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Are there any dog breeds that can live in an apartment, yet make good jogging companions?

Almost any dog can live in an apartment, IF...and this is a big IF...they get enough exercise and the right kind of exercise. If you plan on jogging your dog, and as long as you can make the dog heel on the jog so the dog is not worrying about being your leader, but rather relaxing as he is following you, you have a very wide range of dogs to choose from. Most dogs in the shelters are there because their owners... ONE did not provide proper leadership and TWO did not exercise them properly. A big backyard is not going to cut it. So those people who live in an apartment who actually walk their dogs (assuming they make them heel on the lead) are often better off than those who are simply only let out into the fenced backyard for exercise. Dog park exercise is excited exercise and it is not recommended as the only source of exercise a dog receives. It keeps the dog in an excited state of mind.


There are SO MANY great jogging companions in shelters. If you plan to jog every day then you would even qualify for a higher energy dog even though you are in an apartment. But if you plan on only jogging 2 or 3 times a week and plan to only walk the dog the remaining days, I would go with a medium-energy dog.

The thing to remember is, it is not necessarily the breed you are looking for but the energy level of that particular dog. There are pups born within every litter that are higher energy than other pups within the same litter, dogs within the same breed that are higher energy than others. That is why some folks will, for example, get a Lab as a pet and think it is wonderful and when that dog passes away they get another Lab and find the next one to be a nightmare. Their first Lab was low energy and low dominancy and the second one is high and high. Sure a Pointer is going to always be higher than a Clumber Spaniel, but they will still vary from dog to dog within the same breed.