How did you come to acquire your dog?

[SummerRiot]

When it came time that I needed to get rid of my horse..

there was a HUGE hole in my heart. I NEEDED animals in my life. We had our two Sheltie pups at our house, but it wasn't enough.

I had always loved Belgian Tervurens and had contacted Ravenmasque kennels a long time ago about her dogs and really enjoyed speaking with her. I had been looking into purchasing a Belgian Tervuren anyways, but the timing wasn't right. I had spoke to many different Belgian owners in the area about them, had attended a few dogs shows to watch them preform in the show ring and the obedience ring. - Always placing "High in Trial" of the day.

Anyways, I decided to check out Ravenmasque kennels again.
TO my luck - she was having puppies from the stud that i WANTED a pup from. I contacted her immediatly and I become "Second Pick" of all the puppies.

At 5 weeks of age, when I came to visit Riot. I honestly couldn't decided which puppy I wanted. I knew I wanted a show puppy, so asked Sheila to point me in the right direction. She showed me "Red boy" - a wonderful show prospect, but he seemed more interested other people then me. So that was a no no for me.
As I sit down on the grass with one of the toys in my hand, the darkest puppy of the little came crawling into my lap. Sat down and just stared at me. It was "Green boy", later to me known as Riot.

I still couldn't really decide if I wanted a male or female. There was a family looking at Blue Girl - the pup that I would have taken home, she seemed interested in me, but Riot was ALWAYS in my face lol I remember watching her one little female puppy labeled "Lavender Girl" - this puppy was OBSESSED with water. She used to sit by the water bowl and guard it lol Riot was the trouble maker of the bunch. He was the one who got into the "no no" zones just to cause Havoc. He saw Lavender Girl sitting by the water dish. He snuck around behind her and jumped into the water dish spilling it all over. As Lavender Girl watched her previous water trickle down through the grass.. this mean look became her face. She took one look at Riot and JUMPED on him attacking him lol She was SOO upset!! lol Riot was also one of the only puppies that would carry around items in his mouth as well. I remember seeing him get into the insulation from somewhere - no CLUE where.. her yard was VERY puppy proof. but he came pracing out of the darkness with a little piece of old insulation in his mouth lol SOO proud of himself. We quickly took it away from him and closed off where he had come from.

Well I went home without being able to decide. Sheila had said that was best anyways, you never know what they will look like next week.

She happened to have a big show not too far from me, so I said that i could babysit the 6 Belgian babies while she goes showing with her other Belgians.

The day before the show, she came by to check out our place. She knew that we were "dog oriented" pleople from our references that we gave her and dropped off all 6 Belgian puppies - made sure they were fine and then went to her show.

This was an amazing experience. We had 8 Puppies total in the house. The Sheltie puppies were about 14 weeks old and the Belgians were about 6 or 7 weeks old (can't remember now lol). Not that it mattered in age - they were all the same size anyways lol

After play time was over, they all came into the kitchen for a good nap.
As they were settling down for a nap, I decided to come and sit on the floor with them. Riot got up and came straight over to me. I picked him up and put him on my lap and there he fell asleep! From then on - Riot was mine *smile*. So in essence, Riot chose me.

How did you choose your dogs, or how did they come to you??

 

[doberkim]

each of mine came to me at a perfect time in my life.


bowie found me in a shelter. he was picked up by a police officer and animal control and came into my clinic (Which took animal control dogs in) on the end of a rabies pole. he was stuck in a run and labelled aggressive and slated for euthanasia. by day 2, he was licking my hand and i dared to break the rules and go into his run - and we fell in love. i wasnt looking for a dog - i was going to be a sr in college, had no place to keep him, and certainly it was the wrong time in my life - but the planets aligned, my family helped out, and despite some real rough times with his bite history, he came home. i was the only person he would let near him while he was at our shelter for 3 months - it was me or nothing. i had bowie for almost 5 glorious years before i lost him to DCM - he was my first dog that i owned outright, my first doberman, and my first competition dog.

