Thanks for your replies. I didnt think they were the dog for us...just had to persuade my husband of that too. He now realizes that we live on too busy of a street to have a dog that might be able to jump a fence. They are beautiful, but just not the right decision for our house.

We are just exploring and researching before we make any decisions....i know many shelters have many different breeds and mixed breeds, but i kinda just need to know about a dog/breed personality before i get one, b/c i have a lot of things factoring into my decision, such as a kid friendly and cat friendly dog and one that can have free run of our yard (pretty big) w/o having to be put on a run or something so it doesnt jump the fence...so we'll just keep looking...thanks again for your replies

Robyn