Medium-sized dog breeds: profiles from A to Z

For many people, medium-sized dogs are the compromise: big enough for long outings, small enough for the car and a flat. The range is still broad, from easy-going companions to working dogs needing daily tasks.

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Medium-sized breeds in the Dog Breed Encyclopedia (112)

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A quick comparison

Breed	Height according to the standard	For beginners
American Staffordshire Terrier	preferred: males around 46 to 48 cm, females 43 to 46 cm	With reservations
American Water Spaniel	Males and females 38 to 46 cm	With reservations
Medium-Sized Anglo-French Hound (Anglo-Français de Petite Vénerie)	48 to 56 cm, with a tolerance of 2 cm above and below for outstanding dogs	Generally unsuitable
Appenzell Cattle Dog (Appenzeller Sennenhund)	Males 52 to 56 cm, females 50 to 54 cm, tolerance plus or minus 2 cm	Generally unsuitable
Ariégeois	males 52 to 58 cm, females 50 to 56 cm	With reservations
Australian Cattle Dog	Males 46 to 51 cm, females 43 to 48 cm	Generally unsuitable
Australian Kelpie	Males 46 to 51 cm, females 43 to 48 cm	Generally unsuitable
Australian Shepherd	preferred: males 51 to 58 cm, females 46 to 53 cm	With reservations
Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog	Males 46 to 51 cm, females 43 to 48 cm	Generally unsuitable
Basenji	Ideal males 43 cm, females 40 cm	With reservations
Bavarian Mountain Scent Hound (Bayerischer Gebirgsschweißhund)	Males 47 to 52 cm, females 44 to 48 cm, no tolerance	Generally unsuitable
Beagle-Harrier	45 to 50 cm (no distinction by sex)	With reservations
Bearded Collie	ideal: males 53 to 56 cm, females 51 to 53 cm	With reservations
Bedlington Terrier	around 41 cm; slightly below permitted for females, slightly above for males	With reservations
Bohemian Shepherd Dog (Chodský pes)	Males 52 to 55 cm, females 49 to 52 cm; males below 50 or above 57 cm and females below 47 or above 54 cm disqualified	With reservations
Border Collie	ideal: males 53 cm, females slightly less	Generally unsuitable
Bosnian Broken-haired Hound (Bosanski Ostrodlaki Gonic-Barak)	males 46 to 56 cm, ideally 52 cm; females slightly smaller	Generally unsuitable
Austrian Black and Tan Hound (Brandlbracke, Vieräugl)	Males 50 to 56 cm, females 48 to 54 cm	Generally unsuitable
Bourbonnais Pointing Dog (Braque du Bourbonnais)	Males 51 to 57 cm, females 48 to 55 cm, tolerance of 1 cm above and below	Generally unsuitable
French Pointing Dog, Pyrenean type (Braque Français - Type Pyrenees)	Males 51 to 58 cm, females 49 to 56 cm	Generally unsuitable
Brittany Spaniel (Epagneul Breton)	Males 48 to 51 cm, females 47 to 50 cm, each with 1 cm tolerance; ideal males 49 to 50 cm, females 48 to 49 cm	With reservations
Briquet Griffon Vendéen	males 50 to 55 cm, females 48 to 53 cm, tolerance of 1 cm above or below	Generally unsuitable
Brazilian Campeiro Bulldog (Buldogue Campeiro)	Males 51 to 58 cm, females 49 to 56 cm	With reservations
Bull Terrier	deliberately not specified in the FCI standard; maximum substance for size is required	Generally unsuitable
Chow Chow	males 48 to 56 cm, females 46 to 51 cm	Generally unsuitable
Cirneco dell'Etna	Males 46 to 50 cm, females 44 to 48 cm; tolerance 2 cm below minimum and 2 cm above maximum	With reservations
Continental Bulldog	Males 42 to 50 cm, females 40 to 48 cm	With reservations
Saint Miguel Cattle Dog (Cão Fila de São Miguel)	Males 50 to 60 cm, females 48 to 58 cm	Generally unsuitable
German Hound (Deutsche Bracke)	40 to 53 cm (shoulder height), slightly above permitted	Generally unsuitable
