I love them. Our LLord had his until it had to be put down for liver problems, but he was an old dog by then.. still had life and character by the truckload. He was not afraid of anything; I once saw him take on a fox..! He had to be reined in and confined to a fenced-in yard after contracting mange from it though.. boy was he an awesome dog. Out here though, the safest thing is to fence them in.. there are too many dangers. Coyotes, the possibility of mountain lions.. or diseased from raccoons or groundhogs.. I definately am keeping that in mind.