How did your dog pick you?

[jennifert9]

I'm sure that there is a thread out there like this but I did a quick search and didn't find any?
This is My and Duncan's story:

I really wanted a dog..I had finally moved into a house where I was able to have pets so I started surfing the SPCA website...I saw this adorable little female. She was this cute little orange and black thing....I named her Sully before I even got there!!:D
So after work, I went straight there, I met her and she had no inteest in me! She moved away, didn't want to come out of her cage...And I really felt no connection with her..(she was adopted by a lady with 2 children and is doing fabulous, FYI :D)
So I kept looking...I got to the last cage in the very last aisle of the building, all the way to the very end, right before the sign that said "DO NOT ENTER, DANGEROUS" and there he was...............
In the very last cage, was my "Duncan", their "mixed breed-gordon setter?" I was done for. I literally sat down on the floor and stayed there until the place closed... :) :( I cannot tell you to this day what it was...but I knew immediately that he was the dog for me!!! He was so high strung in his cage, jumping around and being a total flirt... I fell in live instanteously. The shelter people could not believe it...none of them said anything bad about my boy but you certainly got the feeling that they had had enough of him....I applied to adopt him that day and I was turned down!!! I went back with my vet records for my previous dogs as well as my personal references and a promise that I would walk him everyday (In my town, they do a "yard check" and have some formula based on the size of the yard and the size of the dog) Well, my yard was very small. I also brought my roommate's dog Jack to meet him. They got along fabulously, I went to see "my" dog every single day for 2 weeks, at least 2 hours at a time. Sometimes, in fact, most times, they were too busy to let him out of his cage so he and I started this "thing" that we still do...he would stick his nose out of the cage and I would cuddle with him... FINALLY, they told me that they had made a decision and that I could bring my baby home with me. I was supposed to pick him up on July 6th but they expeditied his operation and I picked him up the same day he got neutered... and here we are!!!!!!

[Oggyflute]

Great story on Duncan, you two were meant to be.:)

With Oggy, we went out to a breeder that had one standard schnauzer left, and also a couple of mini's. Carole was looking at the mini's and thinking of getting one of them. But Oggy came right up to me kissed my outstretched hand and then put his head on my arm. I turned to Carole and said, this is our boy. Oggy was the last one left in the litter because his ears aren't quite right for showing, but I see it as everyones loss and our gain.:)

With Flute we went to a different breeder, a much nicer one is my thought. We had paid a deposit in advance and we finally went out to see the litter. This little black bundle of fur climbed up my legs and then my chest and gave me a big kiss on the mouth. Carole said, that must be our girl.

Our lattest addition is Possum, who is a rescue pup. On the way over to the foster carer, I said to Carole that she must choose our next pup, and if she doesn't feel a bond with Possum in any way then there are plenty of other pups needing homes. Carole saw her and fell in love immeadiately. :)

[Cincy'sMom]

I'm not sure I ever heard how you and Duncan came together before. What a great story!!

Sadie's mom has been taken in by the friend of a friend's, after her owner was gong to put her down because she was pregnant. Patches had a littler of 11 puppies, and by the time we went to pick one, and but 4 were claimed. We went with the idea either the one remaining girl, or the runt (a male) would be the one we chose. I held the boy first, while Ralph held the girl. Cute puppies, no immediate certainity which it would be. We swapped, and the girl girl, "Twin" at the time, Crawled inside my coat, wound heself round my neck and layed there. She had claimed me as her own. She was only 6 weeks at the time, so, hard as it was, we went home without her, and two weeks later brought our baby girl home!

Cincy was a "free" ad in the paper. We had been debating getting Sadie a playmate, and my mom called one Saturday morning to say there were lab mixes free to a good home in the paper in Findlay. I called and made an appointment to go see the next day. There were again, 4 left...2 black, 2 tan. We took Sadie along to pick, but she wanted a kitty :rolleyes: , so we had to pick for her. Cincy was the runt, and was just so cute, somehow I knew she was the one.

