Most of us have a fairly clear idea of our ideal dog breed in terms of what we think makes a good looking dog with a nice personality, but when it comes to picking the right breed or type of dog for you, there are a range of other considerations to take into account too.

It is vital to choose a dog that will match your lifestyle, in the best interests of both the dog and yourself-which means that if your home is small you may not be able to get a giant breed, and if you are not hugely into fitness and outdoor pursuits, you should rule out a really energetic breed-and this is just the start!

While we all know someone who owns a dog that seems to be a strange fit in terms of living situation, interests and activity levels-with varying degrees of success-picking a dog whose lifestyle or needs are not a good match for what you can provide can cause endless problems. This means considering all of the variable when deciding upon the right type of dog for you-and if you live in a city or built-up suburban area, work full time and/or don’t want to spend all of your free time trying to fulfil your dog’s needs for exercise and entertainment, it is important to bear this in mind.

It is of course vital to remember that all dogs need exercise, training, entertainment and socialisation-there is no such thing as a dog that does not need to be walked or that can be expected to be happy shut indoors all day. Half an hour (or preferably an hour) of interactive exercise per day is the bare minimum required by any dog breed-and there is no getting around this!

In this article, we will suggest five dog breeds that generally make for excellent suburban or city dogs, in that they have low to moderate exercise requirement, are happy being indoors a lot of the time, and that fit well into an urban or suburban environment. Read on to learn more.

The English bulldog

The English bulldog is a very heavy and muscular dog breed with short legs and a large brachycephalic face and head, none of which are traits that we associated with hugely lively, excitable dogs! The English bulldog tends to be a slow, sedentary breed that will spend a lot of time dozing and lying around, and that will generally not only be happy with a gentle hour’s walk a day, but that will often flatly refuse to do any more!

The English bulldog also tends to cope well if left to their own devices for a few hours each day while you work, although no dog should be left for longer than four hours without being able to stretch their legs and do their business.

The Chihuahua

The Chihuahua is of course the smallest dog breed, which partially explains why they are so popular with people who live in small homes! While they tend to be energetic, lively and intelligent little dogs that will soon run rings around the unprepared first time owner, they can and usually do live perfectly happily in small urban homes with working people.

Although the breed is lively and you cannot neglect their walks, their short legs also mean that they are apt to tire out quickly, and so a walk around the block and some playtime in the dog park each day is often enough to keep them happy, assuming that you give them plenty to do and entertain themselves with while at home too.

The Chinese crested

Both the hairless and furry variant of the Chinese crested breed tend to make for excellent house dogs, and they really love their creature comforts including baths, pyjamas and coats and booties for winter walks! Again, they are generally totally happy with a couple of half-hour walks per day, but they also love company, and will not like to be left alone within the home for long periods of time.

The greyhound

The tall, lanky and of course lightning-fast greyhound might not be a breed that you commonly associate with a chilled out home life, but think again! Greyhounds are well renowned as the ultimate couch potatoes of the dog world, and whilst they do definitely need a couple of daily walks and the chance to run off the lead in a secured dog park, they can then be expected to spend most of the rest of the day lazing around on the sofa recovering from it!

The Basset hound

The Basset hound is a long, muscular scent hound that is distinctive to its possession of a form of canine achondroplasia, or dwarfism-this gives the breed its regular-length body and short legs.

Bassets do like to run, play and hare about much like any other dog, but they do not have the stamina nor conformation to keep it up for very long-this, combined with their ability to entertain themselves happily with their own toys for a few hours makes them another good choice of urban dog.