For most of my life, I have had the pleasure of having medium dogs as pets. At once, we had two different German shepherd/lab mixes, then gave one away. The one we kept was the runt, so she wasn’t more than 25 pounds. We loved her a lot, but she unfortunately passed when she was six-years-old, and she was my last dog before my newest pup.

We lived without a dog for a while, and admittedly, our house was way quieter. We didn’t have any barking for sure, but our two dogs were pretty quiet already. But what we also never had was the scratching of nails on linoleum, or sniffing, or scratching at the door. Even my dad, the tough “I hate dogs” kind of guy, eventually was finding himself looking for one (though it was mostly because we didn’t have anything to pick up food dropped on the floor).

I have always wanted a large dog because of movies like “Beethoven” and “The Sandlot” and it just so happens that my dad, while getting gas, overheard a man who was giving away puppies. So my mom and I pressured him into going and giving a look.

There were at least six puppies, so my mom tried calling to them, and she would then choose the dog that would run over the fastest; my dog was the only one who made it more than halfway. And she waddled with all her might. My mom realized with dismay as soon as she picked her up that she wasn’t going to be getting a small dog like she had wanted, but a mastiff, one of the largest dogs possible, instead.

We haven’t regretted our choice since.

The interesting thing about large dogs is that they often think they are still lap dogs. Our puppy Lucy still thinks she is 20 pounds rather than 120 and we never have the heart to crush her dreams (even when she crushes our thighs). It’s good having a dog with such a strong bark, but my favorite part is that she never uses it except as a warning. Instead, she grumbles her discontent as if she were talking. I’ve heard this is a constant trend with mastiffs and other large dogs.

Her normal bark is terrifying, though. She sometimes goes to snap but when her mouth goes over your hand her teeth will never do much more than graze you. So there’s a comfort that she is a guard dog through and through, but large dogs can actually be great family dogs. Besides suffocation from the weight, there’s not much harm that can come to you if a mastiff thinks of you as a friend.

She snores. She barks at random noises and it’s nothing more than a gentle “whuff” before she continues sleeping. She likes to lick at your toes to let you know that she’s there, and she’ll always take a nap on you just to spend some quality time together.

So here is why you should get a large dog: they may be large, but they use every inch of them to love you and make sure you know you’re safe. They’re gentler than people assume, and that’s why I don’t regret choosing the bear of a dog that I have now.

Besides, look how cute they are as puppies!