We had 2 German Shepard's and when they died I refused to get another dog. I nursed our male Shepard when he caught parvo shortly after we had gotten him. He survived but it was a lot of hard work. He was very loyal to me and thought he was a lap dog. It took several years and a lot of research on our part before we thought about getting another dog.
It's sad how people can just let them go to a shelter. Like they were getting rid of a pair of shoes they no longer wanted