Hooboy !!

I prefer beagles. Only real issues are with barking and can act aggressively towards strangers and other dogs. I am not sure of they are all so aggressive, but the two that I have had were. They are good with my kids, but can be a problem with strange kids. They are also not the brightest bulbs on the tree and are virtually impossible to handle without a leash once they get outdoors and their noses take over.

They are very affectionate though, love to play, have lots of energy, do well when we are away, are very loyal, small dog, but not too small and require virtually no maintenance. An occasional bath and light brushing is all. Almost no shedding.

I have seen them go for as much as $600 and as little as $300. There are a lot of beagle rescue societies too, which is where we got our first one from.

Amen-Moses

The only Beagle I've spent some time with was either shagging my leg or running around like a lunatic with it's tongue hanging out.

It was worse than a two year old child!

Amen-Moses

AspenMama

Aren't their pelts a bit greasy? At least that was my experience. I really am not fond of this breed.

lisarea

A Lab mix once almost killed my son with no provocation.

Not to say there's anything wrong with Labs or Lab mixes, but dogs are dogs. Every breed has its bad and good.

As for breed recommendations, you may want to start by narrowing down the field, and maybe getting a feel for the general category rather than specific breed you want.

I'm not an expert on this topic by a long stretch, but there are very broad differences among, say, herding dogs and hounds and terriers.

Personally, I find molossers to be just about the ideal temperament for family dogs. They're bred as guard dogs, so they are very attached to their homes and families, and they tend to stick close (meaning they don't have as much a tendency to escape and such), and they are fiercely loyal.

You can certainly find a Molosser breed to meet all of your general requirements. They don't tend to bark often (our American Bulldog barks maybe a few times a week, usually if someone comes to the door after dark, or if something wakes him from a deep sleep), most Molossers are short-haired, good with children, etc. Mastiffs and such are probably too big, but maybe a bull-terrier mix (slightly more active than pure Molosser breeds) like a Staffordshire or a Boston Terrier?

Here's a bunch of links to Molosser breeds.

I'd also vote for keeping an eye on the shelters, too. I've had two shelter dogs (one a purebred, one a crazy mix nobody could quite put their finger on), and one who was 'dumped' on me (another purebred), and I can't imagine having had better dogs if I'd ordered them to spec.

I think you should just pop by the shelter every now and again, and wait for everything to turn all slo-mo and some spectral orchestra to play the theme to Romeo and Juliet. That happens to me at shelters all the time.

Onager

At least we've ruled out beagles.

Gawen

My fav breed is German Shepard (Alsatian). Even though they shed enormous amounts at times, I figured...well, you STILL have to vacuum. And the hair to me was a small trade off for the loyalty and intelligence of the breed.

But these day (as of last week) I have a Rat Terrier. And this little bugger is a sweetheart.
Give it a look at: http://www.ratterrierclub.com/

Also, look at all the short haired terrier and spaniel breeds. Maybe a Boxer would do?

Loki

I've got a border collie mix. She's the smartest and sweetest dog I've met. The dog figured out how to uncap 20 oz. pop bottles. She's a little on the hyper side, but she likes to spend the days outside, when my parents are at work. She's extremely friendly. I can horse around with her and not hurt her, nor does she hurt me.

I definitely advocate mutts, too, as purebreds tend to have genetic problems.

pescifish

Even if you want purebred, you can probably find a rescue for that specific breed in your area. Another good thing about the rescues is that they usually have had the dog in their care for long enough to know quite a bit about the individual dog: good with kids, cats, other dogs, etc..

http://www.petfinder.com/ is nationwide, associated with several rescues and can give out this sort of information per individual dog.

Never

My best advice - CAT.

Barring that, we had a schnauzer when I was a kid. He wasn't that big, never shed at all, was friendly and had a thing for blond female visitors (?). The only thing bad I would say was that he wasn't overly bright. The cat used to like to play tricks on him and you could almost see her laugh at him.

I have heard that snoodles are good pets (combination of schnauzer and poodle) though I've not had one.

Tom Sawyer

I have to agree with the previous poster about adopting from the pound. You may also want to check out a rescue shelter where they take dogs that are about to be put down, so you can help them out in doing that. I've always gotten my dogs from a pound and they've all been great. Right now I have a shepard beagle mix and I can't imagine a better dog.

I really don't see any advantage in having a pure breed except to be able to tell other people that you have a pure breed. There are always so many great dogs at the pounds and it always breaks my heart when I visit one because I know that a good number of them are going to be put down. In fact, there was a news report a few months ago here in Atlanta that a local humane society would have to put down some puppies because they had too many dogs and not enough spaces (fortunately the news reports worked and they all got adopted).

So go to a pound - even if you don't save the life of the dog you choose, you'll be freeing up a space for another dog to live in.