Spot was on death row in a shelter in Southern Ohio. I had been wanting a male dal to add to our family, but Ralph was not yet convinced. Molly (mugsy) called one morning and said that if this dog wasn't spoken for by 4 pm that day, he would be PTS. We decided to go get him and save him, and if it didn't work out, get him in a rescue. It was clear very quickly he was here to stay. Spot's full story, is much longer, and can be found here...A Dog Rescue in Progress (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?threadid=22685)

[Ginger's Mom]

Ah, good thread Jennifert9. I am always curious as to how people came to live with the dogs that they do. Especially people who have more than one dog. What happened that made them get the second and so on. That is a great story of you and Duncan. It was certainly meant to be. I can't believe how persistant you were. :) How long ago was that?

And Trevor, I always thought that Oggy and Flute were smart dogs, now that I know that they were the ones who did the chosing, I am sure they knew what they were doing. And as for Possum, I kind of think Carole already fell for that sweet little girl before you even went to pick her up, didn't she? ;)

And Cincy's Mom I did go back and read the thread on Spot, what an exciting day that must have been here on PT. I am sorry I missed it. But how wonderful that you went all that way to rescue Spot in his eleventh hour.

Prior to Ginger I had a Poodle/Spitz mix for almost 13 years. She was a little over a year when she came to live with me, and was the very best little girl (for me) in the whole world. That dog could read my mind, and knew how to behave instinctively. Anyway, Peaches became very ill in December 2002, and was in and out of the hospital for a month (mostly in), with no improvement. She had some sort of seizure which resulted in an involuntary head bob, and an inability to stand (because she had no sense of balance). It was very sad, and without going into any more sad details I will say that on January 7, 2003 I decided that the time had come to let my baby go.

I had been looking at Petfinder for Poodle mixes for a while and had not seen any that caught my eye. On January 8, 2003, out of nowhere, three female and two male Poodle/Spitz mix puppies show up on the website :D. They hadn't even had time to load pictures up yet. I e-mailed the contact at the rescue society and she indicated that the puppies had been dropped off by a lady whose dog (an American Eskimo) had apparently been left unattended while in heat. They were not sure what the father was, but they believed the puppies to be part poodle because of their playful non-stop personalities. She promised to get some pictures on the website, and indicated that they would be offered for adoption that Saturday at a Vet Clinic in Hollywood, MD. Two days later the pictures were on Petfinder, and I decided that out of the three females I liked Emily (now Ginger) best. After much debate as to whether it was to soon to get another dog, I called my niece, who lives about an hour from the Vet Clinic and decided to meet her down there (a four hour ride for me, but I got to see my niece :)). We looked at Ginger and one of her other sisters, and kind of thought that Ginger would probably be the best for my house (her sister appeared to be much more strong willed ;) ), but I wanted to get something to eat and think it over. When Stacey and I returned to the Vet Clinic, we found that only one puppy remained. Yep, you guessed it...Ginger. So I figured since she suddenly showed up the day after I lost my baby, and that she was the only puppy left waiting for me when we returned, that we were supposed to be together. :D It's funny, I know that there is no poodle in her, and I know that personality-wise, she is almost the exact opposite of Peaches. But she is still my baby girl, and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. :)

[4 Dog Mother]

With six dogs this is going to be along post so
16 years ago a friend worked for UPS. On his route was a home where a beagle had accidently mated with a poodle. Evidently only two pups came from this litter. When the UPS driver was dropping off a package, he found one of the pups had gotten stuck in a drainage tile and died. So he was anxious to find the other pup a home. So he called us - Amy (Cincy's Mom was about 12 then, and Christy (Dakota's momy) about 6. So of course once we saw her, we brought Oreo home.

Oreo was a single dog until she was 11 and a friend came into my office one day and said he was getting divorced and needed to find his dog a new home. I told him to bring her over and we would see how she did with Oreo (since Oreo was not crazy about any other dogs). Well, here he came with kennel, dog beds, shampoo, toys, food --- and Dazzi was ours. Because I had fallen in love with a chocolate lab I was not to crazy about blond long haired Dazzi but she has turned out so great. We can let her out into the yard and she stays with us. She just is so well-behaved! and LOVING too!

Well, about a year later, I saw a picture of Taggert on line at a nearby rescue group. I don't know - I just had to have him. So we went to see him at the store event the next day and he came home with us.

