thanks, Elk. I do look at certain breeds, but even within those breeds there are exceptions. But that being said, I'm not looking at any of the herding breeds, and it's not my choice to look at terriers as they have a pretty strong prey-drive, too, but these dogs from Taiwan tend to mostly be of the basenji/terrier types.

I'm very cautious about the temperament, I would say that is the primary quality I'm looking at. Calm, gentle, friendly, and easy going. My old dog was mostly-rottweiler, and yeah, all he did was pretty much sleep all day and all night.

I really would hate to have a dog come all the way from Taiwan and find that our energies are all wrong. I do need a calm dog indoors but are able to keep up with the occasional runnin, hiking and camping type of lifestyle. Still processing it all and it will be a decision I won't be making lightly.

On another note, I volunteer at the SPCA hospital and I'm fostering a little schnauzer with a broken leg for a few weeks. Hopefully he'll get me in the doggy frame of mind and routine. I won't be keeping him, even though he's cute. He's still very young (about 8 months) and is cute, smart, and small. he'll be adopted just like *that*. I want a dog that most people would pass up. A diamond in the rough, so to speak.