German Pinscher (Deutscher Pinscher)	Males and females 45 to 50 cm	With reservations
German Spaniel (Deutscher Wachtelhund)	Males 48 to 54 cm, females 45 to 52 cm	Generally unsuitable
Serbian Tricolour Hound (Srpski Trobojni Gonic)	Males 45 to 55 cm (ideal 51 cm), females 44 to 54 cm (ideal 49 cm)	Generally unsuitable
Norwegian Hound (Dunker)	Males 50 to 58 cm (ideal 52 to 54 cm), females 47 to 54 cm (ideal 49 to 51 cm)	With reservations
Bulldog	Not specified in the FCI standard	With reservations
English Springer Spaniel	around 51 cm (one figure for males and females)	With reservations
Entlebuch Cattle Dog (Entlebucher Sennenhund)	males 44 to 50 cm (tolerance to 52 cm), females 42 to 48 cm (tolerance to 50 cm)	With reservations
Estonian Hound (Eesti Hagijas)	males 45 to 52 cm, females 42 to 49 cm	Generally unsuitable
Field Spaniel	Males and females approx. 46 cm	With reservations
Finnish Spitz (Suomenpystykorva)	Males 44 to 50 cm (ideal 47 cm), females 39 to 45 cm (ideal 42 cm); height outside the range disqualifies	With reservations
Finnish Lapphund (Suomenlapinkoira)	Ideal males 49 cm, females 44 cm, tolerance 3 cm; type more important than size	Suitable
Lapponian Herder (Lapinporokoira)	ideal males 51 cm, females 46 cm, tolerance plus or minus 3 cm	With reservations
Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen	Males 40 to 44 cm, females 39 to 43 cm, tolerance of 1 cm above or below	Generally unsuitable
Hellenic Hound (Hellinikos Ichnilatis)	Males 47 to 55 cm, females 45 to 53 cm (tolerance 2 cm above or below)	Generally unsuitable
Blue Gascony Griffon (Griffon Bleu de Gascogne)	Males 50 to 57 cm, females 48 to 55 cm	With reservations
Fawn Brittany Griffon (Griffon Fauve de Bretagne)	males and females 48 to 56 cm, with up to 2 cm extra tolerated for exceptional dogs	Generally unsuitable
Hanoverian Scent Hound (Hannoverscher Schweißhund)	Males 50 to 55 cm, females 48 to 53 cm	Generally unsuitable
Harrier	48 to a maximum of 55 cm, preferably 48 to 50 cm	Generally unsuitable
Hokkaido	Males 48,5 to 51,5 cm, females 45,5 to 48,5 cm	Generally unsuitable
Hygen Hound (Hygenhund)	Males 50 to 58 cm (ideal 54 cm), females 47 to 55 cm (ideal 51 cm)	Generally unsuitable
Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier	males 46 to 48 cm, females slightly less	With reservations
Irish Terrier	approximately 45,5 cm (18 inches)	With reservations
Icelandic Sheepdog (Íslenskur Fjárhundur)	ideal: males 46 cm, females 42 cm	With reservations
Kai (Kai Tora-Ken)	Males 50 cm, females 45 cm, with a tolerance of plus or minus 3 cm	Generally unsuitable
Canaan Dog	50 to 60 cm; males may be considerably larger than females	With reservations
Catalan Sheepdog (Gos d'Atura Català)	males 47 to 55 cm, females 45 to 53 cm; more than 3 cm above or below leads to disqualification	With reservations
Kerry Blue Terrier	Males 45,5 to 49,5 cm, females 44,5 to 48 cm	With reservations
Kintamani-Bali Dog (Anjing Kintamani-Bali)	Males 49 to 57 cm, preferably 53 cm; females 44 to 52 cm, preferably 48 cm	With reservations
Kishu (Kishu Ken)	Males 52 cm, females 49 cm, with a tolerance of plus or minus 3 cm	Generally unsuitable
Small Munsterlander (Kleiner Münsterländer)	Males 54 cm, females 52 cm, plus or minus 2 cm allowed for each	With reservations
Korean Jindo (Korea Jindo Dog)	Males 50 to 55 cm (ideal 53 to 54 cm), females 45 to 50 cm (ideal 48 to 49 cm); over- and undersize disqualify	Generally unsuitable
Croatian Shepherd Dog (Hrvatski Ovčar)	males 45 to 50 cm, females 43 to 48 cm; 3 cm above or below tolerated in dogs of excellent type and construction	With reservations
