These dogs have one thing in common — none of them fits neatly into any of the breed groups. While some of them were working or sporting dogs in previous lives, their jobs have been so long outmoded that they have primarily been companion dogs for almost a century, in some cases longer.

Other than that, let's be honest, this is a miscellaneous crowd as far as the AKC and other breeders are concerned. But in here you have some very popular, if disparate, dogs. You have the Poodle (originally one of Europe's finest hunting dogs); the Dalmatian (the ubiquitous coach dog); the Bulldog (used to bait bulls centuries ago); the Bichon Frise (a companion dog too big for the Toy Group); and many, many others.

The Bulldog is one of the most distinct members of the non-sporting group, which is an eclectic mix of breeds. Representing courage and tenacity, he is a popular mascot for sports teams.

All of the dogs in this group are very much worth looking at — especially so, because the dog world lumped them together for no better reason that they couldn't pigeonhole these iconoclasts! Deciding on a breed from this group is even tougher than the others because you won't have those common traits you can refer back to when you're trying to explain your breed's behavior. Discovering the pros and cons of these dogs is even more fun! The histories on these breeds are usually fairly extensive, so you can be assured you're getting a dog with characteristics that have been mulled over for a long, long time.

The members of the non-sporting group are:

• American Eskimo Dog

• Bichon Frise

• Boston Terrier

• Bulldog

• Chinese Shar-Pei

• Chow Chow

• Dalmatian

• Finnish Spitz

• French Bulldog

• Keeshound

• Lhasa Apso

• Löwchen

• Poodle (Standard and Miniature)

• Schipperke

• Shiba Inu

• Tibetan Spaniel

• Tibetan Terrier