Congrats on making the decision to get a dog! We just adopted ours, Murphy, a few months ago. We found him at the city shelter by using www.petfinder.com, a truly great resource.

Murphy is a mixed breed, although we just discovered he's mostly basenji. We were really surprised by the amount of beautiful dogs at the shelter, some even purebred. It's such a great feeling to rescue a dog; I can't even describe it.

If you're going to go the purebred route, definitely do your homework, and remember that you're still taking a chance--not all dogs match their breed descriptions. Our friends spent $700 for a Viszla (sp) because they read about the dogs' docility and gentleness. Their dog Nico doesn't quite fill the bill in that department!

I would definitely recommend getting an older dog, maybe 1 or 2 years old. My husband and I both work all day, and by adopting a 2-year-old dog who's already housetrained, we saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble, and Murphy wasn't shortchanged in his training. He's home alone all day, but we have a dogwalker who walks him for half-hour at lunchtime. We live in the city and don't have a yard that he can just go out in whenever he wants (I'm assuming you'll have doggie door put in for during the day?)

Anyway, good luck and have fun finding your dog!!