Johanna, I am thinking of another aspect of this you have not mentioned and I suspose that is because I just got the puppy. Puppies like to chew and bite - they do not differentiate between a toy and a person especially a child who would not understand why the "puppy" was biting them. That too takes some time to train out of them.

Personally having adopted 5 older pups and dogs, I would go with an already trained older dog (and it doesn't have to be that old - it could still be a year or so old). None of our dogs were around kids much before we got them but they all do very well with Jasmine and Dominic. All of them can wait 10 hours or more to go potty. Fortunately for them, that doesn't happen on a regular basis - I work only part time for 9-3 and can't get home for lunch so they always (well, until Christy moved in) had at least a 6 1/2 hour wait - of course, sometimes I do not always come straight home. I have been very blessed with the dogs I have chosen and they are always able to wait. Amy and Ralph have the 3 dogs and I am pretty sure they have had a 9-10 hour wait much of the time they have had them. Now Ralph goes in earlier than Amy and then gets home from work earlier so their wait is not quite so long. They give their dogs plenty of attention in the evenings and weekends. It is sometimes like what we have to give our kids - quality time rather than quantity.

But anyway I think it is something you and dogs can handle. It would probably be better to have two dogs so they would have company - even if they are in crates near each other - although I don't believe you have to get them at the same time. You could chose one, get it used to your family and schedule and then add the other later on. We got Taggert and Snoopy about 3 or 4 months apart and they became fast friends - their crates are next to each other.

There are some breeds that seem to have more separation anxiety than others - I would investigate that if you could (although I have Snoopy and he hates it when I am not with him but he still does well). I know dogs need to have human attention but I often wonder how much better off they are sitting in pens in shelters for months waiting for someone to adopt them or being euthanized rather than someone giving them a warm home, food and as much attention that that family can.