mya was found wandering loose by animal control as well, in MA. she was bounced from shelter to shelter and no one wanted her - she came to the vet school as part of our spay program, and one of my friends chose her. when she was put under anesthesia, they discovered she had severe heart disease and would probably not make it. they went ahead with the spay, and she survived - and the shelter was looking for a home to let her live out her life (she was only given 2-3 weeks). i wasnt looking for a second dog - much less a dying one with horrible diarrhea and no personality who was rumored to be aggressive. however she and bowie loved each other, and i took her home on a trial period. the trial ended within 5 minutes, when she dashed up to my bedroom and jumped into my bed. she was trained in obedience and agility. i had her for 9 wonderful months before i lost her to a quick but valiant battle to a ruptured lung mass.

willow came to me a month after losing willow - the house was empty without a second dog, but i wasnt sure i was ready to adopt a second so i decided to foster. i contacted my local dobe rescue that i had been working with and asked if there was anything that fit my lifestyle... they tentatively asked if i was ok with 'broken' dogs. i said - why not? ive already had two... so i went up to the shelter in NH and came home with a terrified 8 year old girl with so many issues, i was tempted to return her multiple times in that first month. needless to say, by month 3 i was falling in love, and i adopted her permanently. she was diagnosed with cancer 6 months after i got her, and after a short but hard fight, i lost her 2 months later. she was with me for 8 months - 3 months after losing bowie.


rah came to me after i had lost bowie, and a few weeks before willow was diagnosed with cancer. i was looking for a female dobe, and had checked out a few in shelters - in fact, i had an application submitted on one. but something called me up to the shelter in NH again to the dobe rescue, and i went up to visit them. claire showed me literally 15-20 dogs, old, young, red, black, fawn, and blue. every version of the dobe you could imagine... until a young dorky blue male came out. he was everything i WASNT looking for - i had already passed up a sweet blue female with no coat purely beacuse i didnt want a dog with health problems. i had passed up a lovely red male beacuse i didnt want a male dog, i was hoping to get a male puppy within the year. i had passed up a sweet young female because i didnt want a young dog, i wanted something older that willow would be ok with... yet, here was a 10 month old blue male and somehow, i thought he was the one. we did the intro with willow and they liked each other (or was it tolerance? ) and the rescue said i could take him home with me taht day if i wanted... i wasn't sure, but something in my heart told me to just do it. so i did... and the blue butthead came home. he was exactly opposite of everything i thought i wanted, but he was everything i actually needed. hes currently an only dog, but hes an absolute sweetheart and a total love. and maybe just maybe he will get a sister soon

so those are my dogs. each of them came to me via fate- i wasnt looking to get a dog for most of them, certainly not them - but they came home and each one has fit in perfectly to my lifestyle - with all my other animals, my travelling, my job, you name it.

 

[LoveMyKees]

One day when I was about 4-ish, my mom, my brother, and me went to multiple shelters after permission from my dad to get a dog. We went to about three before returning home, because it had started to rain. When we pulled up in front of our house, I begged my mom to go to one more shelter. Well, we went, and there we found this adorable little puff/cottonball of a dog.

Unfortunately, two other families were eyeing the same little poofball. So, the shelter owner said, "Does anyone know their vet's phone number by heart?" Luckily, my mom was the only one who did! The shelter later called our vet, who approved our request to get the puppy, because they said we were responsible pet owners.

So, we got Max, our sweetheart. No one knew he was such a little crazy dog! What was really nice, is we got to take him home on my birthday. He wasn't really a birthday present, but I was happy that was the day we took him home.

I remember the first week we had him, I was scared of him, and would stand on a chair because he loved to jump on me. So I would stand on the chair and would just be like, "Maxie! No! Bad dog!" Thats a four year old for ya

In conclusion, I'm glad I made my mom go to just one more shelter that day, or else we wouldn't have had our Maxie now. And thank goodness my mom knew our vets number, or else some other family would have him right now!

 

[MyIrishWolfie]

We've always liked and wanted an Irish Wolfhound, but never had time in our busy schedule to have one. Through 2yrs of searching and educating ourselves on the breed we felt it was the right time in our lives to get one.

We came across a breeder in the eastren part of the US, who was willing to work with us on getting a puppy that would best suit our lifestyle and family. On St.Patricks Day of 2006 a litter of 5 Wolfhounds were born. In that pack was Binn.

