Disclaimer: this site is information only

What this site is

DogBreedCompass publishes general information about dog breeds, ownership costs, common health conditions, behaviour problems and related topics. Pages are built from published reference material and from our own cost and trait models, and they are written for a general reader researching a decision — not for a specific dog, a specific household, or a specific clinical situation.

Treat everything here as one reference among several. It is a starting point for the questions you take to a professional, not a substitute for asking one. How pages are researched and checked is set out in our editorial policy, and the material behind them is listed on our sources page.

Not veterinary, medical, legal or financial advice

Nothing on this site is veterinary or medical advice, a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a recommendation to use or avoid any medication, product, food, procedure or service. Nothing on it is legal, insurance, tax or financial advice. We are publishers — not your veterinarian, and not your adviser.

Reading this site, using a calculator on it, taking a quiz, subscribing to an email, or buying a digital product from it does not create a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, a professional relationship, or a duty of care of any kind between you and DogBreedCompass. Only a licensed veterinarian who has examined your dog can diagnose it or advise on its treatment. Never delay seeking professional advice, or disregard advice you have already been given, because of something you read here.

We do not guarantee that the information is accurate

We check what we publish and correct what we find wrong, but this site is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. In particular we do not warrant that any figure, price, date, statistic, trait rating, name, description or statement on this site is accurate, complete, current, or applicable to your situation.

Information goes out of date. Prices rise, veterinary practice changes, breed standards and local rules are revised, and a page written from good sources last year may be wrong today. Where a page carries a date, that date tells you when it was last reviewed. It is not a promise that the content was correct then, or is correct now.

Costs, prices and budget figures

Every cost, price, budget and total on this site — on breed pages, city cost pages, calculators, and in any downloadable plan or sheet — is a modelled estimate. It is not a quote, not an offer, and not a price anyone can be held to. Real prices vary by clinic, breeder, rescue, retailer, insurer and city, and by the individual dog. No one is obliged to charge what a page here predicts. Get your own quotes before you commit money to anything.

Calculators, quizzes, scores and breed matches

Our calculators and charts do arithmetic on published reference tables using the numbers you type in. They do not examine your dog, they cannot see what you did not tell them, and a wrong input produces a wrong output with no warning. Quiz results, lifestyle scores, compatibility percentages and comparison verdicts are the output of our own models applied to breed-level averages. Individual dogs vary enormously within any breed, and a score is an opinion expressed as a number, not a measurement of your dog.

Guides, plans and digital products

Paid and free downloads — ownership plans, budget sheets, vet prep sheets, buyer kits, checklists — are informational documents built from the same models and reference material as the site. They organise information and questions; they do not assess, diagnose or decide anything for you, and buying one changes nothing about the disclaimers on this page. The specific limits of each product are printed inside it, and the purchase and refund terms are in our terms of service.

Third-party links, products and advertising

This site links to third-party websites, products and services, some of them affiliate links or paid advertising, disclosed in full on our disclosure page. A link is not an endorsement and not a guarantee. We do not control third-party content, prices, stock, claims, privacy practices or quality, we do not verify them on an ongoing basis, and we accept no responsibility or liability for them. Your dealings with a third party are between you and that third party.

Your responsibility

You use this site at your own risk, and you are solely responsible for what you do with what you read here. That includes any decision about buying, adopting, breeding, rehoming, feeding, training, medicating, insuring or caring for a dog, and any money you spend doing it. Before you act on anything here, check it against your own circumstances and with a licensed veterinarian, trainer, insurer, lawyer or other qualified professional as appropriate.

You are also responsible for your dog’s welfare and for complying with the laws, licensing rules, breed rules, tenancy terms and local regulations that apply where you live. Those differ by country, state and building, and this site does not track them for you.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, DogBreedCompass, its owners, contributors and suppliers accept no liability for any loss or damage of any kind — including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive loss, loss of profit, loss of data, veterinary or other costs, or injury to or death of an animal or a person — arising out of or connected with your access to, use of, or reliance on this site, its content, its calculators, its downloads, or any third-party site or product reached through it, whether the claim is in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, and whether or not we were told such loss was possible.

Nothing in this disclaimer excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited — for example liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or any statutory consumer right you have that cannot be waived. Where liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, it is limited to the amount you paid us, if anything, for the item the claim relates to. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you; the rest still does.

Found an error? Tell us

Disclaiming liability is not the same as not caring whether we are right. If a figure, fact or statement on this site is wrong, contact us with the URL and what is wrong. Corrections to health content are made as a priority. We may change, correct or remove any part of this site, and this disclaimer, at any time without notice; the version published here is the one that applies.

This disclaimer forms part of, and should be read with, our terms of service and privacy policy. By using this site you confirm that you have read and accepted it.