Schipperkes are a highly active breed. Here are some questions you should ask yourself if you think you might want one:

Do I have a fenced yard? If the answer is no, then you had better like to jog - because your Schipperke will need a lot of exercise! Schipperkes are also explorers. They are highly intelligent, and interested in everything - especially the thing not in their yard. For this reason, schips are difficult to train to stay in a yard of their own free will.   Schipperkes do not make good "inside only" dogs - they want to run.  Now, it's okay with them to do their running in your house - but it is okay with you?

Do I want a dog who will always obey me? If the answer is yes - then maybe you are being unrealistic about any dog. After all, a dog’s willingness to obey will only ever be as good as its training. Once you set that aside, though, you need to consider that Schipperkes are very independent. There are dog breeds out there where most of the members would just love to please the owners ALL THE TIME - the Schipperke isn’t one of them. For instance, if you told your Lab to "Sit!" he would probably gladly obey you; if you told your Schipperke "Sit!" he would look at you thinking, "Hmmm... Do I want to sit down right now? Nahhh!!!" And off he’d go.

Am I willing to brush and bath my Schipperke repeatedly while he’s shedding? That’s a good question. Most Schipperkes are cute, fluffy little balls - but once or twice a year they are skinny, flat coated things, and your house is cute and fuzzy (well, maybe not cute). You can stop a lot of the shedding around your house by bathing your dog once as he starts to shed, and a few times after that - and a lot of brushing. Keep a bag handy, though - you’ll need a few of them.

Do I mind a dog who barks? Now, there are many schips out there who do not bark - but many do. There are some things you can do - you could do a lot of training (good luck), you could de-bark them - last resort, please; or you could buy a barker breaker collar. The last would probably work best, but these are expensive - and sometimes your sweet little dog will lose them.

Am I willing to patiently train a dog? Now - Schipperkes can be trained - there are a lot of them out there with an impressive string of titles, but schips are not the easiest dogs to train.  They learn very fast - and after that they get bored.  Bored Schipperkes often misbehave!   Once they obey, though,  they are extremely competitive in activities such as agility. If you don’t have a lot of experience training you should probably look around for some local classes to help you.