Snoopy was added after Amy saw him with a Rescue group at a Toledo store. She told me about him and so a few days later I called about him. The rescue group was in a small town about 40 miles from here but one where Carl's grandparents had lived near. And the person was the daughter of the kids art teacher who still lived in Findlay. We went to see him and she was so anxious to find him a home - he was six months old and no one seemed interested in a "older" pup - they all wanted the cute little ones - and let's just say that Snoopy was just a little hyper - okay a lot hyper. The exact kind of dog I said I would never get.
He and Taggert became best buds from the getgo and he was such a love bug that he soon became an important part of our home.

Jack - don't ask me why but I was searching the adds at Petfinder and there was this Airedale in Kentucky. I started e-mailing the person who had him. Jack had belonged to her friends parents who moved and left Jack to ber rehomed. Anyway, Carl and I drove the 4 hours to see him. He was in the back of a cattle truck, smelled like a pig, and his ears and eyes were infected. But he walked up to Carl and rubbed his head up against him and he, too, was ours. We found out after we got home his teeth were all broken off because they had kept him chained outside and he had tried to chew through the chain. He was housetrained so evidently at one time he was kept inside. Anyway a couple of baths and a vet visit and he was one of ours too.

And then I swore that was it. But a friend had a cousin who had a daughter who had this jack russell mix that was being kept tied to a dog house outside. With winter coming on, the mother told the daughter she had to bring the dog inside or get rid of it so the daughter said she would just take her to the pound. So my friend told her cousin she would ask me if I would house train it, socialize it and find her a home. Well, she did go on a rescue site but Pippi found her new home right here with us.

So I guess none of our dogs picked us, they just kind of ended up here - and we are glad they did!

[LoudLou]

Aww, Duncan! Great story... you chose wisely. ESP isn't it great!;)
Great thread, Jen!

Well, LOUD Louie actually picked me. Matter of fact every dog that has been in my life has always picked me, not the other way around.
Shadow (RB) my heart dog, was one of those “in the paper Free” puppies. I was in high school and wanted a dog of my own; my family had always raised Bassett Hounds. I wanted a big dog.
Shadow was supposed to be my Newfy… after meeting his family he was perfect. He was Shepard/ Retriever mix. I got to meet his whole family. All the puppies came running out and Shadow was the only one to flop on my foot and pee on me. I guess that’s how Shadow chose me. He was such a great guy… I miss him every day.

With LOUD Louie I had done a bunch of research on Corgis before deciding on getting one. I found a wonderful breeder. Very, helpful and knowledgeable. She gave me pick of the litter. We met in the center of Washington State… She and her family drove ½ way and we drove ½ way… LOUD Louie’s first day with us was spent mostly in the car. I got to meet both of Louie’s parents, and ALL his littermates. When it came time for me to pick.. I went back to the car to get the crate, and LOUD Louie was the ONLY puppy to follow me, so that’s how he became my son.

He’s been a Cling- On ever since… very much a Mama’s boy.
:D

[Suki Wingy]

Great stories!

Clark- My mom picked him out from a private GD rescuer and we knew we were getting him, but the day she brought him home was a suprise! We had him for 3 weeks. Here is his story from a school assignment:
In May of 1999 I was preparing to adopt my first dog. Late in May, my mother surprised us with a large male American Pit Bull Terrier, Great Dane cross. He was piebald, with short, jet black fur draped over the traditional back and head. I loved this “Little Man.” Clark, as I called him, was a great dog, however untrained and too large to peacefully coincide with my two-year-old sister, arrangements were made for his original rescuer to take him back. In the beginning of the third week of June, I went off to camp, my parents Lake Geneva, and Clark Carriage Hill Kennels. The last time I saw him, almost six years ago, he was being lead happily through the door, tail wagging, by a kennel aid, unsuspecting, unaware that this would be the last time I was to see him. It was arranged that while I was at camp my mom and dad would drive him back to Indiana to the Great Dane Lover.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/sukiwingy/other%20%20ppls%20sigs/clark.jpg