 

[GSDlover_4ever]

Caza was bought and imported from a kennel in Germany by this family who knew nothing about dogs. They had like 5 kids and wanted a "teddy bear" dog. Well, thats not what they got. At around 7-8 months old Caza decided to "challenge" the father and they decided it was time for Caza to go. My aunt took him in and was going to foster him until she found him a good home, someone who could handle him. Then she had to have surgery and was unable move around for a while. So while she was recovering I took Caza in for a couple of weeks and we just bonded. So I told he I wanted to keep him and she said ok. He was my first working dog, though I grew up with them, so it was very exciting.

I found Neeko and two other Dobe puppies in the street. They were about 5 weeks old. I kept all three of them at first, but one died (the night we got him) and there was still a male and female left. I planned on keeping both but my mom said no so my grandmother took the female and I kept Neeko.

Joe was abused and my friend was going to foster him but I kept him for a while and my mom fell in love with him. So now Joe is my mom's dog.

Hondo is from my aunt's litter of GSD's. She kept two, I got one, my cousin got one, and her friend got one. Hondo just always ran over to me. I watched him from the day he was born and he was a very brave puppy. Him and his sister did everything first. He was very outgoing and playful. It was weird. My cousin and I would help my aunt out with the puppies and as soon as we opened the pen Hondo ran over to me, and Lyric ran over to my cousin (the puppy he chose). So we were chosen.

 

[Roxy's CD]

Roxy- A friend of a friend, had mentioned that they're parents had an unwanted litter between their two guard dogs. There were 2 males and a female, and they were giving them away. If they could not find them homes they would be drowned.

I said I'd take the female and asked around and found a home for one of the males as well. Drove 3 hours to get Roxy and Diesel and the other male had already been found a home.

Hades- A BYB who planned on asking a ridiculous amount of money for the pups was having trouble getting rid of them. All the people that said they would get a pup ended up falling through. I took Hades and his sister Mercedes, kept Hades and found Mercedes a home.

 

[Danegirl2208]

Malakai-- came from a local reputable breeder..when it came time to choose out of the large litter, i had an extremly hard time. I was actually going to leave with a mantle boy, but then i looked down and saw kais big eyes staring back at me, and it was an instant connection, i brought my boy home a few weeks later

Chloe-- Came from an accidental litter..they breed Treeing Walker Coonhounds and Red Tick (english) Coonhounds..i guess the 7ft fence wasnt tall enough for chloes red tick dad, because he jumped into the females kennel next to him and did his thing..and thats how chloe came about ..Chloe was the first pup to come up to me and my first choice, she was such a sweet pup..also have to add that I would never buy from a mutt breeder, they are good, honest people and had not intended for anthing like that to happen. Most of the pups went to hunting homes though and are working dogs.

 

[elegy]

my first dog, siren, a 15 year old, 9 pound, half-blind, half-deaf, 3/4-senile, congestive heart failure miniature poodle, came to me through work. she belonged to a long-time client who had to go into a nursing home because she had alzheimers. she lived in the kennels at work for quite some time, and i would let her out at night during my shift to walk around and get some exercise and a break from being constantly cooped up.

i fell for her. i mentioned to the doctor who was responsible for her being there that i wished i could take her, but was afraid i wouldn't be able to afford all her medical care. the doctor offered to pay her medical bills if i'd give her a good home. and so that's what happened. i had her for 18 months before i finally had to euthanize her. she was a hoot.

luce i got about 6 months after i brought siren home. siren was coughing like crazy and i was afraid i was going to lose her shortly, and i was terrified of the thought of coming home to a dogless house. i'd wanted a pit bull for several years at that point, so off i went to the shelter. luce was so cute, so quiet, so friendly. she dove into my lap snorting like a pig. a week or so later the home check was finished, she'd been spayed, and was able to come home.

mushroom i got a year later when i did lose the poodle. i loved having two dogs, and i really liked the idea of having a dog that luce could actually *play* with. mushroom had been picked up by animal control and was being housed in nj at the vet clinic where doberkim had worked. they were awesome enough to let her bring him halfway to meet luce and i, and a few weeks later, a tech from the clinic was generous enough to drive him halfway again so that he could come home with me. he's such a goober and i so need to send them a letter and pictures of him here, healthy and happy and spoiled.

