I've rescued 2 dogs from shelters.

I knew Max was the dog for me because, even though he was huge and could have torn her apart, a little girl volunteering at the shelter with her mom walked right up to him holding a tiny puppy in her arms. She wasn't the slightest bit scared, because she knew he was gentle! Then when I took him for a little walk around the shelter grounds he took off and jumped in the first open car he saw - and I love a dog who loves car rides. Also, he's physically so beautiful that he just took my breath away.

I chose Pepper because her little body went into spasms of delight when I walked up to her kennel door! The people at the kennel were shocked that I wanted her. She was filthy and matted and full of burs and definitely wasn't cute at that time. She was such a sweet and affectionate little pooch, though. I had to wait to take her home - to give her owners time to find her if they wanted her. It's very cold where I live, and the shelter was unheated and it was December! So I brought in a dogloo for her and a bunch of blankets. When I was bringing her home I had her sitting at my feet and I was putting the dogloo into the back of the van. She jumped right up into it the second I set it down. It was "hers" already.