cats with dogs

Question
my family wants a dog, but we have two cats. One is kind of little about 1 and a half years old, and another one that is about six year old. What are some good medium sized breeds of dogs that we would be able to have with a small house and two cats?

Answer
There are many breeds you could choose, Sheltie, Cocker Spaniel, Australian Shepherd, etc.  No matter what the breed description says, you can't buy a puppy and expect it to match it.  Choosing a dog is a very personal thing. You need to actually see a variety. You could drop in on an obedience class. Most of the people will be happy to talk about their dog, and many will give honest answers about grooming and nature. Browse the question board. See the problems people are asking for help on. Dogs vary so much within a breed, even among litter mates. Some field Labs are as hyper as any pointer. You want to look for a calm dog.

www.akc.org and www.purina.com have breed selector pages on their site. You might try them. Don't take a recommendation for some obscure, hard to find breed too seriously. Even if your puppy doesn't grow up like you expected, how you raise it helps make it what you need. The first 12 weeks of a dog's life greatly affect its adult personality. Expose it to your lifestyle, and it will be comfortable with you. Gretchen, our one German Shepherd did not grow up suspicious of strangers. She knew no other life except being out and petted by strangers from the night we picked her up at 7 weeks old. After she was a year old, the dog guide school chose to retain her as breeding stock.

One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue dogs. These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may find a rescue near you starting at http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.