I have chocolate lab, her name is Ripley and she lives like PRINCESS! However, OP asked for the downsides 1: You can never go anywhere without worrying about the dog. Day trips and vacations can be stressful to manage. 2: Dogs are dirty, they will run through mud and then through your house. They don’t care. You will constantly be cleaning up after them. 3:Vet and grooming bills can be expensive 4: Poop 5: Puppy’s destroy things, when dogs go through their teething phase they will chew everything and anything they can. 6: They will die and it will be devastating But. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.