Kromfohrländer	38 to 46 cm	Suitable
Istrian Short-haired Hound (Istarski Kratkodlaki Gonic)	Males 49 to 53 cm, females 47 to 51 cm; with excellent type, 3 cm above or below tolerated	Generally unsuitable
Lagotto Romagnolo	Males 43 to 48 cm, females 41 to 46 cm, tolerance plus or minus 1 cm	Suitable
Long-haired Pyrenean Sheepdog (Chien de Berger des Pyrénées à poil long)	males 42 to 48 cm, females 40 to 46 cm; 2 cm above or below tolerated in dogs of completely typical breed type	Generally unsuitable
Manchester Terrier	ideally males 41 cm, females 38 cm	With reservations
Miniature American Shepherd	Males 35,5 to 46 cm, females 33 to 43,5 cm	With reservations
Montenegrin Mountain Hound (Crnogorski Planinski Gonic)	44 to 54 cm; ideal males 49 to 50 cm, females 48 to 49 cm	Generally unsuitable
Mudi	males 41 to 47 cm (ideal 43 to 45 cm), females 38 to 44 cm (ideal 40 to 42 cm)	With reservations
Dutch Schapendoes (Nederlandse Schapendoes)	males 43 to 50 cm, females 40 to 47 cm	With reservations
Norrbottenspitz (Norrbottenspets)	Ideal height: males 45 cm, females 42 cm, tolerance plus or minus 2 cm	With reservations
Norwegian Buhund (Norsk Buhund)	Males 43 to 47 cm, females 41 to 45 cm; more than 1 cm below or 2 cm above the ideal height disqualifies	With reservations
Norwegian Elkhound Grey (Norsk Elghund Grå)	ideal height males 52 cm, females 49 cm; 3 cm below or 4 cm above leads to disqualification	With reservations
Norwegian Elkhound Black (Norsk Elghund Sort)	Males 46 to 49 cm (ideal 47 cm), females 43 to 46 cm (ideal 44 cm)	With reservations
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever	Ideal height from 18 months: males 48 to 51 cm, females 45 to 48 cm; deviation of 2,5 cm permitted	With reservations
Austrian Pinscher (Österreichischer Pinscher)	42 to 50 cm; males 44 to 50 cm, females 42 to 48 cm	With reservations
Peruvian Hairless Dog (Perro sin Pelo del Perú)	three sizes: small 25 to 40 cm, medium 41 to 50 cm, large 51 to 65 cm	With reservations
Small Blue Gascony (Petit Bleu de Gascogne)	males 52 to 58 cm, females 50 to 56 cm	With reservations
Polish Lowland Sheepdog (Polski Owczarek Nizinny)	Males 45 to 50 cm, females 42 to 47 cm; height should not fall below the standard	With reservations
Pont-Audemer Spaniel (Epagneul de Pont-Audemer)	52 to 58 cm (the standard does not distinguish sexes)	Generally unsuitable
Portuguese Podengo (Podengo Português)	Small 20 to 30 cm, medium 40 to 54 cm, large 55 to 70 cm (no distinction by sex)	With reservations
Portuguese Sheepdog (Cão da Serra de Aires)	males 45 to 55 cm, females 42 to 52 cm	With reservations
Portuguese Water Dog (Cão de Água Português)	Males 50 to 57 cm (ideal 54 cm), females 43 to 52 cm (ideal 46 cm)	With reservations
Posavatz Hound (Posavski Gonič)	males 50 to 56 cm, females 47 to 53 cm; 2 cm above or below tolerated in dogs of excellent type	Generally unsuitable
Poodle (Caniche): Standard to Toy	Standard over 45 to 60 cm (2 cm tolerance), Medium over 35 to 45 cm, Miniature over 28 to 35 cm, Toy over 24 to 28 cm (ideal 25 cm)	Suitable
Puli	Males 39 to 45 cm (ideal 41 to 43 cm), females 36 to 42 cm (ideal 38 to 40 cm)	With reservations
Pumi	males 41 to 47 cm (ideal 43 to 45 cm), females 38 to 44 cm (ideal 40 to 42 cm)	With reservations
Smooth-faced Pyrenean Sheepdog (Chien de Berger des Pyrénées à Face Rase)	Males 40 to 54 cm, females 40 to 52 cm	With reservations
Istrian Wire-haired Hound (Istarski Oštrodlaki Gonič)	males 50 to 54 cm, females 48 to 52 cm; dogs of excellent type may be 3 cm above or below these limits	Generally unsuitable
