My personal opinion is that someplace like Roseville will be a good option since you have proximity to Lake Como and the park there for walking your dog. Nearby communities include Falcon Heights, the Como Park neighborhood of St. Paul, and St. Anthony neighborhood of Minneapolis. If you're willing to go a bit further north, consider New Brighton (don't worry, just because Jacob/Alric seVinta lives there doesn't mean it's totally bad). Columbia Heights will be another option, but New Brighton and Columbia Heights are getting toward your max travel time. In terms of age of houses in these areas, they're typically built anywhere from the 20s to the late 60s. Pricing is in the low/mid $200K up to $300K+

My general advice is to stay on the north side of the river since there are only a few "convenient" crossing points and they get heavily trafficked during daily commutes since they ALSO go through downtown Minneapolis. If you're willing to go south of the river, the Longfellow and Nokomis neighborhoods of Minneapolis are fairly decent. I know you said you wanted newer suburb-type places, but traffic here sucks and roomier/newer will take you longer than 20-30 minutes during a rush-hour travel.

If you can commute outside of rush-hour, Blaine on the north side is a good bet. Maplewood, White Bear Lake, etc aren't bad either but even that distance may be stretching it if you want a close commute. I myself have found Inver Grove Heights and Eagan on the near south/southeast side a very pleasant surprise. Housing prices tend to be lower than other areas I've suggested, and if you travel outside of rush hour the travel time will be in the 20-30 minute range.

In the link section, I've included a realtor's website. I enjoy the functionality much more than "meta" websites such as zillow.com or trulia.com, and you can use it to get an estimate on house prices, square feet, etc of the usual stuff - BUT it also has options for searching for fenced-in yards which will be huge for you with a dog.