 

[Lizmo]

I had found a cocker pup on petfinder and wanted to go and see it so we did but it had very bad fear problems so I did not want my first dog to be very scared and was not a young pup like i wanted. So we said show us the pups you have so she showed us a litter of pups(Lizzie was in this one) but their was only one tri-colored girl pup(I wanted a tri-colred not a brown) so we went on and they had some rottie pups but I really did not want a large dog. So she said that there was one more cocker pup at the shelter's vet gettting spayed so we went to see her but she was more interested in my brother and sisters than me(since it was going to be my dog) I said no(it was very hard to choose which one). Than we went back to the first litter of pups we saw they were about 4 or 5 weeks old(the one with Lizzie) we looked at them and the one in the back the was sleeping(and sick at the time) I got her out and loved her!!! So we had to wait for about 30 min for my dad to come and look at her before they said I could have her. While we were waiting she just sat in my lap. then my dad said that I could have her so we went to petsmart to pick out her collar and leash(which I still have) Then we got her to the vet and she had fleas that had like died on her so we had to bath her in this shampoo that stunk so bad that she would sit there and cry the whole time(we had to leave the shampoo on for 5 min before we could wash her off). She is the best dog I could have ask for!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[moxiegrl]

I was in the kitchen when Aaron got home from work...he came in and asked if I saw. I said "Saw what"...and he said there are 2 puppies next door. He knew I had been wanting a puppy. It ended up our tennents sister worked for safe harbour, and 2 puppies had been dropped there after found running around in a busy neighborhood alone. Our tennents were fostering them b/c the shelter was quarrantined for kennel cough. (nice huh). We went next door to see the puppies, and I saw this little brown bundle of fur and fell in love. I looked at Aaron and said we're getting her.

After the weekend was over I called the shelter and told them we wanted to adopt her. Aaron went and filled out the application, and since she hadnt been fixed or seen by a vet, etc, they said it could be awhile. I bugged the sh!t out of them! I went by the next day to see Katie, and took her on a walk, and played w/ her. The lady there saw how much I cared about her and went and got our application approved on the spot. At first she said I still couldnt take her home b/c she wasnt fixed yet, so I started bugging her about fostering. I couldnt see her staying there when she had a perfectly good home to go to So she said I could take her but had to bring her back to get fixed, and went next door to the vet to see when. It ended up she got fixed the next day so she spent her last night ever at Safe Harbour and I picked her up on Wednesday. I love my katie bug

 

[Gig 'Em Ags]

All are adopted from shelters.

 

[Southpaw]

When we got Molly, we just wanted a dog...we didn't care what breed it was or anything. We looked in the newspaper and went and checked out some dogs that people were rehoming. There was a doberman that we really liked, until he jumped on me from behind and practically knocked me over (I was only 7 yrs. old.) We saw an ad for a boxer that was at a rescue so my mom and my brother went to look at her, fell in love, and brought her home.

I suppose Lucy is a bit of a complicated story. One day last summer for some reason my mom and I were on the subject of pets, and she told me that once my rats died I wasn't allowed to get anymore rodents. But that since she knew I needed a pet of my own to hug and such, she'd rather just get me another dog. I didn't believe it so asked her if she would seriously rather have 2 dogs instead of just 2 rats, and she said yes. Sooo all summer I was constantly bugging her about it, and she said I'd have to wait at least until spring, that way we wouldn't have to housebreak a puppy in the winter, and school would be almost over so I'd be home all day. She said no to just about every breed I brought up, but when we saw an Australian Shepherd at the pet store and talked to his owners about them, my mom caved and said we could get one.

Okay. So after that I kind of forgot about the dog thing. So in March or whenever, I was down to 1 rat, and I so badly wanted another one. I didn't care if I couldn't get one "right now", at the very least I just wanted to know that they weren't forbidden as pets. Since I knew my mom would never let me speak 2 words on the subject, I wrote her a letter and left it somewhere I knew she would see it in the morning. In the letter I specifically said, "I know you don't intend on getting me another dog and honestly, I don't want another one." That plan kind of backfired because that's when my mom started seriously looking into another dog (and my sister said after she read the letter, she wanted to go get me 5 more rats lol.) I went back to the Aussie idea and my mom said fine...until she talked to my sister about it, and she said she would never come over again if we got one. She has allergies and apparently their long fur would make it worse or something...

