Looking for Suggestion

We have a small Shiba Inu that loves treats from the litter box! We didnt have a space to put the litter box up higher, so I just made a little "maze" to get to the litter box, the wastebasket and the wall in the laundry room. The litter box opening is facing the wall, but out about 10 inches. The wastebasket is next to it blocking the one side. The litter box is also several inches away from the wall on the side. The cat can fit between the wall and the side of the litter box to get to the opening, but the dog cant. It's a little hard to explain, but it works.

So you need a small dog, but not so small that it can easily get into the litter box.

Pugs, French Bulldogs, Boston Terriers.

Other terriers, like a West Highland White (Westie) or Cairn terrier, might be okay too. All terrier breeds tend to be really high energy and can be a handful.

And/or place the cat box in a room with a very small cat door in the door, if your lease will allow it.

Hi! We built a cat litter/cat dining space/ cat tree to save ourselves from the food and the poop being devoured. The bottom was a plywood box with a hinged door and a little triangle opening cut in it for kitty to get in but no doggy faces. Then we had a 4X4 with two shelves. One shelf was for food. We did have to drill a hole in it and epoxy a dowel in the cat dish to keep them from knocking it down. My guys (2 dogs, 2 cats) liked to work together. The cats would knock things off the counters, the dogs would rip it open, everyone shared. The other shelf was for them to hang out on. All covered in glorious shag carpet. It was a thing of beauty. And infuriated my poop loving dog and my cat food loving dog.

Ugh, I had a dog that ended up with a nasty infection as a result of "treasure hunting" in the catbox...
There are a ton of different designs for catboxes, maybe one where the "entrance" has some overhang, so the cat has to duck down a little to get in?? That would make it trickier for a dog that is nearly cat-sized. We did the cat door thing into our laundry room, that worked well. Until our mastiff ate the door off...

Get a hooded cat litter box.

Or, with a baby gate, gate off... the area that the cat litter box is located.
A small dog, cannot "climb" the gate, like a cat can. Cats can climb.

Are you sure about getting a small dog?
What if the cat and the dog hate each other?
And then they each get behavioral problems and/or start peeing everywhere to mark their territory?

Get a pug.

They make litter boxes that have the opening on the TOP rather than the front of the box... basically like a rubbermaid tub with a whole in the lid.

The cat basically hops up and then down into the box, but the dog won't be able to just poke his head in. That isn't their actual purpose (they also keep kitty from tracking litter all over the place, or failing to get her bum all the way in) but seems like a decent and easy solution.

I like pets that can be kept in their own habitats. Birds and fish are my favorite pets.

What we've done in the past with our pets is keep the litter box in the laundry room and then put a babygate across the door. This way, the cat had easy access to her box, but the dog (and later, kids) couldn't get near it.

Go to your local pound, they usually have a lot of small mutt terrier mixes, that can be really great family dogs. Since most of them are adult, you can easily see how large they are. We always had good luck with maltese, bichon, poodle and terrier mixes.

We have two pembroke corgis. They are small dogs with lots of personality, lots of love and great with kids! They don't require a lot of exercise, but love to play!

You can always put the cat box high... the cat wont mind.