Medium Sized Puppies

What counts as a medium dog

A medium dog is the one you could pick up if you had to, and would rather not have to. Roughly speaking the band runs from the low twenties in pounds up to around fifty. That is big enough to feel like a real dog leaning against your leg on the sofa, and light enough to lift into the back of a car, carry down a flight of stairs, or move off the good chair without making a project of it.

The dogs inside that band have very little else in common. A Beagle and an Italian Greyhound land at about the same place on the scale and want completely different days out of you. So size is where you start rather than where you finish. It tells you how much dog will be in the room. Coat and energy tell you what the rest of it is like, which is how the breeds below are grouped.

What the middle of the range gives you

Medium dogs fit into ordinary houses without either dominating them or disappearing into them. A dog this size can walk as far as you want to walk on a Saturday and then fold up on a cushion for the rest of the afternoon. In a car they ride in the back seat or a crate that still leaves room for the groceries. In a building with a weight limit on the lease, they are usually the biggest dog that clears it.

They are also an easy size to handle physically, which matters more day to day than people expect. Leash manners come together quickly when a keen pull does not move you sideways. A bath happens in your own tub. A trip to the groomer or across town to a friend’s house is a dog you can carry through a doorway rather than a piece of planning. Families with young children often land in this range for exactly that reason: sturdy enough for a game in the yard, light enough for one adult to manage alone.

Sorting them by coat

Short, smooth coats are the simplest to keep and the coolest through a Florida or Tennessee summer. The Beagle, the Boston Terrier, the Pug, the French Bulldog, the Italian Greyhound and the smooth Dachshund all sit here. A rubber curry brush once a week and a towel by the back door is most of the routine, and a wet dog is dry again by the time you have hung up the leash.

Double coats are thicker and stand away from the body — plush to bury your hands in, and built to be brushed rather than trimmed. The Shiba Inu, the American Eskimo, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and the Shetland Sheepdog belong to this group. They turn their undercoat over a couple of times a year, and an undercoat rake plus half an hour on the porch handles it. The rest of the year, a weekly going-over keeps the coat lying the way it is supposed to.

Silky, flowing coats sit in between. The Cocker Spaniel and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel carry feathering on the ears, chest and legs that answers well to a comb through and a tidy-up at the groomer every couple of months. The Cockalier, which brings the two together, sits in the same place and has the same soft ears.

Curly and wavy coats hold their hair in the coat rather than dropping it around the house, and this is the largest group in the medium range. The Mini Poodle and the Moyen Poodle anchor it, and most of the mini doodles sit alongside — the Mini Goldendoodle, the Mini Labradoodle, the Mini Bernedoodle and the Mini Whoodle among them. These coats trade a broom for a standing appointment with a groomer, plus a comb between visits to keep everything moving freely.

Wiry coats round the group out. The Cairn Terrier’s harsh outer jacket is the classic example: weatherproof, low-fuss, and still looking like itself at the end of a muddy walk.

Sorting them by energy

Sporting and herding backgrounds want a job. The German Shorthaired Pointer is the athlete of this group by some margin, bred for long days in the field and happiest with a real outing rather than a lap of the block. The Mini Australian Shepherd and the Shetland Sheepdog carry herding brains: quick to learn, keen to be given something to do, and very good at dog sports if that appeals to you. Both will learn a trick faster than you can decide what to teach next.

Terrier and hound energy runs in bursts rather than stamina. The Jack Russell Terrier and the Cairn Terrier are busy, curious and funny about it, with a real capacity to entertain themselves in a yard. The Beagle and the Puggle work with their noses, which makes a long walk on a secure leash the best hour of their day and a fenced yard the easiest hour of yours.

Steady, middle-of-the-road company is what most people are actually after, and there is plenty of it here. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, the Cocker Spaniel and the Mini Golden Retriever all want a decent walk and then your company, roughly in that order — they are the dogs that follow you from the kitchen to the sofa and back without being asked. The Pug, the French Bulldog and the Boston Terrier are the indoor end of the range: a stroll in the cool part of the day, then a warm spot and a long nap.

The Italian Greyhound deserves a note of its own. It runs like the much larger sighthound it is a scaled copy of for about four minutes, and then sleeps under a blanket for the rest of the day. People either love that combination on sight or never quite see it coming.

Narrowing it down

Three questions do most of the work.

How much dog do you want in the house? Everything here is medium, but the bottom and the top of the band feel different in a hallway. Stand next to a Pug and then next to a German Shorthaired Pointer and you will know inside a minute which end you belong at.

How much coat do you want to look after? A smooth coat is a brush and a wipe. A curly coat is a groomer every couple of months and a comb between visits. Neither is better than the other — they are different rhythms, and it is worth picking the one that fits your week rather than the one that photographs best.

How much company will the dog have? If somebody is usually home, a herding brain has an outlet all day and thrives on it. If the house is quieter during the working day, the steadier end settles in beautifully — the spaniels, the Cavamalt, the smaller retrievers and the short-coated companions who treat the sofa as a full-time position.

The care routine, week to week

The rhythm is much the same across the size. Brushing is the anchor: once a week for the smooth coats, two or three times a week for the silky and curly ones, and a longer session with a rake when a double coat turns over. Nails get trimmed every few weeks, ears wiped after a swim or a bath, and teeth brushed on whatever evening you can make a habit of.

Exercise settles into a shape quickly. Most medium dogs are content with a good walk or two a day plus some play in between, and the busier breeds simply want that walk to be longer or to involve a ball. In the warmer months, the cool ends of the day are the pleasant ones for everybody, and a bowl of water in the shade makes a yard session easy.

Food, a crate or a bed of their own, a leash that fits, and a routine they can predict — that is the whole kit for a dog this size. Our team can talk you through what a particular puppy has been eating and how its day has been shaped so far, so the first week at home carries on rather than starts over.

Come and meet the medium breeds

Photographs flatten size, and this is the range where that matters most. A Corgi and a Cocker Spaniel read as the same dog on a phone screen and feel nothing alike when one of them puts its chin on your knee. Standing in front of a few of them is the fastest way to work out which end of the middle you want.

Our puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and there is no rush on your side of it — sit on the floor, meet two or three, ask us anything. We have a store in Orlando and a store in Nashville. Find directions and hours, and if you would like to spread the cost, ask about financing while you are with us. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.