does any one have or know of anyone that has a very cheap or free small dog that stays small that i can buy or come and get for free for my daughter for her birthday? 

I mean this with the best of intentions so please do not be angry because I'm meaning this in anyway condescending or otherwise.

I saw your ad on LYS for your 1 year old. You should really research the breed instead of getting any small dog. Example, if you got a Jack Russell, they are not for inexperienced owners. They end up being bounced from home to home due to someone not being able to handle their breed. Small dogs can have a lot of issues if not trained properly (such as the small dog syndrome) where they are aggressive and end up snapping at children and being also bounced from home to home though no fault of their own. The owners either are not doing what the dog needs or they placed all the bad habits from lack of proper training. If you are really serious about getting a dog, it should be for the family and not for a 1 year old who could quite possibly cause the dog to bite since 1 year olds don't know any better just yet. It would not be the dog's fault either.

If you get a short notice e-mail about someone having a dog, just do a quick google about the breed (if you can, you can't obviously if it's a mutt) and see if you can do what needs to be done to have a great family dog. In the end, 5 mins of research could save you guys a lot of stress, money and possibly heartache for both sides.

If you do get a dog, please post pics! I would love to see what you get. :-) 

In my experience the best dogs with kids are medium to bigger ones. Funny how animals are with kids sometimes. I used to have a bird who hated everyone, including me. Whenever I would let him out of his cage or my friends would go near him, he'd try to remove flesh from bone with his diminutive beak. But when my friends' kids were over and wanted to stick their fingers in the cage, he'd move to the very middle of his perch, out of their reach, and just hunker down until they got bored. Never failed to amaze me how he seemed to just get it. 

Im my experience here in England, we have a smaller sized female Staffie, and she is wonderful with children, very similar to the white lab we had back in the states( he passed away). They weight between 30-45 lbs, and have the nickname "nannydogs" because their breed started out as family pets that were meant to be the childrens play toy. Ear pulling, pulling up on, most of the playful yet can be annoying things small children do to dogs, Staffies take in stride. Recently they have gotten a bad rep due to bad owners trying to use them as fighting dogs. If you do get a staffie, make sure yours has not been fought, the damage fighting an have on a dog can seem controlled, then backfire on you later on. 

Springers are the best!!! They are so loving and submissive - no alpha male in ours at all and he wakes up out daughter every morning with kisses!! 

I agree with MC said, and assuming you'll do this, where all have you looked? There are some great rescue places in the area. 

I have a labrador that from day 1 (she was 7 weeks old when we got her) has never had a problem with my children. Smaller dogs are actually much rougher with children that large, family friendly breeds. The big thing about the big dogs is that sometimes they can forget their size so that's something to think about as well. Dogs that actually do well with kids are Labs, Golden retrievers, Boxers, Beagles, the Setter breeds, Pugs, Bichon Frise, Springer Spaniel (high energy), bulldog, and a few others but you get it. :) You can also Google family friendly dogs.