Are you ever serious Evan?! LOL Too funny yes! I have a friend who has had GSDs forever. She's 76, & some months ago got her AKC-CD with her breed CH bitch & this weekend is doing a Rally trial with her. And she's trying to get another puppy dog to add. Her husband is 80 & going strong. Never sits. Is always doing something & is involved with the GSD world too. They are amazing people & are my mentor's. I truly believe without their shepherds they wouldn't be this active. You know the saying, "Dog's make our life whole!" or something like that. Then I knew another lady that lived to be 92 & had 5 GSDs living with her. She had a super place for them. And her prize, breed CH bitch with titles on both ends also trained for herding & was always doing something with her guys. Now, the sad part yes, what happens to the dogs when a person leaves this earth? Well, she did out live her CH bitch of 13. But she has 4 left at the age of 9. These are puppies she kept out of the CH bitch because she just couldn't find perfect homes for them. Anyway, on this lady's death bed - now dying of cancer, she asked her 2 daughter's at her bedside to take the dogs right at that moment & put them to sleep. I was horrified of those thoughts. The one daughter who had GSDs of her own said, "Mother are you crazy? I will not do this!" And the other daughter who hates dogs said, "YES!" The dying lady became furious & demanded this to be done immediately. The loving daughter told me the 4 dogs were at her bedside when she demanded this & the whole seen was extremely heart wrenching. Finally to calm her dying mother down from such a horrible request she finally agreed to do what was asked of her. Some hours later her mother passed on. And her loving daughter found all 4 shepherds loving forever homes. I praised the loving daughter for her good deed. I sold a puppy to an older couple one time & said I would never do that again. But I feel if those people always had GSDs in their life, knew what they were doing of good grace & were still active I would probably change my mind. My husband now 68 says he's too old for another shepherd. I disagree -- it would get him off the couch. So I'm always on him about it. And for a Raggedy Ann Doll -- There's nothing wrong with that. I hear they are easy to train...;o) Kathy Partch The point of all this, is if people were going to have a NEXT dog, what are the recommendations for a person going into a 76th year? Please let us all hear the recommendations. At 68 I am thinking of a Raggedy Ann doll. Evan L. Ginsburg Asgard German Shepherds http://www.asgardgsd.com/ Where Type Movement and Temperament come together ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2010. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================