Take this ten-question quiz to find the dog breeds that best fit your lifestyle. The quiz weighs your living space, exercise hours, household, grooming tolerance, and temperament preferences against trait data for 276 breeds and returns your top three matches with a link to each breed’s full profile.
How the dog breed quiz works
Each question maps to one or more of the fourteen behavioural and care traits that distinguish breeds: energy level, trainability, grooming frequency, shedding, suitability for children, suitability for other pets, watchdog tendency, adaptability, and so on. Trait scores come from the American Kennel Club’s published breed standards for recognised breeds, and from averaged parent-breed data for designer crosses such as the labradoodle or cavapoo.
Your top three matches are diversified by group, so you will not get three retrievers in a row even if they all score similarly. Hard filters apply to size and hypoallergenic requirements, so a Great Dane will not surface for someone who selected “toy” or who needs a low-allergen coat.
Frequently asked questions
Is the breed quiz free?
Yes, the quiz is free and does not require an account or email signup. Your answers are processed in your browser and are not stored.
How accurate is the matchmaker?
The quiz is a guide, not a verdict. Breed traits describe averages for the breed, and individual dogs vary within those averages depending on lineage, socialisation, training, and health. Use the results as a shortlist to research further, ideally by meeting a breeder, a rescue, or someone who lives with the breed day to day.
Which breeds are included?
The current pool covers 276 breeds: every AKC-recognised breed plus most foundation stock service breeds, and the most popular designer crosses (labradoodle, goldendoodle, cavapoo, cockapoo, bernedoodle, and roughly forty others). Rare or regional breeds without published trait data are not yet in the matcher, though most have full profiles in the A-Z dog breeds directory.
Does the quiz consider mixed breeds?
Yes. The 46 designer crosses in the pool inherit their trait scores from the average of their parent breeds. A labradoodle, for example, scores at the midpoint between a Labrador Retriever and a Standard Poodle, which produces a sensible profile in most cases though individual mixed dogs can vary in either direction.
What if I want a breed that didn’t appear in my results?
Adjust the answers and retake the quiz, or browse the directory directly. The matchmaker is designed to suggest breeds that fit your stated constraints, so loosening a constraint (for example, increasing your exercise budget) will surface different recommendations.
After the quiz
Once you have a shortlist, the next steps depend on whether you are buying from a breeder or adopting from a rescue. For a breeder, check that they health-test breeding stock for the conditions common to the breed, that puppies stay with the litter until at least eight weeks, and that you can visit and meet the parents. For a rescue, ask about the dog’s history, energy level, and behaviour with children or other animals if those apply to your home.
You can also explore all 333 dog breed profiles, or read about choosing a name once you have settled on a breed.