So I've narrowed down my choices.. need advice

[SisMorphine]

You can have almost any dog in an apartment as long as you're willing to put the work into properly exercising and training it.

Though a word of caution on getting a lab:
We usually have between 2 and 5 dogs in my office at all times. This past week my co-worker (who I share the office with) was on vacation. The woman who filled in for her has a Lab. The floor was BLACK the entire week. We would sweep multiple times a day and it would be COVERED again. I could NOT deal with that kind of shedding . . . seriously it was worse than when I had my Dutch Shepherd. I had forgotten about how badly labs shed until last week. It's pretty gross . . .

 

[duncan15]

papillons- has anyone else noticed how tiny these dogs are becoming? i work at a kennel and we have 3 or 4 there right now. i have seen long haired chihs that were bigger. they are all skittish, if you pick them up they pee and jump and squell. they are all owned by different people. they are not my favorite.

i have a chih. he is on the bigger side, i think he is 13 lbs or something like that. he is active, can sit outside and amuse himself, but if you are near him, he just wants to cuddle. when i used to not be able to sleep, id go in my living room to watch tv and he would jump up and cuddle with me all night. he is the sweetest dog i have ever had. so you can get one that is a bit bigger.

i dont recomend labs in apartments. it would have to be a very low energy lab, and yes you would have to take it out multiple times a day. and yes most of them shed A LOT. i personally wouldnt want to deal with a lab in an apartment.

all that being said, the first thing i thought when i read your post was a king charles. they are absolutly adorable and cuddly. i love them. little bit more grooming than the other choices

 

[Laurelin]

papillons- has anyone else noticed how tiny these dogs are becoming? i work at a kennel and we have 3 or 4 there right now. i have seen long haired chihs that were bigger. they are all skittish, if you pick them up they pee and jump and squell. they are all owned by different people. they are not my favorite.

What you described is quite possibly the opposite temperament of most of the papillons I know whether they be rescues or show dogs or anything in between. Most papillons, though I do know a few with issues, are very friendly, happy go lucky dogs. They love people and *should* be pretty outgoing.

As for labs, we had a lab growing up although he was field bred. He was a bit much for an apartment, imo. He shed A LOT even though he had shorter hair and he needed a lot of really good exercise- jogging, going to the lake to retrieve, hunting etc. He was a very energetic dog. Of course, I don't know about other lines of labs and if there's much difference in activity level between them. It's been a while, and he was a great dog, but somewhat of a handful.

 

[angelmom]

We just got a yorkie about 3 months ago. He is wonderful. They can be hard to potty train, so you have to have time to work with them right away.

 

[squirtsmom]

Poodles are also good dogs.

 

[eddieq]

I think you should get a Dalmatian/JR/Fox Terrier/Chow mix (but I'm biased) Short hair but she should be bald based on all of the hair I sweep up daily.

In all seriousness, I'll have to try that method on the barking. Xena found her voice about 3 weeks ago and she barks at every phantom noise near the door.