Which breed of puppy shall i get?

Have your considered a shetland sheepdog? They do have longer coat, but don't require trips to the groomer- only regular brushing. I have a 12 year old sheltie whom I have had since he was a baby. They are high energy dogs and need a place to run- which it sounds like you have. They are very people oriented and cuddly. My oldest child was 4 when we got the sheltie and I had two more babies after that. He loves kids- was great when all the kids were babies. My oldest daugher is still his best friend. They are considered one of the 5 smartest breeds on the Cohen scale of dog intellegence and ours was a breeze to housebreak and easy to teach commands. They are a very pretty dog-at least I think so- and ours is 22 pounds-not too big and not too small. He has always been very healthy and at 12 years old is still energetic- a tad slow when he first gets up and stretches- and then he is off and runnning. Plays with our golden retriever, jumps over the cats, runs around with the kids. He is very nice with other animals, likes the cats. Does bark a little at strangers come up to the house but would never bite anything or anyone. Warms up to new people pretty quickly. He is sensitive- when any of the kids cry, he rushes over to them and sits beside them and licks their tearful faces, then just parks himself next to them until the feel better. He has had a lot of too tight hugging, pushing and pulling as the kids grew and never once did he nip or act up with a child.