Years ago, my husband had a nice, quiet shepherd-type mutt who never barked. We brought home a rescue dog from the Humane Society who barked constantly- inside and out- and the sweet mutt started barking at pretty much everything that moved outside, as well.

On another note, about another dog, I wish I'd been more disciplined with my chihuahua when he was a puppy. I wasn't; I gave in to his whining and let him chew on my fingers and all kinds of other bad things (because he was so widdle and cute and helpless and all that crap), and now he's a bad little dog.

Amy,

You are also smart enough to not get a type of dog known for its barking. Some breeds have "loud" temperaments in general. Like shelties who bark when "working" (if it it's chasing a ball) or beagles who bay.

If you ever have the urge to move to the Jersey shore (from sunny So Cal? Yea, right!) I'll vouch to my landlord for you, Aida, and Gregg to be my neighbors.

Shannon; yes, we had St. Bernards when growing up - they never bark except once in a blue moon. Then my brother got an Irish Setter, not known for a lot of barking, but, boy, was there a difference. Some days, there was no shutting up that Irish doggie; especially when another dog was walking by.

The interesting thing about St. Bernards however, is they think that they are "lap dogs" and are afraid of loud noises. Ever have a 185 pound dog try to get on your lap, or under the sofa, when there was a thunder storm coming? It is kinda funny!

My Great Dane would try to hide under the bed when he was in trouble. And he thought he was a lap dog. My husband says his previous dane did the same. They also like to lean on you when you're both standing up.

I wasn't meaning to belittle the training. Just saying that you are considerate enough that you think about these things and wouldn't get a breed of dog known for being vocal on a whim .

Training can do a LOT (I belong to an obedience practice group, so I'm a believer), but it is MUCH harder to train a retriever to NOT bring back the tennis ball than to teach it to sit.

Similarly, you would consider, since you live close to people and are not an ass, that some breeds are prone to being loud by breeding and that would be difficult to train out (not impossible, but perhaps not do-able before annoying somebody).

Obviously, there are individual personalities too. Some retrievers are less ball-centric and some beagles don't bay much. Heck, I once met an aggressive black lab. But clearly, since you knew Aida was "operatic" you weren't being blind to the potential impact on others.

(for the record, my lab mix hates water and won't fetch to save his life)

ahw: "[Great Danes] They also like to lean on you when you're both standing up."

OMG, I totally forgot about that; yes, Great Danes do like to do that. A neighbor of ours growing up had a Great Dane, and he would always do that; knocking us kids over just by standing next to us.

I thought it was his way of getting us to play with him. He would come up to you, stand next to you, pushing you over, and then getting into a "wrestling" match, in a fun sort of way.

Not, that there is anything wrong with your "little" dog, Amy; but, bigger dogs are so much fun if you have the room for them.

You have just run into the mechanism by which good kids go bed. Unfortunately, people get upset when you grab your children by the muzzle and tell them to shut up.

Grr. *bad.