The American Kennel Club has released a list of the ten most popular dog breeds in the US. Beagles have been on the list since 1915, apparently so that wasn't a surprise. Neither were the Labs and Retrievers, but I was quite happy to see German Shepherds at number 3.

This just makes me want a dog even more, but we can't at the moment - we don't have the space and even if we did I don't think the our building allows pets. When we do, though, I'm thinking of adopting a shelter or rescue dog instead of getting a puppy. While I love raising puppies and I think they're quite possibly the most adorable things in the world, I want a grown up dog. Of course it'll probably have to be trained to some extent and will need time to settle in too, but that's easy enough to do with all but severely traumatized dogs (and I don't think shelters would be handing those out by the cartload anyway.). Plus, with a grown up dog, what you see is what you get. Whatever the breed characteristics and parents' temperaments, a pup will develop its own personality and it may end up clashing with that of its owner. It's easier to gauge whether you'll get on with a grown up dog

Ideally, I'd go for a German Shepherd, but really any big, sturdy, intelligent and preferably slightly goofy dog would do. Dogs generally aren't stupid and generally are at least slightly silly, so that's not a tall order, really. I may also have to reconsider the size because of space and time constraints (though really if you can't give a dog the time it requires you might not want to get one at all). Jack Russells have recently tripped my radar and I've found the ones I've met absolutely adorable. And even though they're little, they've got tons of energy and I've seen them keep up with much bigger dogs. Beagles have some appeal too, though I tend to prefer sharp-muzzled dogs - I feel for some reason that I can read them better, but that's probably because those are the kind of dog I've always had. While I might consider adopting a Lab or a Golden Retriever because of the two lab mixes we had back in Islamabad and because they're such incredibly sweet natured and intelligent animals, I just don't see myself connecting with them the way I do even with random Shepherds or Russells (yes I stop to pet dogs on the street if they approach), much less my late, wonderful Shepherd, Pooks.

Some places I'll be looking at when the time comes (or now, really - no harm just looking, right?) include:

The RSPCA's adoptapet site which lists animals awaiting adoption in its shelters across Australia and allows you to search by animal, state, and shelter. On the left nav bar, you'll also find information on the adoption process, animal selection process, pet care and maintenance, as well as good reasons why shelter animals are the way to go.

Another great site is Pet Rescue, which lists a large number of independent shelters across Australia. It's not owned by any one shelter but is instead a volunteer-run service that enables shelters to place their rescue animals up for adoption online. The amount of information provided about each rescue animal is, from what I've seen, pretty thorough and they'll tell you right off whether the animal can be moved interstate. They too have lots of other information available and also put forward a good argument for adopting rescued animals.

For a straight list of Australian dog rescues and shelters, there's always About.com's list.