Hunting dogs: these dogs help their masters pointing, retrieving, tracking, and burrowing game.

Pets or companion dogs: these are dogs that make integral part of their master’s family. They can be any breed, but medium or small-sized dogs – most of them originally hunting dogs - are better fit for this kind of job. Many people however prefer strong and large dogs like Serra da Estrela and Rafeiro do Alentejo, or German shepherd dogs that also make good companionship dogs.

Guard dogs: they have a high sense of protection of their mater’s house and property against any danger, restraining or incapacitating dangerous intruders even at the risk of their own lives.

Guide dogs: these are dogs trained to provide mobility and independence guiding a blind person or helping a wheelchair-bound user in such cases as walking or crossing the street, shopping and other daily tasks. To know more about this very useful kind of dog job, make a virtual visit to guidedogs.org.uk, in the UK, or to Guide-Dogs for the Blind, in the United States and Canada.

Herding dogs and livestock guardians: these are dogs that help shepherds and farmers get cattle and sheep into the pens or keep a watch eye on the animals to make sure they do not get lost or to protect them from predators. Dogs with high herding ability are called sheepdogs, like the famous German shepherd, or the remarkable Portuguese breeds Serra da Estrela or Serra da Aires. The Canada’s Guide to Dogs site gives you further information on this dog job.

Police dogs: these dogs are trained to help the police force detecting drugs, searching for explosives and arms, as well as rescuing people in danger situations such as fire, tracking people under snow avalanches, and other. For further information on this dog job, make a virtual visit to Canada’s Guide to Dogs, a very interesting site on dogs.

Sled dogs: fit to endure harsh conditions such as extremely cold weather and snow, these dogs are used to pull sleds, the best means of transportation in the far north and the northern and southern polar regions. Sled dogs such as the Inuit sled dog have existed for centuries; without them, the ancestors of today’s Inuit could not have survived. You’ll find information on the Inuit sled dog in the Sled Dog Central site.