Layla- a trip to the Anti Cruelty Society, Chicago, Here is her story from a school assignment:
The very next week we piled the family up in our car and drove downtown to the Anti Cruelty Society. Not one dog caught my eye at first, and I don’t even remember much up until I saw her. Lady, as she was called, was absolutely astonishing. She was huddled in the corner of her dog run; tail flattened and curled up as tight as she could be, shaking. Her fur was a vibrant white, and such contrast there was between the same shining, raven black of Clark’s coat and this pearly essence. I quickly noticed her eyes, unlike anything I had ever seen before; her left eye was a soft brown and her right and icy blue. City kids would pass and exclaim very loudly and very promptly such remarks as, “Hey mom, look at this one, it’s blind!” and discussed mothers would shoot remarks such as, “Look at it, we’re NOT taking that one home!” Which would quickly be followed by quotes such as, “Good, I never wanted a blind dog.” Mumbled by the children who brought attention to her in the first place. I saw her and my heart melted. I stood by her side, afraid to leave her to find my family in fear of someone else looking at her. I would stand there and say flatly, with an are of nervousness to anyone to so much as shoot a glance at her, or try to see who inhabited the run I was guarding, “She’s reserved, were taking her out.” Once I saw my family, I called to them to come at once, and of course, was scolded from afar for yelling. I made quick, little, heart pounding trips to the row in front of Lady. Feeling and looking like a frightened dog who is starving, but stuck on a bungee cord, with food at the very end of it. Always running out and taking a nibble, heart pounding with terror, and allowing it to spring back in before an owner comes out to see what the dog has done. I was so high on adrenalin by then that I could barley tell them the story. Lady came home with us and we had to think of a more suiting name for her. My mother’s old past dog was called Lady, but I didn’t want to change it that much; she had already learned it. I thought of my favorite name, Delylah (yes, you HAD to say it in a southern accent). My mother was against giving dogs long names and disapproved. I was perfectly happy with calling her Dilly, but my mom didn’t like it at all. She said “Lyla”, which I thought was appalling for this beast. Then it hit us, Layla. Layla was the absolute perfect name for the grandest dog of all times. She was the kindest dog you could imagine, loved to sleep next to my head, and constantly needed company. This constant need for company drove her to extreme measures. She tore out of her crate when alone, ripped the window screen open, jumped out, and climbed the fence to find us. She made several daring attempts at finding us while we were gone. She also tore up our floors, her crate, and whatever she could get a hold of through the small air holes in her crate while trying to get out and get to us. She also was very easily startled, and would respond in nipping towards the direction of the starling object or sound before thinking.
Almost five months later, my parents made that awful, life altering experience again. She went back!:(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/sukiwingy/odd.jpg

Niño- on my stepdad's birthday, on the last day of fourth grade, we made another trip to the ACS downtown and this time we got a behaivourist to help us. I saw the little 6-8 month old guy as I was getting out of the car through the window. I can still go back and show you the runs Niño, Spike, and Layla were in. We took him out and loved him, he was puppyish and stockyer and chubbyer.:p They were calling him Nino and I thought they were saying Leeno.:o We put him back and just in case looked around and saw Spike, the 5 year old boxer who was surrendered by a family with children close to our ages because the 12 year old girl wan't taking care of "her" dog.:rolleyes: we were in the process of adopting Spike, but we couldn't choose. My mom let me decide and I was crying and picked Niño. We left Spike there because he was pure bred with docked tail and cropped tail and that is what most people want. He had only been there 2 days, the same ammount of time as Layla, and Niño had been there for about three weeks, time was running out! Niño looks a lot different from the time we got him.
the year we got him, 8 months to 1 year or so?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/sukiwingy/NINO_COUCH_PUP.jpg
I can NEVER get his ears to do that anymore!

and yesterday
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/sukiwingy/April2905016.jpg

I LOVE MY DOGS!!!!!

[bckrazy]

Gonzo's story is not as good as most of these!. . When I was 13, I wanted a GSD. I had wanted a GSD for the longest time, from a breeder in Chico that I had met. I wanted to do competitive Obedience (now, after going to trials and really reading up on it, I am SO not interested in it :p). . I also wanted a pup to keep our Rottie company in his last few months. my Dad wanted another Border Collie, so he talked to one of the foster for BC rescue that we knew. She said they had no dogs under 2 years at that time, but there was a breeder that they knew that was looking to adopt out a young dog. So we drove all the way to Elk Grove, and immediately I met Gonzo's sire, who was a really handsome (albeit dirty and skinny) fluffy Border Collie named Waldo. Then Gonzo came running up from inside of a horse corral, he was all fluffy and leggy and adorrable and I fell in love with him!! They also had a 1 year-old dog they were trying to "get rid of" that was still left from a previous litter :( these people were not good breeders, their dogs just roamed around, never had indoor time or individual attention and were generally just disposable. I wish I would've really told them that I didn't agree with anything they were doing and they should stop breeding (my Dad told them something like that!). They gave us Gonzo for very little money and didn't ask a lot of questions. . they told us a lot of excuses for giving him up, but my guess is that they just had too many unwanted dogs (there are tons of strays and excess dogs in this area). I know for a fact that this breeder is still breeding and selling pups, and probably dumping others off at the pound :(

