We scored 40 breeds the way an apartment or city dweller actually lives with a dog: how much it barks, whether it settles indoors, how it copes when you leave for work, the floor space it needs, and the grooming it drags in. Each dog gets a single Apartment Score out of 100. Sort it, filter it, and find the ones that fit a small home.
| # | Breed | Apartment Score | Quiet | Calm | Alone | Space | Grooming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greyhound The famous "45 mph couch potato." Silent indoors, one good run and it sprawls on the sofa for hours. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | |
| 2 | Whippet Whisper-quiet and nearly odorless. Sprints in the park, then melts into a blanket. Feels the cold badly. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 3 | Bulldog Low motor, big snores. A short walk and a nap is a full day. Heat and stairs are its real enemies. | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |
| 4 | French Bulldog Barely barks, sleeps half the day, and lives for you. Near-ideal for a flat if the vet bills do not scare you. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 5 | Italian Greyhound A greyhound shrunk to lap size: quiet, clean, cat-like. Fragile legs, so watch the jumping off furniture. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | |
| 6 | Pug A clown that folds up on any lap. Sheds more than you expect and wheezes in summer, but rarely noisy. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| 7 | Boston Terrier Tidy coat, city manners, playful without being frantic. One of the easiest small dogs to keep clean. | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | |
| 8 | Chinese Crested Odd-looking, warm, and quiet. The hairless type needs sunscreen and sweaters, not a groomer. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 9 | Shih Tzu Bred to sit on laps in palaces, so a studio suits it fine. The coat is the catch: daily brushing or clip it short. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| 10 | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Soft, quiet lapdog that reads your mood. Hates being alone, so best if someone is often home. | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |
| 11 | Coton de Tulear Bouncy, soft-voiced companion that bonds hard. Cottony coat mats fast without regular brushing. | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| 12 | Great Dane Sounds mad, but a Dane is a giant couch cushion that needs little exercise. The problem is only floor space. | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| 13 | Pekingese Dignified and lazy, content to guard a windowsill. Coat and flat face both need real upkeep. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| 14 | Shiba Inu Cat-clean and independent, fine alone for a workday. Stubborn, and the "Shiba scream" is a thing. | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| 15 | Poodle (Toy or Miniature) Sharp, trainable, and low-shedding — a good pick for allergies. Boredom turns to barking without a job. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| 16 | Newfoundland A patient, sweet giant — a "nanny dog." Needs floor space and a towel for the drool, not much else. | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 17 | Lhasa Apso Was a monastery watchdog, so it alerts, but settles well indoors. High-maintenance coat if kept long. | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| 18 | Saint Bernard A calm, drooly mountain of a dog that mostly wants to lie down. Space and shedding are the only hurdles. | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 19 | Havanese Cheerful Cuban lapdog, velcro to its people. Great with kids, but the separation whining is real. | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |
| 20 | Maltese Tiny, elegant, and very attached. Barks at hallway noise and needs constant coat care, but takes up no room. | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| 21 | Papillon A butterfly-eared brain in a small frame. Wants to work, so give it tricks or it invents noisy hobbies. | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
| 22 | Basset Hound A slow, gentle housemate, but that bay carries through walls. Loves a nap more than a hike. | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
| 23 | Miniature Schnauzer Spunky, sturdy, low-shedding. Opinionated barker at the door, but easy to keep in a small space. | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 24 | Dachshund Big personality on short legs. A determined barker at every sound, but happy in the smallest home. | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 25 | Chihuahua Fits in a bag, thinks it is a mastiff. Alert-barks at everything and bonds to one person hard. | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 26 | Cocker Spaniel Sweet, middling energy, good with families. Ears and coat need routine care to avoid trouble. | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | |
| 27 | Miniature Pinscher The "King of Toys." Fearless, busy, near zero grooming, but noisy and always looking for trouble. | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | |
| 28 | Pomeranian A fox-faced spark plug. Tiny footprint, loud opinion, and a coat that needs regular attention. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |
| 29 | Boxer Goofy, devoted, short-coated. Quiet-ish but bursting with energy; boredom becomes destruction fast. | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 30 | Standard Poodle Elegant, brilliant, low-shed. Needs real exercise and grooming, but calm and mannerly once tired. | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| 31 | Yorkshire Terrier Bold lapdog with a real terrier bark. Silky coat is beautiful and needs constant grooming. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| 32 | Labrador Retriever America's favorite for a reason — kind and trainable. But a young Lab in a flat without exercise is chaos. | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| 33 | Pembroke Welsh Corgi Big dog in a low body. Herding brain means barking and shedding; give it a walk and a puzzle daily. | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | |
| 34 | Golden Retriever Gentle, patient, wonderful with kids. Sheds constantly and needs a real outlet, so plan the day around it. | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| 35 | Beagle Merry and social, terrible at being quiet. That howl was bred to carry across fields — neighbors will notice. | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| 36 | German Shepherd Loyal and brilliant, but a working dog. Under-exercised in a flat it gets anxious, vocal, and mouthy. | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 37 | Vizsla The "velcro dog." Affectionate and clean, but the exercise and company it needs make a flat a hard sell. | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| 38 | Australian Shepherd A herding athlete that needs a job. Beautiful and smart, but bored in a flat it will herd and bark. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| 39 | Border Collie The smartest breed, and that is the problem in a flat. Without hours of work it will unravel your home. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| 40 | Belgian Malinois A working machine bred for police and military. Almost never the right choice for apartment life. | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
No breed matches that filter. Clear the search to see all 40.
How we scored it
Every breed is rated 1 to 5 on six things that decide whether a dog and a small home get along. The Apartment Score weights them the way a city owner feels them day to day: how quiet it is (25%), whether it copes alone while you work (20%), how calm it stays indoors (20%), the floor space it needs (15%), and its grooming and shedding load (10%), plus how forgiving it is for a first-time or family owner (10%).
The scores are editorial: they lean on breed temperament, size and coat, not on any one dog. Individual dogs vary, training changes everything, and a quiet breed with no exercise still turns into a problem. Use it to shortlist, then meet the actual dog.
Common questions
What is the best dog breed for an apartment?
On our score the French Bulldog and the Greyhound lead, for opposite reasons: the Frenchie is small, quiet and low-energy, while the Greyhound is large but silent and sleeps most of the day. The right pick depends on which trait matters most to you, which is why the table sorts by each one.
Are big dogs bad for apartments?
Not automatically. A Greyhound, Great Dane or Newfoundland is calmer indoors than most terriers. Size mainly costs you floor space; barking, energy and separation anxiety cause more apartment conflict than a dog simply being tall.
Which dogs bark the least?
Greyhounds and Whippets are the quietest on our list, followed by Basenjis (not scored, they yodel instead) and most flat-faced companion breeds like the French Bulldog and Pug. Beagles, Dachshunds and small terriers are the loudest.
What dog can be left alone during a workday?
Independent breeds cope best: Shiba Inu, Greyhound and Basset Hound tolerate a normal workday if the morning had a real walk. Velcro breeds like the Cavalier, Vizsla and Havanese struggle, and no dog should be alone past about eight hours without a midday break.
What is the easiest apartment dog for a first-time owner?
The French Bulldog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Boston Terrier and Poodle score highest for a first dog: forgiving temperament, manageable size, and no strong working drive to satisfy. Avoid herding and guarding breeds until you have more experience.
Do these scores mean my dog will behave this way?
They are a starting point, not a promise. Breed sets the odds, but exercise, training and the individual dog decide the outcome. A "quiet" breed left bored will still bark, and a "high-energy" breed that is properly tired will settle anywhere.