Like Gina I had a miniture schnauzer. She was second hand because her parents split up so we got her for free. She was an amazing little dog who loved company and loved going in the car but loved the lorry even more. (as soon as you opened the ramp she would be up it, through the living and sit in the drivers seat waiting to go). I have never hard of a bad schnauzer and if we get another dog it will probably be another schnauzer. Mum has been doing some investigating and I think thy are around the £500 mark.
my mum breed whippets. She normally charges £400 for a dog and £450 for a bitch. However, last litter the dogs were only £350 because she had quite a few to find homes for!
I've seen 'showing line' whippets for about £600+ though so it depends what you want. My mum's have showing lines but she doesn't show, she breeds them for people to have a family dogs.
ETA - I have two whippets. The older girl is definately fairly laid back. She likes to charge about outside for 1/2hr then go back to sleep although she does have playful times in the evening when she will bring toys etc for you to throw or fight for. The puppy is MENTAL and soooooooo hectic all the time. Even in the car she is leaping about LOL. Hopefully she will grow out of this though because although it is pretty cute it also makes me jump out of my skin when she starts barking when I'm driving
In my experience, stealing and whippets go hand in hand though. My dog is nicknamed Stealio McLurcher. If anyone has succesfully trained their sighthound NOT to steal as soon as you have left the room (my dog will wait quite patiently for you to do this) they deserve a medal IMO. LOL