Or a rescue that has foster homes; the foster “parent” who has lived with the dog for a while can give you a good idea of what to expect.
Oedipus, I assume you’re a first-time dog owner?
(There are some breeds of dog that look cool, but are not for first-timers.)
I’ve owned a lot of pets through the years and I’ve had a single dog. She was a great Jack Russel Terrier but mom was allergic so once he was gone, she nixed getting another dog, unfortunately. I’ve been itching to get another one since the Jack Russel Terrier passed so finances and what breed to get has been in the back of my mind since, but I figured I should ask dopers to see if I magically forgot a certain breed that matched up with me.
I AM GETTING A DOG FROM A RESCUE OR FROM A SHELTER. I AM ABSOLUTELY IN AGREEMENT WITH EVERYONE ON THAT THOUGHT.
In my experience, those are free.
Oh, one more thing. Puppy (dog) proof your home before you bring him home. They get into the darnedest things. There are many internet sites that give great advice on choosing dogs and setting up your home for your new friend.
We’ve had two Bernese and the last word I would use to describe them would be “badass.”
They’re lovely dogs, very affectionate but in my experience not hugely interactive. Not hugely biddable either. Our current one goes by the sobriquet “dog of little brain.”
Labradors however are generally very biddable and huge fun to have around. You want to spend hours playing with your dog? They’re up for it, any day, any time.
Oh, my: the shedding alone for the BMD, and the drooling from both breeds, would probably knock them out of the running for apt. living.
A limited time foster situation can give you a trial run for dog ownership. We just had this “special needs” dog for two weeks.
(she was very sweet. almost didn’t want to giver her back)
I thought they looked like a cooler St. Bernard from viewing pictures and their wiki entry for 10 min. Obviously I haven’t HAD one.
I agree to some extent. I just rescued a pit from our local shelter a month or so ago. Quiet, no crazy barking. The manager said he had taken her for ‘Pet of the Week’ to the TV station, and she had huddled in the floorboards the whole time and was generally pitiful. I played with her a bit and she seemed perfect. Took her home and she loved playing with my retriever mix and wanted to snuggle with everyone. Took her outside and introduced her to the goats and sheep, and she sniffed but seemed disinterested. Hooray!
Two days later she bolted from me and mauled my pet sheep. Both had to be put down. The instant the attack was over, she was happy and licking my hands. I did not see the psycho break coming.
These stories seem all too common for pits…
What about the, similar to the Bernese Mountain Dog, a Great Swiss Mountain dog? Seem to be similar in temperament but with shorter hair, seeing that shedding and heat were a concern of mine.
My suggestions to you, OP…
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Get two dogs. It’s less stressful for a dog to be left at home while you work if it has another dog to interact with.
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Get older dogs, not puppies. Bringing up a puppy to be a good indoor family pet is not for the faint of heart. This is also important for the shelter crossbreeds for reasons like Morgenstern’s story above. (Another: I knew a girl who adopted a beagle from a shelter that just kept growing - it was actually a foxhound…) Older dogs are also more likely to be able to switch on the “mellow” mood and watch TV with you.
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Take a training class. I recommend clicker training. Karen Pryor’s book Don’t Shoot the Dogis a good start.
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You should think about expected lifespans, too. Danes die in horrible ways at around 8 years of age. The more extreme the breed, the more health issues they’re likely to have. Some breeds are inherently riskier to get from rescue, as you don’t know if their breeder had done the necessary genetic checks, e.g., for hip/elbow dysplasia, Fanconi syndrome, etc.
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Think about where you’re likely to be in your life in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. Yes, dogs are usually pretty adaptable, but if plan on moving cross-country, having kids, etc., try and plan your dogs around that.
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Sure, Swiss Mountain dogs are pretty to look at. I don’t know how likely you’d be to run into one at your local shelter. If you’re in California, you’re most likely to find pit bull (types!) and chihuahuas.
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Go to the shelter first, visit the dogs there, ask the attendants what the most common breeds they see are, then do your research. If you fixate on a specific breed, especially a rarer breed, your search will be longer and more difficult.
