Throughout my life, Other than a Pomeranian, I’ve always had medium/large and large dogs - Lab/husky mix, Lab/Australian shepherd mix, Lab/German shepherd mix, boxers (4), and a boxer/French mastiff mix. Currently, I have a Great Dane, a boxer, and a German Shepherd. These will probably be my last big dogs. I’m 60 yo and will probably have to get a smaller dog when these big boys are gone just because walking and caring will be much easier as I turn into an old gray mare.
I thought the same until a friend of mine got one and trained it in agility. That dog was intense. She went to Nationals with it. It didn’t have the stupid foofooball haircut, just clipped all over. Looked like a real dog, if small, and it was a silver streak on the field. Now the TOY poodles, that’s another story.