I finally made a decision regarding Dog #2. Yep, a firm decision. Breed, breeder, gender, even color.
The deciding factor was meeting a dog of one of the breeds on my list at the BAT seminar I just attended. She was just so...perfect, in every way. I just thought, Why am I fighting this? I've met so many dogs of so many different breeds, and talked to so many owners and breeders and trainers, but this is it, the one breed I've been wanting since I first met one at my friend's house when I was a preteen. The dog leapt up and bopped me right in the nose (my eyes welled up), and my friend's mom said "sorry, she's kind of obnoxious," and I thought
omg this is the perfect dog! Apparently, I haven't changed. The other deciding factor was meeting a dog from another breed I liked, and realizing that what was so tantalizing on paper just wasn't doing it for me in real life...very surprising, I thought I would LOVE the dog and she just wasn't what I was looking for, and she came from very respectable lines so while she's not representative of her entire breed, I think it was a good snapshot of what they can and can't be.
I still might wind up with a rescue dog, that's just how my life is gonna be, but it feels nice to be more decisive after all this agonizing