We have a large inside dog (black lab/German shepherd mix). We didn't get her for home protection purposes, but she is great for that. Although she loves most people, and is great with kids, she would scare off an intruder. Dogs seem to know who's ok and who is not.

I didn't want another family pet, but my wife and kids used my childhood pet against me. They knew I loved my dog (also a black lab/shepherd mix), and when they found the same mix puppy, they pleaded for it. I gave in. I haven't regretted it.

Some of the highlights:
1) our dog LOVES to fetch. She will wear herself out chasing anything you'll throw for her. She especially likes soccer balls, and would make a great goalie. She also likes laying at the top of the stairs and bouncing a ball down to one of us. We'll throw the ball back up, she'll catch it, then bounce it down again. When my primary classes come over for a party, their favorite thing to do is play with our dog.

2) She goes backpacking with me. She has her own backpack for her food as well as collapsible dishes. She sticks right with me when we go. On the trail, she constantly goes from front to back, checking on all hikers (see photo below when I backpacked with our dog and my 2 youngest).

3) She's pretty smart. I can be in the front yard with her, tell her "Go get your ball", and she'll go retrieve it from the backyard. She not only understands the word "walk", but also understands if you spell it, or even spell it backwards. We have resorted to talking about "that one thing".

4) We taught her to ring a bell on our back door when she wants to go out. She, in turn, taught our cat to ring the bell to go out also.

5) We have a bird feeder that attracts lots of different birds. We like most of them--that's why we have the feeder--but we don't like the blue jays because they bully the smaller birds, and scatter all the food around. Our dog HATES the blue jay as a result. Every time she hears that jay, she runs to our back door, rings the bell, and chases it off.

6) When a family member is sick, our dog seems to know. She stays right by them, keeping them company.

7) My mom had dementia for the last several years of her life. When we were about to take a trip down to AZ to visit, I had the thought to take our dog, and asked my sisters what they thought. As I said above, our dog is the same mix as my childhood dog, so we thought it might help spur some memories in my mom. Mom lit up when she saw our dog. For a short period, my mom seemed to come back for a bit. She knew it wasn't the same dog. She told my dog, "We had a dog just like you years ago." And my dog was so patient and sweet with my mom. Somehow, my dog knew this was a different situation and she was helping out.

Yeah, dogs can be high maintenance. But they are also a lot of fun, and they are good, loyal friends.