Oh, man.
I know what you mean. I'm hideously allergic to cats, but doglike cats sound amazing.
My late wife was a world-class rescuer, and for a while we had 16 dogs, 2 lizards, and a turtle.
I'm down to 9 dogs now, and they are all approaching 10 years old.
I had to bury two this year, in hard clay soil, and the effort was nothing compared to the grief.
I generally say, every dog comes with a heartbreak built in.
That said, please adopt dogs and cats if you can! Dogs have evolved along with us, and they need us to survive.
Cats? OK, them too. But don't let them kill birds.
Seriously.
They kill all the birds.