Go to the shelter and get a dog. Don’t pay huge amounts of money for a purebred dog that’s pretty much guaranteed to be less healthy, and way more expensive, than a shelter dog.
My favorite dog has always been the Labrador retriever. They are great family dogs, they love water. They are also fairly far down in price compared to a lot of other purebred dogs. What I like about them is that they are normal-sized dogs with some strength to them, which makes them feel like animals more than toys which a lot of small dogs do. They are also great to go cross-country skiing with and running with.
The German shepherd is the most popular dog in America now. I personally prefer the Vizla. (google it) they have an extremely friendly personality to both other dogs and humans. Plus, they don’t shed and are very easily trained.
Vizlas are great, as are every other dog in the same family: German Short-haired Pointers, Weimeraners, and Rhodesian Ridgebacks.
We have a weimeraner and he’s goofy as all get-out. But a gentler and more lovable dog you will not find. They tend to be SO social that they can be neurotic, though… you don’t want to take a chance on one of these if you anticipate the dog spending long days alone.
On that note… I personally think crating is for the birds. I know people have success, but every crated dog I’ve ever met is just so over-enthusiastic to be released that they become hard-to-manage attention-seekers during the hours the family is around. No animal wants to be incarcerated. I’d be hyper if I was stuck in a box all day, too.
I know for some families it’s the only option, but every dog I know just sleeps all day anyhow. Once they’re housebroken, all you need to do is be a LITTLE more careful about leaving food in easy reach on counters.
I don’t have a dog, but my family has been looking to get one for a long time. I’ve seen a few breeds that look good. First of all, a friend of mine has a Welsh Corgi, and just let me say, that they’re the bomb. Also, I met a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, and they’re pretty cool. Really soft and nice, but still a good big dog. The thing is, there are two kinds of cuts, the first one below (which I think looks terrible), and the second one, which in my opinion looks good (the second one).
The problem you get by clicking on that link is that there’s a bigger similar-looking breed of that one, realizing that Komondor really should be the way to go…
We’re talking dogs with dreads here, you can’t really go wrong.