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This review guide was updated in February 2019.
Who doesn’t love watching their friend dance with a Papillon or seeing a Labrador retriever jump through a hoop?
Among the many requirements for choosing a new furry family member, most people searching for man’s best friend place an easily trained canine at the top of the list.
Numerous factors can impact how easily a canine can be trained, such as age, physical and mental health, and proficiency of a trainer to name a few.
Despite this, many breeds have been branded as easy to train.
No matter if your desire is just a pup that quickly learns not to sit on the couch or a breed that will amaze your friends with its tricks, here is a list of the five easiest dog breeds to train.
Border Collie
This competition breed is renowned for its ease of training.
Extremely active, the Border collie is always looking for something new to do and learn. This is because it is widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed.
However do not be confused, just because this dog is easy to train does not mean that this lively canine is a breeze. Border Collies are highly energetic and rarely sit still, so it’s up to you to occupy them.
Border Collies are medium sized dogs with strong bones and long hair.
Border Collies are also easy to housetrain. If you are looking to housetrain a young border collie, it is recommended you take your puppy out as often as possible. Reward them for going outside when they do, always clean up their mess (this is because the dog thinks it’s okay if it’s not cleaned immediately), and if possible catch them in the act so your dog can learn that it’s not okay.
Labrador Retriever
The Labrador retriever is a very versatile dog.
It can perform a wide range of tasks, including acting as a show dog to a guide dog and even a therapy dog.
This is all because of their incredible ability to learn, loyalty, and soft temper. Labs are also very forgiving to an inexperienced trainer (someone who is not consistent with their behavior teachings).
This forgiving and happy-go-lucky means they always want to be your best friend. Whether it’s playing fetch, lying around the house, or good old fashion rough-housing, a Labrador Retriever, will do it all and more until you are begging to stop.
Just be sure to give them attention, because a bored lab will always find something to do, which may sometimes mean causing no good around the house.
Papillon
This active breed always needs something to keep them busy.
Though Papillons are lively pets, it does not mean that they cannot be easily trained.
These friendly and elegant pup’s always have their wits about them too.
A word from the wise, take these dogs on plenty of walks and give them cool new tricks to practice and learn!
This breed is one of the easier breeds to train, but due to their animated and bubbly attitude that requires more attention, they are slightly lower on the list. Do not let this discourage you though – if it a small lovable dog you’re looking for, look no further.
Different from most toy breeds, the Papillon is not generalized as stubborn and difficult. Instead, the Papillon shines as an easy-going trainee without asking for too much pup in a little package. A bonus for this playful breed is that it is very good with children.
German Shepherd
This handyman dog is the backbone of many industries.
Used from a guard duty to bomb sniffer, this breed could be your fun home protector.
German shepherd’s are intelligent and dedicated.
Perhaps it is their persistent attitude that makes them so easily potty trained.
You may be asking yourself why the German shepherd is so low on the list if it is a playful, loving, and dedicated pet.
This is because of their dominating and rough play habits with other dogs. Don’t count this breed out just yet though. Even if this dog is rough at times, it doesn’t mean that she won’t be a loving and loyal creature. It is this devoutness that makes a German shepherd great for other pets as it finds its role being a home guardian and includes other pets as members of this home to protect.
Poodle
Poodles get a bad rap in movies as stuck up, pretentious, Hollywood dogs owned by the rich and famous.
Despite this unfortunate reputation, they make great companions.
In a past life, they were used as a circus dog, and that’s not by coincidence. The breed is attuned to learning exciting tricks and commands. New trainers must be steadfast as a wavering trainer can make the poodle stubborn. However, this does not lessen from the poodle’s eagerness to learn.
We recommend full poodles as compared to miniature or toy poodles because of the other breeds tendencies to be stubborn combined with their competition for attention with children.
Do not be disheartened over the fact the smaller package is tough to deal with.
The standard poodle is laid back and ready to hang out when needed.
We hope this roundup has shed some light on the top five easiest dog breeds to train.
This all might sound great but remember every dog, like any person, has its own furry personality.
These results were compiled over a broad generalization of dog breeds that are mostly easy to train on basic obedience commands and doggy manners.
Always consider a professional trainer if you feel that you are not skilled enough to train the dog yourself. Still, these dogs are far more capable of just the basics, so if you want more – these are the dogs for you.
If that’s not what you want, these dogs will still be very well-behaved, and you can always teach them some cool tricks later in life as well.