This is good to know. I did verify that the hips and eyes were done, and asked if she had SPAID tested, which is new and not required. In hind-sight the Pei gene pool in Utah is very small so I would probably have better luck going out of state and looking for a reputable breeder there next time.
Well, no, not at all. This site doesn’t let you choose and compare multiple breeds by concrete things like size and longevity and other material factors like how trainable they are, how bark-y they are, how they get along with other animals, and the like. They’re generalities, and I understand provided by breed clubs, but it’s an extremely useful starting place. Your site doesn’t have any of that.
As for the show vs real dog distinction, I don’t buy it. My pup’s parents are both AKC titled and compete in PWD water trials. I met them both. They’re not just pretty pictures but do the physical job they were bred for. Pops is 14 and still looks great.
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When the OP’s stated her needs, I Immediately thought Bearded Collie. Medium size, long hair, herding, great with kids. I had a mix, but mostly bearded, and he was an awesome dog! Great personalities! I would own another but I like short hair. https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/bearded-collie/
But the registry doesn’t prove anything. My dogs are AKC registered and two are quite excellent conformation specimens. Both can hunt as well, and have lower level AKC Hunt Test titles (and could have higher titles if I persued them.) However, if I wanted to run in AKC Field Trials, I would choose dogs bred from different lines. Still AKC registered, still purebred - but bred with different goals in mind.
On paper - they look the same (same breed, same registry). But that doesn’t mean they are the same. Both these dogs are registered with AKC:
My dog: 
My breed’s National Field Champion.
[IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"http://theamericanbrittanyclub.org/Dogs/NFC/2017.GladeRunIrish.jpg)
Editing to say. OK, I wouldn’t choose an entirely different breeding line. This dog is truly ugly, in my opinion. I don’t care how well he hunts in the field.
whoa, that’s a crazy difference, and your dog is gorgeous.
I don’t think I was clear on the AKC thing - I view it as a starting place, not an ending place. For that it’s fantastic.
Exactly. People somehow want it to be something else, though. I hear people bash AKC all the time for one thing or another. It’s a registry and a title granting entity. The rest is up to breeders and breed clubs.
And thank you - he is a handsome dude. 
Can’t take any credit for that but his breeder is proud.
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For many breeds I think there is a big difference between show and real dogs.
I have a labrador. His father won the labrador breed and won his division the next year. My dog does not swim. He will wade in water and hop in his baby pool but does not swim. I don’t think he would make a great actual hunting dog.
Previous lab loved to swim. not really a good retriever. He would swim, get ball but not want to come out of the water and bring it to the human.
Both labs are the “English” style versus the American/field labrador. Both had good show lines but nothing as far as actual recent hunting lines.
I don’t hunt so I am fine with that. I am sure there are some dogs that both compete in AKC and hunting well but I think it is very rare. In general my experience with the labradors is they are the blocky English show style that do well at AKC conformation shows or they are smaller and leaner and the American/field lab look and can actually hunt
At least neither of mine are afraid of fireworks, gun fire or thunderstorms. A friend has a Irish setter but he is afraid of loud noises. I don’t think he would hunt well.
OP- I have an Eskimo dog that is standard size. He is closer in size to what your husband is looking for than you want. Mine is 28 pounds. He was a “rescue” so I doubt a well bred dog. He has his quirks but when he was younger would have been a great agility dog. For a fluffy dog his coat is relatively easy to care for, no herding instinct.
But from what little research I have done you need to be careful about temperment. I think they can be standoffish with strangers. Mine is- until they give him a treat then they are friends for life or at least the rest of that visit.
I don’t have children and I would generally trust Casey with children but he is the type to play rough and not have the best bite inhibition. He grabs clothes and will put teeth on hands. He has never actually bitten anyone but he gets easily aroused so I don’t take it out of th realm of possibility. My lab is excitable but would never bite a human. It just would never occur to him to put his teeth on a person even in play.
I love the original concept of labradoodles. My understanding is they were bred to be seeing eye/therapy dogs for people that were allergic to dogs. These dogs were developed in Australia. However both the labrador and the standard poodle used were good quality dogs. I have since read that the the breeder that come up with this idea regrets it due ot the crap that is currently churred out as “labradoodles and goldendoodles”. Also only about 50% if the dogs are hypoallergenic. I have read that in Australia they are adding in Giant Schnauzer to a labradoodle to increase the hypoallergenic factor and ot tone down any hperactivity.
I love labradors and other retriever breeds with children (other than Chesapeake Bay retrievers). If they are well bred they are just wonderful with people. You generally do not need to worry about them being overly protective or herding inappropriate people/things. Some breeds are great with your children but not so much with your children’s friends (can you say Liability?). They don’t tend to be great at agility since they are not fast.
I had one dog that was border collie crossed with some sort of snow dog. He had a really heavy coat for a border collie and had a dense plume tail that he carried curled over his back. He was great with kids, well behaved, did not herd everything in sight, good with cats, good with submissive dogs. He had a nice amount of energy but was not hyper or a slug. He had an easy care coat. I know with the border collie in there we got lucky that he did not need a lot of exercise. I would not try to recreate his breed.
OP- I think that going the route of a rescue dog where they use a foster family might work well for you. With a puppy you can still get that outlier puppy. Both parent are great dogs but puppy is a throwback to an ancestor that does not fit your . With a rescues dog versus a puppy you know what you are getting. They have grown into their personality already. The foster family has already vetted the dog socially and should be able to help you determine if the dog will fit your family. You can stack the deck by leaning towards certain breeds or going through a breed rescue.
I have only been exposed to a few mini Aussies and that is not a breed I would pick for being around children. Remember while certain breeds are great family dogs and may do well with your children there will come a time when your children will want to have friends over. You want a dog that will accept your friend’s children and be tolerant to them. If not you are looking at some big liability.
I think you must mean show and field dogs? LOL? My show dogs think they are real dogs, at least.
Yes, my post above was exactly that point. But it’s not “AKC” or “non-AKC” for most breeds, and even those that do have a split of parent club does not preclude any particular dog from having working ability – or mean that the non-AKC dog can work.
I’ve spent more than a decade smack in the middle of this type of discussion, and to be honest, it usually comes down to: “well I love my dog so there!” and “I think those (whatevers) are just beautiful so there!” and “my dog works well enough for me and we have fun and that’s all that matters so there!”
But, the pesky truth is, genetic selection matters. And if you really need a dog who has the very best chance of being good at doing a thing which requires something more than just being born a dog, you would be wise to find a pup whose parents were very good at that thing, and whose parents’ parents were too. So, if you are a duck hunter, you will buy from duck hunting champion lines. And if you need to move sheep, you will get a pup whose parents herd sheep for a living.
Because that’s simply how genetics works. Whether the dog is registered with the AKC only has a bearing on this, in that the AKC (okay, its constituent breed clubs) is almost always seen by real working dog breeders as the enemy of the real working dog. For very good sound proven reasons. The only exception I can think of is the Brittany, which is an anomalous case.
I feel like we’re having two different conversations. If the pictures of my Brittany above doesn’t demonstrate exactly what you’re describing…i am confused.
While we have a lot of dual champions, that is really only in comparison to other breeds, not a majority of our own breed.
Yes, it is all about genetics and selection.
Well I’d never heard of that mix before, but there appears to be one at my local shelter!