So… Labrador Retriever? lol
Nothing wrong with a Lab! There’s a reason they’re so popular.
Good lord, truer words were never spoke. That’s just about all we have at our shelter where I volunteer (maybe just add Dachshund mixes to that list). I even coordinate a program that socializes and trains pit bull-type dogs to make them more easily adoptable.
If you can handle a Jack Russell Terrier, you can handle anything. Any dog is more laid back than they are. I had tons of dogs when I was growing up but only one as an adult. He was a much larger than average Samoyed and one of the most beautiful dogs ever born. He wasn’t all that bright but he was sweet and great with kids. He lived to be 15. I have had Malamutes and Huskies too. I wouldn’t recommend dogs bred for working in the cold to be good indoor pets. It makes them miserable in lots of different ways plus they shed a lot. They are great if you have the right environment for it however.
The kinds of dogs that I had most often were German Shepherds and German Shepherds crosses. Pure bred German Shepherds can be outstanding but that is mainly for the most expensive bloodlines. There are a lot of bad ones out there because they are so overbred. However, German Shepherd cross-breeds can work well as mutts. You don’t want a cross with another aggressive or guarding breed because that brings out unpredictable behavior. However, if you get a German Shepherd crossed with something like a medium sized hound or Golden Retriever, they tend to be really smart, good with people, and also protective (in other words, badass). The smartest dog I ever had was a female German Shepherd/Norwegian Elkhound cross. I swear she could follow complex conversations and she was as laid back and sweet as pie until she though someone was threatening us. It didn’t take any effort to teach her tricks either.
Dobermans and their crosses would be good too. I am just not a Labrador Retriever kind of person. They are too goofy and way too popular so their are lots of bad bloodlines out there. I would pick a shorter haired dog that is part guarding breed. They are really smart, loyal, and protective when you need them to be. Depending on the dog, most of them can do well indoors as long as you are committed to giving them regular exercise.
We’ve had extraordinarily good luck with two dogs. The first was a stray (Lab mix) who’d been living with a family who had other pets. He was already socialized. The second was a puppy (GoldenDoodle), and we were able to be with her 24/7 long enough to housetrain her and get her accustomed to separation, gradually.
That’s not a lot of dog experience, but a socialized rescue or a puppy that you can spend time with right away (take some vacation time, maybe?) might work for you.
Puppies need homes too, ya know.
I could not recommend a dog in an apartment. Sorry.
They gotta crap and pee in the morning (every morning) and before bed. Unless you can open the door and let fly, you gotta adopt the same routine. They need excercise, daily. Mine will harrass me to no end if they don’t get the 2 mile run everyday at around 4 pm. Entitled bastards… 
Pets are great and nice to have around, but unless you are willing to either pick up shit and mop up pee, or take them out every time they need to go, run thier ass like they want to, you wouldn’t be a responsible owner. I sure as hell my wife would have brought home goldfish.
Some of this.
It’s less “size of dog” and more “is this a working dog?”
Great Danes are suggested by many people as apartment dogs. They shouldn’t be exercised too much as puppies because it’s bad for hips and legs, and then as adults they are mostly mobile beanbags. They will happily sleep 98% of a day.
Jack Russells are small dogs. But bred to work. So they’re highly intelligent and need both physical and mental stimulation, or they get yappy and destructive.
Malamutes are haulage dogs. Also very intelligent, but bred for stamina. So a short walk isn’t going to tire them out, you have to work them and like JRTs keep them occupied mentally. Or you come home to find a bicycle dismantled in the yard.
Greyhounds are running dogs, but they’re sprinters. Short bursts of exercise (a walk/run before work, at lunch, after work) will leave them happily snoozing in a crate for several hours afterward. IME they’re also not too bright so they don’t go looking for trouble the same way a Mal or a Beagle or a JRT will. There are a lot of older greyhounds who are retired from racing that need rehoming. Many rescues also suggest Greys as apartment pets for that reason, provided you’re willing to still give them some walking on a daily basis.