First of all I am sorry for your loss. We know we are will out live our pets, but it is still very painful when they die.
If you are looking for a dog you need to sit down and figure out what kind you want, if you are not a very active person, I would stay with smaller breeds. Labs make good dogs, but if they are not worked and exercised A LOT then they will become obsturctive. And if you are going for a retiver of some sort I would go with a puppy thatway you have a better shot at training them to not eat your birds.
Herding dogs are good companions but they also require a lot of exercise. I would also advise a puppy with them. We have a puppy I have her pictures posted under "New puppy" She will spend hours chasing the chickens arounds, and sometimes she gets lucky and catches one. I have had to watch her close so she dont hurt them. ANd she is getting better about not usig them as a chew toy. She is a border collie Aussie mix.
You may want to think about hair. If you dont want to deal with a lot of hours vacuming because the dog is shedding all over, I would go with weenies, german short hair chiuahas.
Unless you either have a lot of energy or coon hunt I would stay away from Hounds, Blye ticks, blod hounds.....THey will tear up everything, and you cant trust them not to wander off to investigate what they smell.
I have had a corgi, and they are pretty fun little dogs. THey are very cute, and not aweful big.
I also own a black german shepherd named lady. She is very awesome, she is very laid back, and is happy just lounging around during the day. SHe isnt at all hyper. And I trust her with my kids. I have literally step on her tail, pulled her ears, and pinched her to see if I could get her to growl or snap. And she has done niehter. She is my pride. She gets up and goes runnig when we ride bikes. And that gives her enough exercise.
I hope you find the right dog for your self. You ought to pick up a dog breeds book and sit down and look up different breeds. It would be very usful. I wish you luck finding your new companion.