Kiko_Niwa
Well I went through the Wikipedia list of dogs and found some that I thought would work. Trying to stay away from hounds, shepherds, and spaniels. (Hounds and shepherds usually require lots and lots of exercize, and I have heard spaniels have major temper problems. Small dogs wouldn't fare too well in my house cuz I'm moving with my dad and he can't really see his feet to watch for small dogs, besides the fact that he can't stand yappers.)
The Vizsla I have heard is a laid-back clean dog that is easy to train, and the Utonagan I read was good with cats and very social. I want something that would be okay with chilling on the couch with me, but also help motivate me to go outside more lol and I would defiantly walk it every day ;P and maybe take it to the park if I could find my way there and back.
(very bad with navigation)
I want to teach it the basic dog tricks and maybe some others if I can figure out how, and I would be able to be with it most of the time. I don't really know of any dog events near me, but I have been able to hang out with many pit bulls... I watch the AKC Dog show almost every year and Dogs 101 when I see it on tv.
Vizsla are HUGELY energetic. The ones I've met have been BONKERS with energy, and need a TON of exercise. Neither of those dogs really seem like a chill on the sofa kind of breed to me.
Spaniels don't
all have major temper problems. ;] If you don't want one, that's fine.
A lot of hounds are actually pretty laid back.
You could look into rescue groups for laid back, relaxed dogs. Or, have you looked at greyhounds? They're large, healthy dogs, for the most part, and they're very relaxed indoors. They, surprisingly, don't require a huge amount of exercise, just the ability to run every once in a while. Plus, they're gorgeous. There's a lot of greyhound rescues, even in CA where there isn't racing.
You could also look at some of the giant breeds, like the mastiffs. They're going to be a lot calmer than a zippy little gun dog.
There's going to be TONS of dog events in/around Monterey.
This is the website I use, but I'm in SoCal, so a lot of the shows are going to be too far away. You could try googling your area + dog club, and look for NorCal breed clubs with the dogs you're interested in.