My boys are all gone and grown up, they're 32, 29 and 27. I was always afraid of dogs, but at my husband's insistence, we adopted a craxy Broder Collie/Australian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix we named Rudy. he's 8 months old and he's seriously my baby boy! He's spoiled and I don't mind. ANd bonus points, he won't sneak out and get drunk, he doesn't talk back (much) and he doesn't ask for $200 sneakers.