The only reason we adopted him was for companionship so yes he is part of the family. I needed him to keep me busy and that he does not that I had nothing else to do. I find it a lot of fun to teach him and I am learning something new about dogs. He relaxes me and this is a new skill I didn't have before. I have other pets too but they are not trainable, although they too show signs that they can learn.

When we were looking for a pet, there were others but he suited our lifestyle best of all we could choose from. We camp on weekends and he dives for rocks. We walk and run in the park a lot and he loves to do that. We knew he was guarding and we thought we could manage that, we were not going to take away anything out of his mouth. I didn't how bad it could be and had I known it was that dangerous, we probably would not have brought him home, but every day I see how he relates and see other dogs really stupid, not coming, more dangerous than he is, untrained and I have to say that we really got lucky. Could he be better? Sure, but he could be so much worse.

I will do my best to keep him and others safe. I don't have the illusion that he will be perfect but neither is anyone I know including myself. He is not a toy, he has his own mind and I will shape it to the best of my abilities.