The Working Dogs

The following dog types are commonly available for adoption in rescue homes and animal shelters:

Sporting Dogs – Dogs that are largely used as sporting dogs breeds are the spaniels, pointers, setters and retrievers. Sporting dogs is a product of years of breeding to come out with dogs that work closely with their owners and are comfortable on land, and is not intimidated by water. Sporting dogs also called gun dogs are popular for their ability to work with other dogs. They excel in outdoor activities as they are bred for hunting. Sporting dogs are loyal and friendly. They love interacting and playing with the whole family and are protective with children. Another endearing quality of the sporting dog is being affectionate and gentle.

Herding Dogs – Are also known as pastoral or working dogs. These dog breed are trained to work with other animals. Some herding dogs work well with most animals while other breeds are trained over generations to work with specific groups of animals making them adapted to specific animal traits enhancing their ability to the animal group that they are working on. Typically, animals that sporting dogs works best are sheep, cattle, deer, goats, and poultry. Herding dogs generally are intelligent animals. Their ability to follow commands is renowned all over the world. Herding dogs makes good family pets. However, they are most happy when they are used as workers. That is the purpose of their breeding and they are seldom happy when inactive. Herding dogs are very lively and strong and need a lot of exercise and activity. Some of the most popular breed of herding dogs are the Coolie, Shepherd, Kelpie, Sheepdog, Herder, Corgi and Terriers.

Hound Dogs – Hound dogs are also sporting dogs although its main purpose is to track their prey. Different from sporting dogs, hound dogs do not raise their tail to the direction of the prey like pointers nor do they kill them like retrievers. Instead they assist hunters by chasing the prey using their scant and sight. There are variations of hound dogs. The most popular are the Scent Dogs and the Sight Dogs.

The Scent Dogs – We all know that dogs have superior ability to smell and distinguish scents. Scent dogs though are on the top of the list for using their have spectacular sense of smell that enables them to track their prey several miles away. Scent dogs have droopy ears and long moist noses and lips that traps more scent particles that in turn enhance their sense of smell.

The Sight Dogs – Are agile and have the endurance to track down and chase their prey. Unlike sight hounds, these dog breeds use their superior ability to spot even small moving objects from a good distance. Sight hounds are fast runners. Because of that, they are characterized by highly flexible spines, deep chest, and big lungs and have very nimble bodies.

Non-sporting dogs – Are dogs that were previously bred for specific tasks. As times changed, so did their duties and purpose. There is no definite category for these dog breeds except that over the years their function were deemed less important than the general value that they serve whether as pets, entertainers, companions, guardians etc. Generally these dogs have good appearance but because there is no particular breeding for purpose, non-sporting dogs are now what we may call an all-purpose dog that shares all the positive features found in all dog breeds but may have no particular outstanding trait.