Growing up with retrievers, I was a big dog guy. In my now more advanced state (I'm still young enough that I don't think I'm "middle-aged," though I do find myself defining why I'm not...), I've become much more partial to the littler ones. A good friend has a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that is an awesome little thing. Loves, loves, loves its people, and is pretty low maintenance. It's that maintenance part that gets my attention now. My teenagers are high maintenance. My work is high maintenance. I don't need a high maintenance dog, too.
Of course, we don't have a dog at all; we have a cat. She's awesome, too--and low maintenance. But a cat doesn't love you like a dog does.