I think that the First dog should be a mixed breed or even a Dog from the local shelter. I have a Black Lab/Australian Sheppard mix. Ezmerelda is going on 5 now and she is always aware of what is going on around her. She is protective, but will never bite. However you wouldn't know that unless you know her. She is loving and cuddly and is tolerate of other animal (she loves her cats). Two things set her apart from he rest, One is that she is very tolerate of children. A child can pull on her ears, tail, fur, skin and she will NEVER growl at them. Second she is very smart......really she is. My husband came home and laid on the couch because he didn't feel well. Ezzie started bothering him, and bothering him until it made him a bit angry and he got up. Ezzie, with her nose, pushed him inside the house (the couch was in the enclosed porch) to get to his phone. Just as he stepped in the house he realized he REALLY didn't feel well. He called 911 and by the time they arrived his heart was only beating at 42 beats a minute. Yes, he was having a heart attack and he didn't know it but Ezzie did. If she did not wake him I would have come home from work and found him dead.