Part of the way to have a happy dog is to feed them healthy food, be nice to them, and take them for walks at least once a day. This also likely will keep you healthier too having to care for and feed a dog especially if you live alone. Studies show that having to take care of your friend, your dog keeps you alive much longer than if you are just living alone without any pets.
The next layer of this is dogs are social animals in that their norm is to be in a pack. So, you really shouldn't leave a dog alone without another dog or human around. Domesticated dogs have been bred for their humans to be their pack but it is better if you have more than one dog. Two is a good number for most people so your dog doesn't get neurotic when you are gone and freak out and tear your place up.
However, the type of breed that mostly should live outside is a Jack Russell because they are a very outdoor dog and will tend to take it out on your furniture if and when you go away and they are angry you are gone. Some other dogs might do this too. However, we had a Corgi Jack Russell mix who wasn't like this at all. Our biggest problem with her is she would roll in poop of every sort to mask her sent so she could hunt animals. This was very problematic and a Jack Russell trait as they are a hunting and outdoor dog and weren't really meant to ever live inside a house originally. So, I got pretty frustrated after walks, discovering her neck and shoulder covered with one type of poop or another that she had rolled in and having to take her in the back yard with a hose to get it off before she could be in the house. Eventually, she got into a fight with a raccoon and the raccoon lost but the bite on her front chest that was bleeding damaged her kidneys and within a month we had to put her to sleep.
Eventually, we got a Corgi purebred puppy for our daughter when she was about 8 to replace her last dog. Now this corgi is about 11 or 12. While we were away at Portland our dog sitter was helping take care of an 8 year old male English Yellow Labrador (looks like Marley and me and the dog on Downton Abbey). Our corgi and he got to be friends at the dog sitters while we were gone and since he needed a good home we decided to adopt him because our corgi loved him already. And this is about half the job of picking a partner for your dog so they don't get lonely when you go somewhere to work or school or wherever.
This psychologically works better for a dog usually than being alone which can cause all kinds of psychological problems for some dogs. But, they have to be friends so they don't harm or kill or intimidate each other too much. A fixed male and a fixed female usually works best for this which is a more natural combination long term. Two males might be okay or they might one day kill each other and the same for two females. So, it all depends. But, you have to treat them equally or problems (just like children or problems could arise). So, I would recommend a fixed male with a fixed female(just make sure they are friends first otherwise there could be trouble down the line.
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