Gonzo was so sweet, even though he wasn't well trained or socialized. . he cried all the way home in the car, and he probably had never ridden in one before. His original name was Blue, so I just decided to name him Gonzo (which I hated by a few months later, and tried to change it, but it just grew on everyone :rolleyes:). He always loved other dogs and just wanted to make people happy, even though he still has a scared and uneasy nature that is due to lack of socialization when he was young.

[pnance]

I have 4 dogs so I guess this may get a little long. Savannah we got when a friend of a friend rescued her from downtown, she couldn't walk her paws were so burned, she was extremely underweight, and she had a lot of fight wounds on her. The lady couldn't keep her because her apartment wouldn't allow dogs. 2 of our others, Bear and Nikka, belonged to our old neighbor. Nikka he didn't want anymore but his girlfriend was very attached, which in his words is why he hadn't dumped her off yet. Savannah who usually hates other dogs actually seemed interested in playing with her through the fence. So we brought her over and the 2 hit it off. He never secured his dogs so they'd wander the neighborhood, Nikka would usually come over and knock on our door. (Yes, I did say knock, she'd hit the front door with her paw, then turn and hit it with her wagging tail). This went on for a few months until the owner accidently hit her with his car when he was leaving. He put her in the garage and left. The girlfriend came over later asking what she could give Nikka for pain. When we went over and checked on her she needed sutures up the inside of one leg and wouldn't let us touch the back legs. We were trying to convince the girlfriend(not very emotionally stable) to take her to the vet, when we watched her back hock bow out (we assumed it was broken). We finally just took her and said we'd take care of it to at least get her checked. Her boyfriend showed up while we were loading Nikka into our car and told us to just put her down. We didn't really respond, just took the dog and girlfriend and went to our vet. It turned out the hock was fine (she's double jointed and the vet could pop it out and in without a problem) but she had hip dysplasia and her hip had been completely knocked out. The vet said they could put it back in but it wouldn't last. We agreed to pay for the surgery and bring her back to our house. We just never gave her back after that.....Bear we started taking care of when the same neighbor disappeared and left him in the backyard. He was about 20 lbs overweight (neighbors were feeding him), flea infested and heavily matted with a thick coat that would make a husky look at him in envy. We brought him in, shaved him down, took him to the vet and had a mast cell tumor removed, and when the owner showed up he never asked for him back. Out last dog Hunter we got as a puppy from a rescue group. He was part of a litter whose mother and father were strays who came up from Mexico and hung around a prison. The mother was killed by coyotes while giving birth and the inmates rescued and cared for the puppies for about 3 days before the rescue group took them. Surprisingly Savannah who hates most other dogs actually gets along with all 3, in fact she completely mothers Hunter.

[Queen of Poop]

Wonderful stories by everyone. They've made me rather soggy.

My sweet Sami (RB Feb 24, 2004) came from an ad in the newspaper. I just went to look. There were 3 of the 8 puppies left. I sat on the ground and she came and sat in my lap - I was sold. I had her for 12 years and 6 days. I still miss her terribly.

Sasha came to me via the local humane society. Sami was 4 and I felt she needed a dog pal. I had been looking for just the right dog for a long time. I walked into the dog portion of the humane society and there in kennel number 1 was this skinny, cute dog whose face looked EXACTLY like Sami's. Same white strip and all. Well she barked her face off at me but when I went inside with her she hid in the corner - she had to be mine so I could love her and treat her right. I had to wait 4 days before I could take her cause she'd been picked up as a stray and they give owners 7 days to turn up. No one did, thankfully and she was mine to take. She's a great girl, really coming out of her shell now that she is over her depression after Sami's passing last year. She's enjoying being the only dog and we'll keep it that way for her for her remaining years (she's 11). She's kept entertained by her two ferret friends.

