'I'm a dog trainer and there are six breeds first-time owners should avoid'

First-time dog owners have been warned against choosing six particular breeds. The advice was shared by TikTok user @ingrid.pups, a dog trainer with over 125,000 followers on the platform.

Sharing advice in a video, Ingrid said: "I'm a dog trainer who's been handling dogs for over eight years and I have met hundreds of breeds over the years. So these are the breeds that I would not recommend for first-time dog owners, keyword first-time dog owners."

Australian Shepherd

Ingrid said: "They are a high need and high drive dog. If you don't have a lot of property or a lot of determination to be constantly stimulating your dog, not a good idea."

Border Collie

"Pretty much the same thing as the Aussie, just they have high needs and they need to be working," Ingrid advised. "So if you're not constantly ready to work with your dog, Border Collie is not a good option."

German Shepherd

The trainer said: "I think their looks are very appealing, and you know a lot of people had them as like their childhood dog, their parents had them when they were kids.

"So they're like I want a German Shepherd, but the key with German Shepherds is they are very sensitive, and they're very territorial, and they're very specific to their humans. So for the average first-time dog owner, it's a lot of dog to take on, and most people just aren't prepared.

Huskies

"Another very common first-time dog owner dog, and Huskies are just some of the wildest temperament dogs that exist. If you're prepared to have a dog that's just gonna be wanting to do what it wants to do all the time, fine, but I don't think it's the right dog for a first-time dog owner, unless you know the breed very, very, very, very well cause it's a lot of dog.

Belgian Malinois

"This next one should be totally obvious but I feel like I have to mention it, just as the breed has skyrocketed in popularity, but Belgian Malinois. Enough said," suggested Ingrid.

Doodles

Ingrid claimed: "The key here is ethical doodle breeding just does not exist. There's no breed standard and even if they say they run health tests it's just mixing breeds intentionally for profit, it's not ethical, that's what it comes down to."

Ingrid added: "If you're a first-time dog owner and you want a doodle, a better option would be a Portuguese Water Dog. It depends on if your reasoning for wanting a doodle is because they're cute or if your reasoning is because they're hypo.

"So Portuguese Water Dog would be a better option if it's the hypo version. If it's a cute there's way better cute dogs that are better like Bernese Mountain Dog, Golden, Lab, all those."