Russian-European Laika (Russko-Evropeïskaïa Laïka)	Males 52 to 58 cm, females 48 to 54 cm	Generally unsuitable
Colombian Fino Hound (Sabueso Fino Colombiano)	Two sizes, without distinction by sex: standard 45 to 50 cm (2 cm below tolerated), large 51 to 58 cm (2 cm above tolerated)	With reservations
Standard Schnauzer (Schnauzer)	Males and females 45 to 50 cm	With reservations
Swedish Lapphund (Svensk Lapphund)	Ideal height: males 48 cm, females 43 cm, each with 3 cm tolerance above and below	Suitable
Swiss Hound (Schweizer Laufhund, Chien Courant Suisse)	males 49 to 59 cm, females 47 to 57 cm, no tolerance	Generally unsuitable
Appennine Hound (Segugio dell’Appennino)	Males 44 to 50 cm, females 42 to 48 cm; 2 cm above or below allowed in excellent dogs	Generally unsuitable
Italian Short-haired Segugio (Segugio Italiano a pelo raso)	males 52 to 58 cm, females 48 to 56 cm; 2 cm above or below tolerated only in excellent dogs	Generally unsuitable
Segugio Maremmano	Males 48 to 54 cm, females 46 to 52 cm, plus or minus 2 cm tolerated in otherwise excellent dogs	Generally unsuitable
Serbian Hound (Srpski Gonič)	Males 46 to 56 cm (ideal 51 to 52 cm), females 44 to 54 cm (ideal 48 to 49 cm)	Generally unsuitable
Shar Pei	44 to 51 cm	Generally unsuitable
Shikoku (Kochi-Ken)	Males 52 cm, females 49 cm, with a tolerance of plus or minus 3 cm	Generally unsuitable
Slovakian Hound (Slovenský Kopov)	Males 45 to 50 cm, females 40 to 45 cm (ideal males 46 cm, females 43 cm)	Generally unsuitable
Småland Hound (Smålandsstövare)	Males 46 to 54 cm (ideal 50 cm), females 42 to 50 cm (ideal 46 cm)	Generally unsuitable
Spanish Hound (Sabueso Español)	Males 52 to 57 cm, females 48 to 53 cm (an extra 1 cm tolerated in excellently proportioned dogs)	Generally unsuitable
Spanish Water Dog (Perro de Agua Español)	Males 44 to 50 cm, females 40 to 46 cm, maximum deviation 2 cm with harmonious proportions	With reservations
Stabijhoun	Ideal height males 50 to 53 cm, females 48 to 50 cm; 2 cm above or below permitted	With reservations
Styrian Coarse-haired Hound (Steirische Rauhhaarbracke)	Males 47 to 53 cm, females 45 to 51 cm	Generally unsuitable
Taiwan Dog	Males 48 to 53 cm, females 43 to 48 cm	Generally unsuitable
Thai Bangkaew Dog (Thai Bangkaew)	Stated ideal height: males at least 46, no more than 55 cm; females at least 41, no more than 50 cm	With reservations
Tyrolean Hound (Tiroler Bracke)	Males 44 to 50 cm, females 42 to 48 cm	Generally unsuitable
Welsh Springer Spaniel	Males approx. 48 cm, females approx. 46 cm	With reservations
Whippet	Desirable males 47 to 51 cm, females 44 to 47 cm	Suitable
Xoloitzcuintle	Three sizes for males and females: standard 46 to 60 cm (plus 2 cm tolerance with optimal quality), intermediate 36 to 45 cm, miniature 25 to 35 cm	With reservations

Still unsure which breed suits you?

Our free breed quiz asks ten questions about your everyday life and suggests three breeds. Our book takes a more thorough look: “Welcher Hund passt WIRKLICH zu dir?” (book in German). If your puppy is already on the way, the free Puppy Starter Pack supports you through the first weeks. To see your dog on the wall, explore our dog portraits from your own photo.

The profiles are based on FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) breed standards; health and lifespan information comes from the studies cited in each entry. Size categories follow our own classification: average male height at the withers up to 40 cm small, over 40 to 55 cm medium-sized, over 55 cm large; where the standard gives no height, classification is by weight.

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