[lizbud]

None of my dogs "picked me", I actually chose them.:)

I found Buddy at the Indianapolis Humane Society,After looking
at all the dogs there and not feeling that certain something for
anyone in particular I had decided to leave. Stopped off at the rest room before the long ride back home.Something told me to
just take one more look around. As if by chance, they had just brought out three 10 wk old Shep/mix pups & placed them out for adoption. The first time I saw Buddy, I knew he was the one.:D
The other two pups both hid behind him in the puppy pen, but
Buddy stood there & just looked at me. He looked so brave.:)
I am so glad that I decided to just take one more look.:)


I first saw Smokey at Petco where Southside Animal Shelter
brings their dogs for adoption. He was fast asleep in a pen of other 8 wk old puppies. Most all the others where playing all over
on top of him & he just kept sawing logs.:D I loved his coloring
and he seemed like a pretty mellow fella.I thought about him all
evening that night, and went back next day & he WAS still there.
I took him home that day. He is such a sweet character.:)

While looking for a companion for Smokey, I found Maggie at
PetsMart. At 4 mos of age, she was in a cage by herself. I stopped
and just sat & petted her while she slept.I brought Smokey to meet her the next day. They hit it off right from the start. I just
love this little girl. She's cute, smart, & a total love bug.:D

[anna_66]

I don't ever remember hearing the story of how you and Duncan wound up together...it's a great story:D He was definately ment to be with you!

Since I have three I'll try to make my stories short;)


Roxey~
We had just lost our Chow girl Keisha and were heartbroken (she died of bloat:(). We went to have my cell phone worked on and while we were waiting we decided to go to the mall. Of course when we first walked in there was a puppy store and we couldn't help but look. The huskies grabbed our attention right away but we really weren't interested as we were thinking of getting another chow. Of course the girl comes over and tells us we should at least get her out and play with her because her brothers had been beating up on her. So of course as soon as I had her in my arms I was in love. But we didn't want to just get any dog...we wanted the right dog so we left, went and had dinner and even looked at some other pet stores and decided that she was the dog for us. And even though she came from a pet store I couldn't love her more, she was definately the RIGHT dog for us:D


Huney~
Actually we got her after I joined pt so there's a couple of stories and I'll just give you the link since the story is a little long.
And I'll just make the story short by saying we rescued her:D
This is the first one when we first brought her home
Chow Puppy Found (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12243&highlight=Chow+found) and Well, she's ours! (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12365&highlight=Huney)
Still can't believe she's been with us for almost 3 years!


Bon~
Of course most of you know how we came to have him but here's the thread of the day we brought him home...Bon (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60917&highlight=bon)
And to make a long story short here I'll tell you that we had just lost our sweet rottie boy of almost 13 years...Angus. Things just weren't right without a big boy in our lives and home so we brought Bon into our lives!

[lute]

Beanie-
my parents adopted Beanie after my mom's yorkie died. the place was a no-kill cat shelter and somehow they got a 15 lb. pomerainian named Rusty. i was told that after the yorkie died we were letting me, the dog caregiver in the family, pick out the next dog. when i heard that we were getting yet another small dog i was angry, but went to the shelter anyway.

when we got there this smelly, ball of fluff walked up to the door to greet us. i thought" oh great, i'm gonna have to take care of another one of my MOM'S dogs. when we all voted for either a great dane or the rat dog i voted great dane...and was outvoted BIG TIME!

today, i wouldn't give up Beanie for ANYTHING! i love him to death and even though i still have these "i'm taking care of my mom's rat dog" moments. i'd have to say Beanie is the best "rat dog" i've ever had.



Gracie-
most of ya know how she came to be my pupper.
i was getting into showing dogs in conformation and i only knew one lady around here that showed dogs. she told me her breeder/show friend had 2 female siberian husky pups available. i was thrilled and contacted the breeder right away. we talked and she asked a million questions. after she approved she sent me a pic of these little balls of fluff. i loved the grey one and knew she was the one for me.

at nine weeks Gracie was ready to come home! when i saw her my heart jumped and she came running straight for me!

[chocolatepuppy]

I got both of my pups from a shelter. I went both times with a shepard/collie in mind, still don't have one! :rolleyes: I guess each of mine just 'jumped' out at me, kind of like fate. ;)

[PJ's Mom]

I wasn't there when hubby picked out Peej, but I had a huge say in Bailey.

