In my personal experience, people are too quick to recommend a certain breed, based on their history with one dog of that breed. We had a mini schnauzer for 14 years whom we loved and was an excellent dog. Of course, after he died, we immediately went with another mini-schnauzer puppy. The problem is that each dog is very different, even withing the same breed. We've had the current dog for almost 3 years, and it is nothing like our old dog. She barks at anything that walks/drives by our house, jumps on people, and has chewed countless items over the years.
Although my husband and I have tried the same training techniques with the new dog as we did our former dog, the difference is that we had young kids in the house with the new dog. What trainers have told us is that dogs will be trained to the level of the least agressive/most passive person in the house. In other words, when we got our new dog as a puppy, no matter how much my hubby and I did, because our 5 year old "undermined" our training, the dog learned from her. So if she acted silly or giggled when the puppy jumped on her (which kids will do), all the training we gave about not jumping up on people was overruled.
If I were to do it again, I would probably find a shelter dog, slightly older (2-3 years old) who the shelter employees can give references for (their temperament with kids, other dogs, etc.) That way the dog has also gone through most of the "puppy" stage of chewing, scratching, and potty training, but is still young enough to be playful for many years to come. My mom got a dog from a shelter that was only a few years old, but the owner had died, and it needed a good home. It was well trained, and is wonderful with the kids.
Good luck!
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