When choosing the right dog for city life, you can test new puppies out for behavior, character and personality, but the truth is that there really is no one all-around best temperament for a city dog. You should choose a dog with a temperament that suits your needs for the way you live.

The best thing you can do is to try to match the temperament of a new puppy with that of your own personality and lifestyle. An active married couple will have different needs than a retired couple or a family with boisterous children… and there will be a pup for each environment.

By picking a dog best suited to your own personality, according to the pup’s temperament, we can reexamine the question of which breed is best for the city. Looking at it from the dog’s standpoint, it doesn’t really matter. Big dog, little dog, longhair, shorthair… any one will be healthy and lead a happy life with you if your temperaments match and if you give the dog the correct training at the right time.

Questions to consider

The big decision here is yours. Do you want a big dog for protection? More and more people think this is a very important factor in a city. Can you afford to feed a big dog? With prices of food what they are in our cities, owning a big dog is like having an extra member of the family at the table each night.

And what about exercise? There seems to be an old wives’ tale about the amount of exercise a big dog needs. A dog, like man, can adapt to the kind of conditions dictated by his lifestyle. The farmer lives a very active life and gets lots of exercise, but his life expectancy is no greater than that of the city businessman who sits behind a desk and gets his exercise only on the weekend. The daily walk and the occasional romp will keep the dog fit and will help you, too.

Which breed is right for the city?

The often-asked question is always: which breed is right for the city? And it might best be answered by strolling through Central Park on a balmy spring evening. You will find every possible breed of dog there if you wait long enough, just as you will see every color and make of car on Fifth avenue.

People like to have their choice, and as far as I’m concerned, no one best car is best for all the different needs of city people. This same statement holds true for picking the right breed for your life in the city. It all comes back to the temperament of the individual dog, and that is the point I am trying to stress.