She was the only doggie at the shelter that didn't bark or cry or try to get my attention in any way. She layed in her kennel wagging her tail. She didn't even get up until I opened the door to go sit with her. (I wasn't supposed to sit in the kennels with the dogs. :o ) When I went in to sit down, she was shy, but she came over and sat on me. I knew then that she was the boss. :D

I took her out of her kennel and walked her around. She never even paid attention to the other dogs that were barking at her on our way to the grass. I knew she'd be ok with Peej.

We sat on the grass and then the strangest thing happened. I looked at her and she was really staring me down. Right in the eyes. She almost scared me with the way she just stared at me. I stared at her right back and this must've gone on for at least a minute. Neither of us blinked or moved. Then, all of a sudden, she dropped down and rolled on her back. I scratched her belly and we've been buddies ever since. :p I hated putting her back in her cage that day. I went to the adoption office and told them I was very interested in her. I was the only one interested, so they said they'd hold her for me until I could bring hubby back the next day to see her.

We brought her home that day. That was 3 years ago and we love our Bawee. :D

[k9krazee]

Great stories everyone! Mine are kind of boring...

Shadow:
I really really wanted a dog, I was about 6 years old. One day I was at girl scout camp my mom called and said that I needed to find a ride home as soon as possible, fearing the worst I made someone take me home and there was little 8 week old Shadow in the backyard! I was confused because I had seen Shadow before at my Aunt's house but my mom was like, Ashley, shes yours!!

Micki and Mini:
I researched all about Jack russells and really wanted one, I was stayed the night at a friends house and my mom picked me up really early and told me we had to go look at some puppies. Micki and Mini were the only 2 left, Micki came right up and gave us all kisses then fell asleep on my lap and Mini went right to my mom, I wanted Micki and my mom wanted Mini so we took em both!

Kyra:
My dad felt that Mini would be better off having one litter of puppies no matter how much I told him it was not a good idea...well I lost the battle and on July 11 2004 she had 6 puppies, Kyra was the runt and was born with a cleft palate. We debated about putting her to sleep because our vet told us that she would always suffer and probably not make it out of puppyhood. I fought for little Kyra and decided that we would keep her and started bottle feeding her and now she is 10 months old and is great!! Many of you probably don't agree with our decision of breeding Mini but we have kept in touch with each puppy and found them all wonderful homes where we made sure they each were spayed or neutered, I also convinced my parents to spay Mini.

Jack:
We go to the petstore every weekend to get crickets for the gecko and every 2nd saturday of the month they have dogs up for adoption from local rescues. My mom went by herself one weekend to get the crickets and saw the cutest little black lab boy. My mom later brought back the whole family to meet him, he was the sweetest thing and I knew I wanted him. Even my dad who was opposed to getting another dog fell in love so the next weekend we went and got him!

[Kfamr]

I'm not sure if Simba & Nala's stories count as "picking" us but in a way they did..


Simba was at the SPCA for 4 months. My dad and I first went to the Humane Society which is a lot closer than the SPCA. The dog we were looking at the HS was already adopted, So I dragged him to the SPCA. There was Simba, the ONLY dog laying down and just staring at us. If we hadn't taken him he would have been put to sleep very soon.


Nala was with a bunch of her littermates in the puppy area at the HS. We had asked one of the volunteers there if the puppies were adopted, he had said they were. Just in case, I remembered her collar number and we went to the office. We told the lady at the front office her number and she handed us papers. We were lucky that guy didn't know what he was talking about. :p



Kiara chose us definetly. She was so scared and would hide from other people when they walked by her kennel. She came right up to the door and pawed at it while we stood there.

