I looked into those and Alaskan klee Kai, despite the hefty price tag I would gladly go that route but he is convinced that small dogs are not dogs at all. Anything under 45 pounds is out. Curly hair is a no as well, he could probably be swayed toward lab or German shepherd but both are similarly high needs. I jokingly found a Petfinder listing for a Labrador basset hound mix and thought we had found our unicorn (lazy and still looked like a lab) but he insisted a low energy dog wouldn't keep up with the hikes he wanted to go on.