What dog breeds are better suited to small spaces

Would you like to have a dog but you don’t want to put it in a small flat? This is the reality of thousands of people, especially young people, who have started their lives away from the family nest and that, due to high housing prices, all they can afford is to live for rent in a house between 20 and 40 m2 in which there is barely room for two people.

The fear that our pet does not have enough space to move, that it is not comfortable or even that it causes damage to the furniture of the house are some of the reasons that stop the lovers of these animals to integrate it into their families and their small houses, mostly located in urban centers.

The key to not giving up on them is to choose dog breeds that adapts, due to its physical characteristics and its character, to living in a smaller space.

What dog breeds are best to choose ?

The “mini dog” par excellence is a small dog, easy to maintain and manage for the family that takes care of it. Therefore, if you are looking for a dog to ‘measure’ of your small house, and with less “maintenance” needs, among the most suitable breeds can be the Chihuaha, the Italian Greyhound, the French Bulldog, the Carlino, the Toy Russian or the Short-haired Miniature Dachshund, which, with its small size and good temperament, combine a very easy-to-maintain coat, reducing the need to go to the hairdresser.

If you are worried about cleaning the house, a Poodle, of which we have four different sizes, or any breed of Water Dog (Spanish, Irish, French, Portuguese or American) can be a very good choice because, although some of them are larger than the miniature races, they all have a particular characteristic and they don’t change their hair and, therefore, they don’t leave it all over the house.

But the variety of small-sized breeds that, in principle, are better suited to a small space, is very large and includes almost all dogs called “companion” or Toy in the Anglo-Saxon world, some as popular and striking as the Bichon Maltese, Bichon Frize, the Yorkshire Terrier, the Pomeranian or Tibetan dogs such as Lhasa Apso or Shih Tzu.

Other small races can coexist perfectly with us in a mini-flat, but due to their character they need more dedication and activity, so we must also assess the time we have to exercise or any activity with them and thus guarantee a successful relationship. Some of these “little athletes” could be the Miniature Schnauzer, the Jack Russell, the Westie, the Miniature Pinscher, the Andalusian and Valencian Mousetraps, and many other small-sized Terrier.

Living in the center of the city, in these ‘mini-floors’, means giving up several meters more from home than we could enjoy in more peripheral areas, but this is not incompatible with being able to take care of the best way for our dog and enjoy his company and love. The only requirement is to choose the dog breeds that best suits our living conditions because, just as we carefully choose our home, they deserve that we do the same to ensure their well-being.