Beagles are endearing, social little dogs. Every one I’ve known is pretty bark-y though.
I think if you told the shelter that you’d had dogs as a child, and now felt that your life was stable enough to support one through it’s long life, they would be impressed by that, and by the fact that you’ve waited until you felt ready. I’d also give them the phone number of your old family vet, and have made the contact with your new vet before your visit, so you can give them that number, too.
As for breeds, a greyhound would be great, but at least here many apartments have rules stating your pet must be under 30 lbs. You might take a look at your lease. Also, pay your security deposit upfront, so when the shelter calls to check, they can verify that you’re all set to go. I’ve been at my local pound at times when they’ve told prospective adopters to come back once they’ve got it all set with the apartment management.
I don’t know much about small breeds. My mother has a very good and sweet wire fox terrier, but a calm terrier is the exception to the rule. Poodle mixes should be very trainable, but often seem neurotic. I’ve seen italian greyhounds with calm natures. If you get a small dog and plan to let it out on your balcony, and your railing is the kind with relatively wide-set bars, you might consider putting some screening or fencing in front of the bars. Some little dogs can squeeze through, and you’d think they wouldn’t be dumb enough to jumb from high up, but if they’re after a pesky squirrel, you can never tell.
Congratulations! Here’s hoping the next 15-20 years bring you loads of happiness, love and good doggy health.
StG
You mentionned you’re in Toronto, but if you’re willing to go a little further out, there is an SPCA in Hamilton which is very good. www.hamiltonspca.com We got our cat from there, and if our lifestyle was good for a dog, we’d go there first. They require that all pets adopted from them be neutered/spayed (you pay one adoption fee which covers it at a vet of your choice - most vets in the Hammer participate, you might find one in TO which will accept the deal too).
I don’t know if toronto has an SPCA or just the Humane Society, but it is another option for you.
I’ve been looking into adopting a greyhound when my dog, who is getting older, dies. You cannot ever walk them off a leash. Ever. All the adoption sites make that extremely clear. If they see a running little fuzzy thing they will absolutely bolt and probably die in traffic. Just FYI, if you were really planning on that off-leash thing.
Adopt an older dog.
There are a lot of good reasons. First off, hardly anyone adopts older dogs, so lots of them end up in Doggy Dachau. Secondly, most of them are already somewhat acclimated to human society, and have such skills as not snapping, not peeing on the floor, not attacking the neighbors, and other desirable skills.
Also, this is your first dog, so, pardon my bluntness, as a dog trainer, you pretty much suck. It’s not your fault. So, and older dog, who needs less training is a good idea for you. Another point in favor of an older dog is that it is over the puppy and adolescent rambunctiousness that cause so many owner regrets among new dog owners.
Now for the glaringly blunt part, and forgive me my cynicism.
A lot of people decide that dogs are a bit less wonderful than they expected. Walking the dog is a duty. Playing with the dog is a duty. Feeding the dog is a duty. They each and all happen several times each and every day for the rest of that dog’s life. Not everyone finds the reality of that duty to be quite as joyous as they expected. It also costs money. And it will cost more money as time goes on.
So, you ask, why an older dog, which will cost more sooner? It’s a test. If you fail the test, the time remaining in the dogs life is a lot less, if he is three or four years old when you start. Hence, the dog suffers human incompetence for a shorter time. All dogs die. Almost all of them die well before their owners. It’s always sad, it always costs money. So, let’s run you through it with a veteran, and see how you do. Then we can try you out on a puppy, who won’t have to deal with the hard facts of failed pet ownership more than once. (assuming you got him from a shelter)
Tris
Oh, and a detail about pets in apartments in Ontario - they are always legal unless they are violating noise bylaws or posing a health risk, etc. A lot of people don’t know it, but even if you’re lease says “No Pets!”, that is a legally invalid clause. Of course, our SPCA asked us to get our superindentent’s signature anyways, mostly to prevent an upset landlord from terrorizing the cat or something (hey, it happens!).
From the tenant protection act (http://www.ontariotenants.ca/law/act02.phtml#levitt15)
With regards to eviction, though:
Not to suggest that you don’t, but I tend to be a strong advocate of knowing your rights. Tenants are quite well protected in Ontario, and its important to know what you can and cannot do.
With most shelters you will need to give the landlords name and phone number so that permission to have a dog can be verified.
Good for you for showing a dog that he/she is wanted and that there are caring people in the world. Keep us updated.
Thank you, I do appreciate it. I used to live with a landlord-tenant lawyer so I’m pretty well-versed and already knew about the “no pets” thing not being legal in leases.
(Ironically, once a landlord tried to evict us, completely illegally, at a time when I lived with a landlord-tenant lawyer with another L-T lawyer upstairs. We had an Eviction Party. Good times.)
I love this part of your quote:
(emphasis mine)
I don’t know about the rest of you, but MY landlord is a person. I’m pretty sure.
I highly recommend obedience classes. They’re really to teach you and your husband how to train the dog – the dog is just there as a teaching aid. 
When we adopted our dog about a year and a half ago, my wife had never had a dog, and I hadn’t had one since I lived with my parents. We took ours through obedience training right after we got him, and recently hired a behaviorist which has been unbelievably helpful (and surprising in a lot of ways). I can’t even begin to summarize all the things we learned that we didn’t know, but I will say the more you learn about dog psychology the easier it is to train them. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is anthropomorphizing their dogs and not realizing how different a pack animal is from a human. Read books, take obedience classes, hire a trainer if you can afford it. It’s amazing how many behavioral problems can be avoided or stopped if you just understand how the dog sees things.
We only had to fill out vet information because we already had a cat and a dog when we got our shelter kitty, Jake.
The form said something like “if you have pets, please provide vet information”. It turned out we were a month late on rabies vaccination updates (due to a wrong phone number, we never found out), so we were initally rejected. We got the vaccinations taken care of (the next day) and got the cat that week.
Shelters WANT to give pets good homes.
Be aware that it doesn’t make any difference what the initial cost is, if any, it is the upkeep that matters. A pet can be as expensive, even moreso these days than an offspring or chip off the old block.
It’s not just the expense of a canine orthodontist to clean teeth but a anesthesiologist as well.
Veterinarian lab tests cost as much or usually more than for human samples.