[slleipnir]

I remember going to buy a new pup. I had already picked out the dog I wanted. It was an older dog, and I felt bad for it I guess. I walked by a litter of lab pups, and thought 'HOW CUTE!!" so I held a little male pup (just to hold it, not to get it) and was thinking he was cute, but then another puppy jumped up on her hind legs and stared at me threw the glass. There were a lot of pups there, and she was the only one standing up so I thought I'd hold her too. The very second she wasin my arms I knew I HAD to have her. I felt bad for the other dog I ment to get, but I just fell in love with her. That's my Josie girl. We've had a very strong bond since then :D

Zeke:
I had been going to the HS to look at dogs. I wanted a female puppy. They didn't really have a lot of dogs then, almost no puppies I think. I remember the first time I looked at Zeke, he was sitting at the back of his cage, he never came up to greet me, so I kept going. The next time I came in, it was the same thing. (plus, everyone else did the same thing - walk by) I thought I'd try to get him to come see me, and after a couple of mins he does. He seemed so sad and depressed, but he brighted up a little after I patted him a while. I told him to not get adopted and I'd come back for him the next day. Sure enough, I got my little boy! Knowing how Zeke is now, and seeing him in the cage and how he acted there, you could tell he must have been very very sad :( Zeke is ALWAYS happy, ALWAYS energetic. I think he's trying to tell me he's happy he's not trapped in that cage with no one to love him.

There is another dog at the HS that acts the same way..I want her so badly :(

[sandragonfly]

touchy stories...everyone!

my little sweetheart didn't pick me :) he was given to me from a service dog program in san francisco, all I asked for was a medium dog and they picked out the rare service dog, golden retriever! just for me..

crayola's only fourth golden retriever out of zillion labs given out since the SFSPCA established! and I'm still and so happy to have him! :)

[Mazie]

Hi. I'm pretty new here, but I thought I would let you know about my pups.

I have two dogs, Speak and Mazie.

Speak is a 2 yr. old pekingese/poodleX and weighs about 6lbs. Here's a picture of him:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/speak29/bone.jpg
Unfortunately Speak is a petstore dog. I know, buying from a pet store is the worst place to get a dog. And even before I bought Speak, I was anti-pet stores. Anyway, I went in to get some fish food and walked by the puppy cages. There was this huge cage filled with shredded paper and in the corner and very tiny ball of blonde fur. I couldn't resist - I asked to hold him. I LOVED his personality. I played with him for a while, letting him run around the "puppy play room" and every time I told the clerk that I needed to get going, he would bring me another toy as if to say "No, don't leave me here by myself." I went home and told my husband about him and we went back the next day to look at him and he did the same toy thing again. So we took him home with us. He's now my baby boy and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Mazie is our newest addition:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/speak29/2fbc82be.jpg
She's 3-4 months old, weighs about 8 lbs and is a rat terrier/doxieX. We started looking for a second dog on petfinder.com and I found a rat terrier and her litter of 6 pups. The rescue that had her seemed to do everything right, they found a home for mom, but didn't send her there until her pups were weaned (mom and the pups were dropped of in a rubbermaid container on the rescue door step, the pups were about 5 wks. old at the time). The puppies were checked and helped by a vet and then ready for adoption around 10wks of age. We went to meet the litter and the rescue worker openend the door of her house and out tumbled a pile of puppies. We had picked out a little tri-color and were going to take her home but Mazie just kept following us around. She seperated herself from the litter and followed us everywhere. The little tri like us but was more interested in her sibblings, so we figured that we better take Mazie home or she's just going to follow our car home anyway. So that's how Mazie came to live with us.

[animal_rescue]

Maggie was given to us from her breeder, my mom picked her out because she was bigger than the rest of the litter(there was 5 other puppes, 4 males and 1 female)I wanted the smaller female but my mom said no, so a week later we went to pick up Maggie and guess what? Maggie was scared of me! She'd hide and whine if I held her and to tell you the truth I wasn't quite fond of her either. I do remember when we bonded though, we were driving to a family friends house for a party, we had brought Maggie along and my mom was holding her in the front seat, well she wanted to switch seats with someone so she could watch the movie with everyone else, I agreed to get in the front seat and hold Maggie, Maggie slept on my chest for 2 hours and we've been close ever since!:)

Marty was a present from my adoptived little sister's dad, we were in Texas visiting him and his girlfriend went out with my mom and came back with a puppy(Savannah's dad was the one with the idea and he also paid for it)

Alex was given to us with I think 5-7 other poodles(some were at my aunt's house) a backyard breeder had like 30 dogs and he was giving them away because he was moving and couldn't take them, we found the rest homes but Alex stayed with us!

Dolly was also given to us because a family didn't want to keep her anymore.(There's a really long story behind this!)