Dogs are a pain in the arse, but so are children.
And dogs in many ways are like kids, they want your attention, they can be fun and amusing but they can also be sulky and demanding….and they won’t always do what you tell them to do.
What I see on social media loads is people exploiting the fact that they’ve done nothing to prevent their dogs developing bad habbits including mouthing, bothering you for your food etc
You’ve basically got two options. Get a puppy and it’s hard work but you will with the right training be able to mould the Dog to how best suits you…which I think especially when you have kids is important because it teaches the kids at the same time to respect the dog’s boundaries.
Or you can get a rescue dog, now all my dogs were rescue dogs and I loved them all the same but ultimately they come with far more baggage because they haven’t always had the happiest starts in life, a lot of them have abandonment issues (which can make them destructive if they are left home alone) and you simply don’t know how they will be with children…most of the time absolutely fine…but it’s hard to know what might make a dog snap.
But those are the down sides, they make excellent companions….they are on the whole loyal and good natured…also they all have a sense of humour…don’t let anyone tell you they don’t. And they prefer people even to other dogs