I just LOVED everyone's story! They were wonderful! I wanted a dog my whole life-I never played with dolls, only stuffed dogs. I can barely remember having a dog when I was small who became ill and was put down. I remember crying but not much else. I guess after that, since we were such an active family, no amount of pleading and begging could convince my parents to get me a dog! The whole yakity yak about training and cleaning up poop etc...On Dec 2 1991 at 7a I was having coffee at the train station cafe when the owner answered the phone..it was her niece telling her that their GR, Asia, was in the midst of having puppies! My friend kept saying "another? another"? I interrupted her to have her reserve a male for me. That's it, Went home, broke the news that after the holidays I would be an official dog owner, and of course being almost 41 yrs old there wasn't much they could say or do! Never had a dog, knew nothing, was definitely NOT alpha, learned the very very hard way, spent lots of money on training ME and 9 yrs and 5 mo later my life is complete in a way I never I imagined! I never thought my love for this dog would be so deep and mutual. There are no words to describe it, as you all know. When I first picked him up we stared at each other and that was it! Worth every second of every day and I finally got the wish I wanted most!!!! I say a prayer for him every night! I feel very blessed!