If our mutt Stan could've gone to college, even a crappy one, I never would've had a child.  Of that I'm sure.  I can not express how much I love this animal.  He's everything I every dreamed of in a dog.  He's a couch potato, who is nonetheless always up to play.  He actually returns a ball when you play fetch (something our childhood dogs never saw the point in) and he learned tricks worthy of Ringling Bros.  Not to brag, but to brag, my dog actually falls to the floor after you shoot him with your finger.  And so my mother's comment -- when she was asked about the trials of taking care of a German Shepherd and her three children -- "we had the kids for the dog" -- makes total sense to me.  Here is Hugo enjoying the furry friend who, in some way, begat him.