Growing up I had a Golden Retriever/Chow mix named Goldie. She was very mean and would snap at and even bite people, but very sweet to me and my family. She calmed down a bit in her old age, too. One day, a couple years after I had moved out to the east coast, my sister called me crying, "You need to say goodbye to Goldie, I have to put her down." Turns out my mother evicted my sister and my sister couldn't find a place to live that would take Goldie due to her biting history. I ran a GameStop back then, and just started bawling in my office. I was so embarrassed to be crying in front of my employees, but I just couldn't help it. To thus day I feel like I betrayed Goldie because she was 12 and still had some years left.
Now, with my 15 month old Admiral I made sure to train her and socialize her properly. I don't want to lose a dog for those reasons again. It hurts to know she'll probably die young due to her breed, but that's what you face when you get a giant breed.
Video I took today of Admiral:
http://youtu.be/EO5xilQ2pVg 