It's a long story so I'll try to shorten it, someone (landlord at the time)
thought she could buy friends if she had a puppy to attract attention.  So
she goes to a family and gets a puppy, the family was hapy to see him go,
this was redneck country.  The this same someone decides its ok for puppy to
spend all his time in a box on the front steps, cause puppy or not this
person wasn't making friends.  I was appalled at this and took the puppy in
and cared for him.  It was out of town and I was renting her house for the
summer for a work term.  So he became mine and I did the whole bit with him,
bottle feeding, mushy food, vet visits, vaccinations, etc.  He wasn't mine
at the time, he still officially belonged to her, I just wanted the best for
the dog, but when the job was over at the end of the summer, I approached
her and said I wanted to keep him. A great deal of bargaining later and he
was mine.  He was the only pup to survive the litter, all the others died
before they were two months old.

When I was a child I had a German Shepherd (Brownie), I'll never forget her,
we were inseparable.  I was waiting to finish university before getting a
dog but fate had other plans :)  Thankfully.  He's my boy lol.

I think he's got a few more years in him yet, he's a very relaxed dog in the
sense that not much bothers him and he still loves to play.

18 is along time, I hope Maggot makes it to that age, so far it looks quite
possible.  lol He's so curious, he wouldn't want to miss anything, he'll
stick around for the ride.