I agree with everyone saying get a dog from dog prison, the pound. But your living in an appartment. You need a dog to suit your life style, and one that won’t drive your neighbours nuts. Causing complaints that may lead to trouble. In my local pound I see a lot of beagles, they bark and howl like mad. You said you like great danes. Big dogs , big shit. Bring a shovel when you walk him. I’ve been getting it in my head about getting a dog for over four years now, although every one tries to guilt me into saving a dog on death row. I know I need a small 20lb dog, that doesn’t bark. Short hair even better. Boston Terriers are great for appartment living.
What about an English Bulldog? They seem similar in the way that they’re cool for little bursts of fun but are mostly couch potatoes the rest of the day.
I would not assume that shorter hair means less shedding. That’s the kind of thing that sounds sensible, but it never seems to work that way. In my somewhat limited experience, the worst shedding dogs I have known were the ones with the the short but crazy dense fur–like labs or German shepherds.
I don’t disagree with this, but the OP is new to dogs and may misjudge how much exercise any particular dog needs, or the space requirements for such a dog. Also large dogs can be destructive, intentionally or unintentionally, and a St. Bernard is a very large dog.
But having said that, i’ve known people who kept very large dogs in very small apartments and still managed to work things out.
I wouldn’t classify either a lab or a german shepherd as a short-haired dog.
However, I have three short-haired dogs. What you have to look out for (if you’re unwilling to clean?) is a second undercoat. Tilly is constantly shedding because of her second coat. The nice (?) thing about that is short hair is a bazillion times easier for a vacuum to pick up.
Adding a +1 here.
I have a Malamute, my mum has a Rottweiler-Shepherd cross. I knew my dog was a double-coated arctic breed, and he’s got long fur. So you expect to (and often do) see great swathes of shed fur around my house or in my yard. Mum’s dog mostly has a rotty coat, but has the shepherd undercoat. What this means is she’s got a deceptively shorthaired dog, who sheds nearly as much as my arctic breed.
Yeah, it’s dogs with an undercoat that are the worst. We used to take our collie/sheperd mix outside and comb her out. When the wind picked up it looked like a snowstorm. Even the somewhat smaller Norwegian Elkhound can produce enough hair to fill an olympic size swimming pool once a week (volume and time frame estimated).
OK, if you want no shedding, DO NOT GET A LAB. I Have a lab, whom I love and adore, but I call him "a slightly inefficient furball machine; food goes in, fur comes out- which immediuately begins the process of forming a new lab by clumping together. (with a little poo… if he could only figure out a way to make that last little bit of waste into fur, he be prefectly efficient.) Not a problem for me; as it turns out I enjoy vacuuming (2X per week, filling the canister each time of a hepa-filtered vacuum), the same way I enjoy mowing the lawn (which in a small urban lot takes me 3-4 hours, first with the hand weeding, the edging, the actual mowing, sweeping it all up… squirting the weeds in the cracks of the concrete with vinegar… just put my headphones on, and listen to NPR and work away–it’s like my alone time and it’s so nice to finish and see how great it looks).
I only rescue dogs, and I am glad to see that you have already made that decision. As far as apartment living goes, I had Maguire in an 3rd floor apartment for 8 years. You just have to take 'em for walks. No matter how badly I didn’t really want to go back outside, it was always less then how badly I didn’t want to clean up poo in my home, so not an issue.
May I suggest a poodle mix of some sort- they tend not to shed, and a miniature poodle will be about 20-30 pounds, perfect for apartment living, and they TEND not to shed as much. Of course, poodles are a working breed and highly intelligent, and can get bored (and therefore destructive) as a result. So you’ll need to pay a lot of attention to them.
That said, I also have a chiweenie (9#) and chihuahua (5#) (both rescues). Neither shed that much, both are lap dogs (relatively low energy- they run and play like the dickens, but only in short bursts), and both just adore my wife and I. Looking back, I’d have been better off getting a small dog whilst in my apartment and waiting to get the Lab for when I had a yard.
Try also a mix with Boston Terrier, French Bulldog (smaller, but both can be rather stubborn). English bulldogs are just giant lumps- super friendly, super stubborn, dumb as a box of rocks, but incredibly loving and largely sedentary. Greyhounds are awesome dogs- they are just huge lap dogs who run like the dickens for about 3-4 minutes, then sleep or laze around for 24 hours. My sister rescued one, and for twelve years he was the sweetest, gentlest, kindest puppy you’d ever want.
