When I was a youngun we had this Aussie Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and she was the best dog ever, loved the kids (me) to pieces and would bite the f*ck out of anyone who she thought would do harm. She ended up biting this dude and my pop felt it was best to give her away to someone out in the country ~30 miles away. 1 week later Dixie showed back up at our house. This happened 3 more times as she got progressively further and further away from us. The last time, the 4th, a car ran her over just crossing the hwy to our house, and me and my pop had to pick her up and bury her. I learned well early in life, thanks to my pop, that dogs mean more (and understand more) than most humans and they CERTAINLY have a positive place in our lives. Dogs are awesome man.