breed after owning a German Shepherd, a 50/50 Doberman/Weimer mix, is because of the level of this breed’s intelligence.  Unbelievably intelligent, this dog breed was even smarter than the supposedly very high keenly intelligent German Shepherd breed.  Lokee can learn any new trick my wife and I can come up with in less than 5 minutes!  The only drawback I see with this breed is that it blows through its coat twice a year…supposedly.  Lokee sheds all year round, but really blows through her coat just before summer starts…unbelievable amounts of hair.  You can’t go out and enjoy your Husky’s companionship unless you change into clothes that you don’t mind getting copious amounts of fur all over.  Even our inner door mat gets inundated with shed hair.  Oh well, I use swimming trunks that I can shake out, no hairs stick to it.  I also go through t-shirts during the coat blowing time like there’s no tomorrow, but bless my wife’s heart she doesn’t complain.  Grooming during this time is every day, sometimes, when necessary 3-4 times per day.  The rest of the year 1-2 combing/brushing sessions per week works fine.  Huskies keep themselves clean just exactly the way cats do, and have no dog odor.  They can be stubborn if they see no point in a task, but conditioning can alleviate that problem.  Since they were bred to pull, making them heel during walks requires conditioning.  Up to this day, Lokee sometimes forgets that she’s heeling and starts pulling ahead.  All I have to do is sound out one, “tsk” and she slams on the brakes and looks at me waiting to see if she’s going to get a correction jerk on her leash or not.  Finally, Huskies have facial expressions since they have tight lips and therefore, do not drool.  They smile, poof out their upper lip, pout, look sad, look anxious, etc.  Overall Huskies are an extremely beautiful, loving, playful, highly intelligent, fearless, high-energy, diggers, heavy shedders, and an escape-prone dog breed.  If training your dog to do so many different things or beauty is your primary reason for choosing a dog, then this is the breed for you.  If not exercising your dog is your future, then choose one of the other 350 breeds out there for you to love!  Life expectancy is up to 15 years. 

Standard Schnauzer

-End of List-

This page is a work in progress and will eventually have multiple pictures and all breeds described.