I was eight years old. Some friends of the family got a Samoyed and kept her tied in their yard almost 24/7. Unsurprisingly, she barked constantly and drove them nuts. My parents offered to take her off their hands, and she lived happily with us for the rest of her life. She loved our big fenced backyard and the fact that we were always outside playing with her, and barking was never an issue. She did drag me flat on my face before we got her leash trained, though!