No better family dog than a Golden Retriever.  A real lover, loyal to a fault and strong enough to carry a backpack if needed.  Only drawback is the long hair.  One word of caution, be ready to fall in love....  Labs are good too but a Golden...heaven

It helps to know a bit about your lifestyle and circumstances. Big yard? Can you make a commitment to exercise the dog daily? Is your family more inclined to like having a Great Dane, Lab or a Chihuahua around?

I love collies and herding dogs but many of them really need more stimulation than most people can or will provide IMO. I feel most of them really need a job.

For me, I've found my English Labrador to be ideal. She learns/obeys/communicates incredibly well yet isn't too smart for her own good. Some breeds tend to be more thinkers...she's more of a follower. She will happily lay around all day but is always ready for some fun time. A decent watch dog, but not aggressive. Great with little kids and older people (little kids love to try touching her pretty eyes). Extremely loyal and doesn't get over excited.

I was easily able to verbally control her chase instinct and it's pretty easy to simulate her desired job with just a ball. She does shed a good amount...

Don't forget the pound. Mine is full blooded, but still a rescue from a bad home. She turned out better than I could hope for. A lot of it's in the training and overall relationship you build as opposed to a specific breed, though...

This is Irie at about 5 years old.



 

Just go get a mutt from a shelter. www.petfinder.com
Whatever you do DO NOT spend money on a pure breed. You'll triple your expenses in vet bills. Most pure bred dogs are from show bloodlines. Show dog people have no morals as far as I am concerned. They only care about vanity. Health, temperament, tractability aren't even running a close second.     

oh my in-laws had a boxer. Incredible dog. Only danger these days is the undocked tail!
And they drool omg how they drool!

But loyal, protective, family dog. Not sooo bright but a wonderful nature.

Winston could crack walnuts. He would leave the shell on the carpet. Couldn't teach him to bin the shells

Experience with the 2 dogs in my life.

Smartest dog, most athletic, loyal, caring, independent --> Irish terrier mutt (~ 50% Terrier / 50% mutt). I have always heard good things about Terriers, mutts or "pure".

Most disobedient, uncaring, aggressive SOB --> Sausage dog mutt (50/50 sausage with other mutt). This MF disobeys most orders, gets nasty when ordered to leave a place where he's sleeping, etc. If you have a kid in the house, make sure your mutt is 0% sausage dog.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2254479/Sausage-dogs-are-the-most-aggressive-dogs.html

Kudos for doing some research before getting a dog!

I adore our Australian shepherd.  Great breed if you can get them the exercise they need (but that goes for almost all dogs - tired dogs are good dogs).  Assuming they've been properly socialized, they're usually gentle and patient with children, playful, intelligent, love to exercise but can still chill out with you on the couch when it's time to relax.  Grooming isn't too bad unless you get one with the heavy "show coat" that some breeders like.

Here's Scooter:



Labs and goldens are wonderful, but just not my type.  A behaviorist I know says that some goldens have started having problems with resource guarding (usually guarding food or toys), over the past couple generations of dogs - most are fine, but she's been seeing a lot recently at her practice in the northwest US.  I haven't seen it with any of the goldens in my area, so it may be a regional thing from some irresponsible breeders.

We got our Aussie through breed rescue, so her foster home had her housebroken and crate trained, spayed, and knew she was good with children and cats.  I'd highly recommend checking out the breed rescues if you want a purebred dog.  Many of the dogs in rescue are perfectly nice, healthy, normal animals, but their previous owners either had to give them up for some reason or didn't do their research before getting them.

Scooter was 4 years old when we got her.  If you adopt a dog around age 3 and up, what you have is more than likely what you're going to get.  Earlier, many still haven't reached social maturity...their bodies may be done growing, but you might still have some things pop up like aggression towards dogs of the same sex, resource guarding, and territorial behavior.  Most dogs start the adolescent stage around 6 - 10 months (small breeds usually develop faster), with it lasting from a few months to a couple years, depending on the breed and individual dog.  During that time many will push their boundaries and generally be obnoxious brats, even if they're usually angels.  

I was working with a lot of rowdy dogs with issues, so we wanted to avoid me having to deal with that at home as well - I have nothing against puppies or young dogs but just didn't have the energy or patience for their antics at the time.

Sorry for the rambling!  Are you going to feed the dog paleo, too?


Edit:  I never thought I'd have a purebred because I love mixed breeds so much, so I'm all for adopting one of them from a shelter or rescue!

They are a working dog though, will need a lot of exercise.