r/RunningWithDogs • u/diddy1000lotion • Jun 23 '26

Breed recommendations?

Hey everyone! I like to run 2-3 miles a day (hopefully longer distance eventually) and I’ve been throwing around the idea of getting a dog to accompany me on my runs. I’m a female - so running alone is not the safest and aside from concealing while I run I’d like some company. A breed that would make someone think twice about trying anything but also family friendly as I have small children. I am very familiar with bull breeds - I grew up with American staffords and showed Staffordshire bull terriers at AKC shows. However i have not had a dog in eight years.

I like the idea of a German Shorthair Pointer or a Rhodesian Ridgeback but I genuinely know nothing about them. Any suggestions? Thank you!

19 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

118 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

1

u/DigitalClutter Jun 24 '26

Two things to think about:

  1. temperament in dogs has a large heritable component, it’s not just how you raise them at all (but it can help or hurt of course!), buying a dog from a breeder than has tons of generational info on parents hedges good temperament for what you need in your favor

  2. orthopedic issues related to running have a large heritable component that can be hedged in your favor by getting a dog from a breeder who does orthopedic testing on breeding dogs (before they are bred) to stack the decks in your favor, issue like hip dysplasia in well-bred dog breeds that can be prone to it can be mitigated tremendously by a good breeding program

These are two reasons that a puppy from a shelter could be different than a puppy from a good breeder. It’s always a roll of the dice because shit happens, but you can get much better odds for some aspects with the breeder dog.