We lost our chocolate lab March of 17 and mentally committed to a simpler life (with our son off to college).
Our son started asking if we would get a dog this past winter, coinciding with his break. They're used at a number of colleges for stress-therapy and he didn't miss an opportunity to visit with an on-campus dog. We could also measure his stress by the number of pup pictures that he would send us.
Started searching the rescue sites and even considered a few breeders, but as his break neared its end, we figured "it wasn't meant to be". The Friday before he was to go back, my wife and I both got notes from friends asking if we had noticed the dog that was just made available at the local shelter. 5 hours later, we welcomed Harry into our house.
He's been a handful ~ our sense is that he was taken from his litter too soon and surrendered so quickly that he was very insecure, but he sure does add to the family.
Not quite as cute as seeing LITTLE kids with their dogs, but big kids enjoy the company of dogs, too. This is the ritual for when my son comes home from work.
*For reference, our son is 6'3" and right around 200 lbs...and, well, Harry is between 9 and 10 month old Newfoundland-Poodle mix.