What kind of dog should I get?

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My 2 cents, from my experience. Undoubtedly people will disagree.

If you are both away from the home a lot, a larger breed is a good choice. Again, my experience the smaller dogs have a harder time holding it for 10 hours at home alone. Think about it, you work 8-9 hours a day and you have a commute on either end. Works out to be 10 hours that the dog is inside alone. My golden retriever never (knock on wooden head) has accidents. Daughters Yorkie, not so good.

I'm no longer a fan of the pure breed rescue dogs. Odds are pretty good if you go to a shelter (or rescue league) and see a beautiful pure bred dog, the dog has some serious behavior problems. The previous owner gave up - which is why it's in the shelter.

Puppy's in a pet store probably came from a puppy mill. Do your own research on puppy mills. Puppy mill dogs look beautiful, behave appropriate as a pup - but can turn into a psycho in a year. Odds are that beautiful adult pure breed in the shelter came from a puppy mill. Takes a lot of time and patience to work through their issues.

I can't recommend highly enough that you spend the time to research breeders in your area (by area I'm talking within about a 200+ mile radius) for the breed you think you want. You want to visit the breeder and see at least the "mother" (since Y/A won't let me use the proper name) prior to making any commitment to purchase. For breeds that are susceptible to hip dysplasia you want to have veterinarian reports on both parents. You won't be running with a dog that has hip dysplasia. Your breeder would ideally have their breeding stock in a highly social environment (i.e. in a family home) and the puppies are part of that environment. I visited at least 5 different breeders before landing on the one we purchased our dog from.

For larger breeds, the females will be smaller. A male golden retriever can tip the scales at a 100 lb (two of those in my neighborhood), female will run about 65# (my dog). Bigger the dog, the more food it eats, the larger it's deposits 10 minutes later.

Golden retrievers are extremely friendly. Watch the movie "up". the dog called dug would pretty much describe my dog to a T. My dog loves to run, but doesn't do well going for a "jog". She needs to smell every light pole and greet every oncoming person/dog. Every dog will have the same need to smell it's world. So, don't be disappointed if running with fido doesn't work out. My neighbor and his wife run marathons, they have a lab (2 actually). Lab never goes on runs with them.

Doberman story to leave you with. When I was in college I had some friends who had this super scary looking doberman. The kind with the ears cropped to stick straight up, the collar with the spikes, dog was beautiful. I'd go to visit, the doberman would come over and pick up my hand in his mouth and just sit there staring at me with my hand between his teeth. Freaking terrified me.

My golden, you come to my house she will run to greet you, soon as you pet her - she's good. You sit down she will come over and nudge your arm/hand with her nose to pet her. She now owns you until you leave.