While each dog has their own type of personality, there are some breeds that have a disobedient streak. If you’ve never had a dog before, this could potentially make them unsuitable for beginners.
Canine behavioural specialist Will Atherton said: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with thousands of different dogs and thousands of different owners. That has allowed me to work with countless different breeds of dogs.” He has offered his expert advice on some of the most difficult breeds to train, which could come in useful if you’re planning on introducing a dog to the family.
Siberian Husky
“I always sigh if I realise I’m going to be working with a Siberian Husky,” Will confessed. He described the Siberian Husky’s temperament as “frustrating”, admitting that training this breed is “challenging”.
He explained: “In my experience, Siberian Huskies are almost cat-like; they have very little desire to please their owner. They know what they want and all they care about is getting what they want [without following orders].”
These dogs are “ludicrously high-energy dogs” that are bred to run up to “30 miles a day, in brutal conditions, pulling extremely heavy sleds”.
Will explained: “Then we bring them into our home and expect them to be happy and content with a 20-minute walk round the block.”
Emphasising that this isn’t going to bring the dog happiness, and with them being “drama queens”, you can expect “squealing and howling”.
“They’re incredibly dramatic,” Will said. “Which makes it more challenging, frankly more embarrassing and difficult to work with.”
He made clear: “I would never choose to own one myself in the future.”
Poodle mixes
The second type of breed that Will isn’t keen on training is “anything a poo: Cockapoo, Cavapoo, you name it”.
Will explained: “I find that the people that gravitate towards these breeds tend to make the cardinal sin of humanising dogs, [which] can create huge problems.”
A lot of time needs to be spent unpicking these bad habits, teaching owners how to become better ‘canine leaders’.
Caucasian Shepherd
The third dog breed Will doesn’t relish training is the Caucasian Shepherd, or the Central Asian Shepherd.
He said: “Luckily, they’re incredibly rare so I’ve only had to work with a handful of them myself.”
Will explained that he gets “nervous” about working with them because they “scare him the most”. They can display aggressive and violent behaviour, and “very, very few people” should truly own them.
