Yep, dogs are good. We're going to start out with one adult German Shepherd, and later on get a GS puppy. I haven't had a dog since I was a little kid, so this will be an adventure for me. I'll need to learn how to properly train and manage a dog, especially one like a GS. We don't want one that's going to bark incessantly, nor bite anyone we don't WANT him to bite, like friends and neighbors, unless said neighbors decide to crawl over the backyard fence.
I've had great luck with pound poochies: they somehow seem to "know" that unless they are adopted, they are going to die, and seem to be grateful for the reprieve and protective of their new parents.
Ours do fine when out on walks, or over at relatives homes who also have pets, but Lord help anyone, or any thing, trying to get into our back yard that they don't know - and no, they have never gotten to know the lawn maintenance guys.
Cheri Shepherds are GREAT dogs. We had them for years. My kids grew up with them. We had one German Shepherd male named CC that was mostly black with some brown and a little white markings. He was 135 pounds of solid muscle. We NEVER had a break in!! Every house on our street had had break ins but ours. LOL AND they are great family dogs if they are not an inbred type. Easy to train, smart. All the things you want in a dog. He LOOKED the most vicious but the real tiger one we had was a female named HONEY. She was a good family dog also but I had to put her in the garage until guests were in the house sitting down and then I could let her in and she would be friendly as could be. Just wouldn't let anyone but us through the front door.