Bichon Frise vs Shiba Inu

Marketed as 'hypoallergenic' and easy, but that curly coat needs professional grooming roughly every four weeks for the dog's entire life or it mats painfully down to the skin, and the breed carries a real, well-documented risk of luxating kneecaps and lifelong dental crowding that small-dog buyers routinely underestimate.

Shiba Inus are marketed online as 'cat-like' and low-maintenance because of their small size, but this is a primitive hunting breed with real dog-selective and small-animal prey drive, an ear-splitting shriek ('the Shiba scream') when frustrated, and recall so unreliable that owners are told never to trust one off-leash — it is not a beginner's breed.