One word of warning re. calm dogs. My wife and I chose a puppy once because it was nice and calm. Didn't bark at all when all the other ones were barking like crazy, just wanted to cuddle, etc. When we got her home, she was still all quiet, just wanted to chill and cuddle up, etc. Well, we subsequently found out that she was calm only because she had a respiratory infection! Bam! $1500 vet bill right out of the gate to treat the infection! And sure enough, after she recovered from the infection, she became a hyper holy terror, running around non-stop like she was possessed, pausing every 30 seconds to tinkle on the carpet. She was so bad we had to ship her off to a boarding school for a whole month! That was another $1000. Oh and this dog was/is a purebreed, btw (Cocker Spaniel). So I definitely agree with the prior warnings about purebreeds.
Our second dog is a cocker/poodle mix (known as a Cockapoo). Best dog ever. Calm, smart, easily trained without having to be shipped off to an obedience school. And the best part? She was housebroken from day 1! We never had to train her to not go in the house. Somehow, she just knew. I think her mother must've taught her before she was weened and taken away.
Here's what a Cockapoo looks like:
Here are my two dogs together. The Cocker's name is Katie (on the right), and the Cockapoo's name is Morgan (on the left). And no, we didn't deliberately name our dogs after a porn actress. It just kinda worked out that way.