I’d contact a rescue and aske them for help in choosing a dog. Many will come and see you and your living situation, and will bring over dogs that they think will fit you and your apartment. They will also help you figure out if you are financially ready to take up the responsibility. I adopted Maguire about a week after moving into my apartment, and never looked back, so it can be done, but I had some money in the bank, and was financially in a good place. When he had to have a surgery that cost $900 within 6 months it was no problem.
Oh, yeah, one last thing… get an older dog. They come housebroken! (usually) Maguire was 1 yo, Maggie (Chiweenie) was 3, and Rocco (Chihuahua) was 2. No housetraining for us- and in an apartment no accidents to have to explain (and pay for) to the landlords!
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
did y’all notice how I correctly used “whilst” in my previous post? 
Yeah, I’m proud!
There are several good breed selectors out there. This one is fairly straight forward:
http://animal.discovery.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds.html
IMO they are useful more in helping you figure out what questions you should be asking than in actually choosing a breed for you.
Things new dog owners often get tripped up by:
Drool. Any soft-mouthed dog will drool. Not everyone can tolerate this.
Shedding.There are no non-shedding dogs. Well, maybe the hairless ones, but even the Chinese Crested loses head hairs. The trouble is, the single-coated dogs, poodles etc. who are often thought of as shed-free may actually requrie more grooming than other breeds. shedding prevents matting, so fine hairs that tangle back in produce dred-locksfairly quickly if not brushed regularly. (dreds, not a bad look, but require yet another kind of care.)
Exercise - bored and energetic dogs become destructive. If you’re not ready to walk the dog twice per day, you don’t need a dog in an apartment.
Smell - some dogs are stinkier than others. My current dog must be washed weekly or Peee-yew. Some breeds have a natural fug and noamount of washing will get rid of it.
Schedule - no happy hour for you! Ever! You must rush straight home form work after every shift. This WILL affect your social life, and increase travel costs as you can’t grocery shop on the way home. Think it over.
Cost - you need to have at least $1,000 in savings on hand in case of injury or illness. Also expect about $400 per year in vet bills and another $400 in treats, toys and gear. Then food costs depend upon size and needs, but can go as high as $100 per month for the finicky or allergy-ridden.
From your description, I’d say Kerry blue terrier or portugese water dog. You might also look at spaniel mixes.
Also, consider poodle mixes. I know, but you don’t HAVEto groom them into silly poofs, and the black ones don’t look fi-fi-ish at all. Plus, they are very easy to potty train. (See youtube for dog toilet-training, a Godsend for working apartment dwellers.)
Finally, consider getting two dogs. They can keep each other company when you are out.
Hope that’s helpful!
You want a real American dog, medium to large size? Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Strong, loyal, playful, protective, and they love to swim. Great dogs. Chessies are great. I’m partial, of course, since mine is 9 years old.
Not a very healthy breed, so, again, not a good candidate for rescue.
Also, most shelters aren’t sure about the breeds they label their dogs with. They usually just guess. So even if your shelter has a great “Swiss Mountain Dog x Staffordshire Bull Terrier” - no guarantees that Fido isn’t a Rotty x Pit. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
There are gene test kits available, but they’re expensive, and the library of genomes is pretty small, so the test can be unreliable.
Here’s a (nother) breed selector wizard;
http://selectsmart.com/DOG/
That’s the first one I’ve seen that includes the all-important slobber factor! 
Seriously, thank you for sharing.
My friend did a DNA test on her champion, AKC registered, American Staffordshire Terrier just for fun. She is apparently the proud owner of a Border Collie mix. :dubious:
The kits I linked to have a cute/:dubious: method for avoiding such results - you can buy different kits, one for admitted mutts, one for “designer dogs” and one for purebreds. I assume this means a human reads the results and tweaks them based on what kit was purchased.
If you want an American dog, why not an American Bulldog? They look fairly badass, but are little lovable babies. We have a 4 lb. Chihuahua as well, and the Chihuahua beats the crap out of the bulldog. My American is gentle, super affectionate, fairly low shedding, low drooling, doesn’t require a ton of exercise, and spends most of her time napping or chewing on a bone. If you want any sort of a guard dog, they can’t be beat - look tough and have a mean-sounding bark, but not aggressive. Here’s a couple of photos of Layla when she was a puppy and a more recent one:
I have been with and owned a lot of dogs with a wide variety of breeds. American Bulldog is my favourite by far.
Pros: quiet in an apartment, can be lazy but extremely fit and in shape when running outside and playing with other dogs which makes it easy to keep their weight down, good guards from strangers but great with your friends.
Cons: drool!!!111, just tell him to go away when you eat.
Good luck!
btw, cute dog admiral!
Agree!
Sorry for the double, but here is my Freud after he ripped up my only feather pillow. Note the guilt.
Pro or Con? You decide!