Dana and I are looking to add a dog to our family here in the foothills. Neither of us grew up with dogs so we're taking our time on the research to make sure we find a dog that will fit into our lifestyles without being too much of a burden as we learn to live with him or her.

Somewhat selfishly, I am primarily interested in breeds that will tolerate daily runs from 8 to 20+ miles. I guess I get a bit lonely on longer runs, and as I'm planning a lot of those this year I figured some dependable company on the trail would be nice. Ideally, I want a dog that is not genetically predisposed to sniffing around and can focus on forward progress. I've run with a number of dogs in the past that have tugged around and become endlessly sidetracked with scents, birds and other animals, which is pretty frustrating when trying to achieve steady forward progress.

Aside from running considerations, the dog needs to have a friendly attitude towards young children, while a smaller breed would be a preference.

After a number of conversations and some research on the interwebs, we have developed something of a shortlist of breeds that include:

German Short (and Wire) Haired Pointer:

Border Collie - or other herding breeds (Australian Shepherd/Cattle):

Springer Spaniel:

Rhodesian Ridgeback (see a great post on RRs by Rick M here):

We plan to get the dog from a rescue or shelter, so ultimately it will likely depend on what we feel is a good fit as we meet dogs, but it's always good to be as informed as possible before making a decision like this.

So I figured I'd throw this one out there in hopes of some feedback from runners with dogs. Any and all advice is welcome.