My son and his wife, went to the Dogs home, and picked out a beautiful Rottweiler, and he was just about 18mnths old, that was in May 2018. Sarah took him for a real good walk in the morning about 1.30 minutes to 2 hours, before she went to work. My son took him in the late afternoon for a good 2 hours, he had come from an abusive home, he was loved by the family and circle of friends, he would have probably licked a burglar. I was shocked as to how much he cost, as I had a couple of dogs from the pound,but to the them he is worth every penny, they got pet insurance for him, What did surprise me, was that the pound were unable to tell them if he was chipped, but a trip to the vets solved that problem, he was, . The exercise the dog got was great for the family as it keeps them fit and active, he had his fav walks, knew where the squirrels were, and loved the doggie field, you paid to hire the field with your dog, for 30 or 60 minutes, he loved it, he would race up and down, at all the space, throwing, balls for him and sticks, the canal walk was another favourite, as was the beach. Then 13 months down the line, he was looking very tired, and miserable, so a trip to the vets , nothing found, but he was not himself, and the family were quite concerned, blood was taken,a scrape of skin was took, everything come back fine. Them a lump was found, on one side of his neck, and one the other side, neither where there before, so he was booked into the vets again, and the the vet found 4 more so that was 6 all in his lymph nodes, so he was left with the vet to do tests, and he had Cancer one of the most aggressive forms. Sadly he has gone, and I have never seen anyone so distraught in all my life, The family had from the pound, and got him away from any abusiveness, they couldn't have loved him anymore than they did. I felt useless,as I couldn't make them feel any better, I couldn't take their pain away. They were going on holiday in September and doggie was going to. What can you say, not a lot. I think its surely took the wind out of them. So for a beautiful softie to go through what he did, and then get a new home, where he was loved and pampered, the weekends, were special, he could have walked for England, he loved been out and about. So that was the effect the dog had on familylife, it does change when you get a dog,but when some thing happens, its so so sad, he was about 3 year old, a very young dog, which you wouldn't expect.