My current dog I got by complete accident and love him so much. I was going to buy a chocolate lab from a woman, but when I got there she had already sold the one I wanted. I was driving home, kinda pissed off, when I saw a person in a parking lot selling puppies, just straight mutts on the side of the road. I stopped and this little white puppy immediately stole my heart, he was 8 weeks old and small enough to fit in my hand. 15 years later he's still my best friend and I love him dearly. Best dog I've ever had and he was nothing fancy. I'm even pretty sure he was the runt. If you go looking for dogs, you'll get one.
I know my old boy is at the end of his life and it crushes me. I've already made up my mind that when he passes, I'm going to get another dog immediately. I had a friend whose father lost a couple of dogs on the same day when we were in highschool, and went out the same day and bought a new puppy to deal with the grief. Not as a replacement, but rather because he always heard about how they'd bring puppies in to cheer up sick kids in hospitals and figured it could probably work for him too. And it did, he bonded with the puppy right away over helping him with his grief, which seems special to me. I know I'm going to be devastated when my dog passes so I've been thinking about what sort of dog I want next. A mutt I have no problem with, mutts are awesome, but I think i might like to get a dog with papers this time. Aussie Shepherds are fucking gorgeous dogs and I'd love one, but I don't know if I have the energy over now that I'm over the hill to keep running them like I'm supposed to. I've always loved labs, I think they're my favorite breed, but I've had those before. Maybe a golden retriever would be fun to have, I've always wanted one of those.