Sherman (the cat) adopted my family about 7 months after our first dog, Rags, was put down. He lived next door at our neighbor's house and after Raggie died, he kept coming around right when my mom and I needed something cuddly to hug. After our neighbor accidently locked him in a room with his daughter (who he hates) and scared the crap out of her (literally), she came over with Sherman in a basket and said that he was ours. And he has been ever since.

Samantha (the puppy) came to me last August (2002). The same neighbor found her and her sister along the side of a highway and rescued them. They were only six weeks old. From the second I saw her, I knew I had to have her. So after much coaxing and crying and pleading, my parents gave in and said she could live with us until I moved out.