A good border terrier will have a perfect balance of on like a Malinois and off like a pit bull. They're dog friendly, human friendly, driven, and active. They are carry sized but not yappy. They're very smart but they can be hard to redirect when they have that terrier focus. They're supposedly cat friendly if raised carefully but all terriers should have exceedingly high prey drive, the kind that says who cares that your leg is broken, go go go. I love the breed and I plan to have one some day.
Jacks are very similar in many regards but from what I see they're even more over the top in energy, drive, and crazy. I think of them as Backup style Malinois where the border terrier is Sloan. When I posted a very similar thread (maybe we can find it?) I was reminded that JRT, dog tolerant but not labs per say, don't always have patience for what they consider annoying behavior, my Malinois are very annoying sometimes and it's something to be aware of.
For an all around HAPPY dog who'll love other dogs you may consider a wheaten. A well bred wheaten is a jack of all trades, literally because the Irish farmers needed them to do everything, and they should be comical and happy dogs. My groomers at work sigh and roll their eyes at wheaten a because is so annoying grooming a dog that is always so happy, the dog just wants to love on them and won't hold still for clipping. Also, they're energizer bunnies but they have an in-home off switch. My wheaten could out run/swim my game dog pit bull and hunt bred rat terrier some days. The cons are because of this joy, it's rather lab like, they can be hard to focus and find a higher value reward than ZOMG peoples & puppies! lol Mine was hard as heck to motivate by food and play but I've trained several since that renewed my faith in their drives. They're also notoriously good at being animal friendly when taught but retaining pest control ability (another trade of a farm dog, when well bred).
My Deckers rat terriers were amazing dogs. Tons of energy, stamina, amazing biddability, and a fantastic off switch. I have met a lot of undesirable dogs in show or pet bred but you can almost always pick out a hunting rat amongst the crowd. They're quiet, calm, and confident. At home they're silly, reserved with strangers (plenty of real guarding potential, Hannah was a monster if she read a threat), but controlled and it shouldn't be a fear driven awareness. They're very smart and attached but confident and shouldn't be neurotic about separation. My girls had death fights and I had to return one to the breeder but both were awesome(Hannah still doesn't like females but she tolerates them) with other dogs outside of each other. Again, pack terriers so they shouldn't have unmanageable aggression. Hannah was a fluke of health issues which lead to some behavioral issues and that's why she's with my mom now but generally speaking they're a healthy breed.
Have you considered a small GSP, vizsla, or Brittany?