We didn't choose Kobie; Kobie chose us when she flashed her sad-eyed look through the shelter fence! But her breed ID (even though it was pretty far off-base--she was listed as Border Collie/GSD) matched what we were looking for: a medium sized, energetic, intelligent breed with low-maintenance grooming needs.

Then we got Eli with the same criteria in mind, although we also wanted a dog with lots of frisbee potential! (Boy did we get that... )

We love to travel and do active, outdoorsy stuff, so breeds that enjoy those activities were the main thing we wanted. Plus, I grew up with a Beagle and Paul grew up with Labs, so we wanted something different for our adult lives, something neither of us had had before...