Soooo one morning my mom was looking in the newspaper and asked me if I wanted to look at these puppies. They were bichon/poodle mixes...I said fine but I didn't think we would come home with one because a) I thought my mom would say no and b) I truly did not want to support a BYB. We got there and they were so cute and sweet, it killed me when I handed over the money but at the same time I knew it would have been a very hard ride home had I not gotten one...

The best part was when she puked on my lap, and my jeans absorbed it so I was left with this nasty chunky stuff on me. That really made it a hard 40 minutes home lol.

 

[BostonBanker]

Awww, I love these stories. It's amazing how many dogs choose their people, not vice-versa!

Meg and I didn't really choose each other - my friend chose us. She runs a small rescue, and knows that I love to meet all the dogs she gets in. She had called me up because she had a beautiful Aussie, which had been my "dream dog" for a while. I wasn't in love with him, but fell madly for a little beagle/whippet puppy that she had already christened "Lucy" for Lucifer. I took her home to foster her, and of course was already thinking I was keeping her. I even renamed her Sasha, which was always going to be my whippet name. I had her for almost three weeks, but hadn't really convinced my mother to keep her. I took her in for an adoption appointment, and it was really the perfect home for her. Sasha went home with her new family while I sat in the office bawling. With hindsight, and my friend's help, I know that was NOT the dog for me. I needed a dog who could spend all day off-leash at the farm with me and not wander, and who wouldn't freeze to death outside in the winter. Not a beagle/whippet
Sasha

[/IMG]

So I told my friend to keep her eyes out for 'my' dog, so she included another female in the size range I wanted in the next group she rescued. I hadn't really liked her picture, but when my friend called the day after the dogs arrived, she said "I have your dog, she's perfect." I still didn't love the look of her when I went to meet her, but took her home anyway, and fell in love. She was perfect, and slid into my life so easily it was like she'd always been there.

 

[Zoom]

I was getting ready to graduate college and knew that I was moving back home. I had no job prospects and no idea of what I wanted to do, but I knew that I had to have a dog. Just had to. My old dobe/lab mix had died a few years prior and I was going crazy from not having any canine affection, even though Meisha was very much my mother's dog.

After sitting down to think about exactly what I wanted out of a dog, I came up with the Aussie as a very good choice. I started looking on petfinder and at different breeders and then came across Aussie Rescue, submitted my application and had a response the next day asking if I would consider driving to get a dog out of a shelter down south of me. At first I turned that down, the picture was horrible and I couldn't tell what I was looking at...Sawyer was in a run with his sister so they blended together into this muddy mess. Then I called the shelter the day after to inquire, they said they didn't have him anymore. A quick e-mail to Aussie Rescue told me they had 'sprung' the two of them out and the rep sent me two pictures of "Poncho" and he just stole my heart. A flurry of emailing and a chance meeting at a Pet Expo later and he was mine, though I had to wait until he was neutered and his worms cleared. About a week after the Expo, I had myself Sawyer and he has been the best darn dog ever! The beginning was a little rough, my first experience with seperation anxiety, but he is everything I want/ed!

 

[Angel Chicken]

Kona, my baby

We had been in our apartment for about a year. The kids go to their grandparents for the weekend, and on Firday evenings from 3 until 8, I was alone. Every other saturday from 11 am to 3 pm also.

I would get depressed, because I was alone. Anyone who knows me personally knows I am not a people person, so I don't really have any friends.

I had a hole in my soul, that needed to be filled. I needed friendship, and I needed love.

I had bugged Robert about getting me a puppy for the longest time. He always ended up telling me no, that he didn't want a dog... so on and so fourth. I finally ended up dropping the subject, and I was heartbroken.

Christmas was coming right around the corner, and Rob had been telling me no all along, so he could superize me. On December 23rd, 2005, he brought my baby Kona home to me.

Though I didn't get to pick her, I still fell in love with her the first time I laid my eyes on her. I remember Robert giving me the bank card, and telling me to go get everything she needs, and I asked him "Where is my little beach purse? I want her to come!"

I love Kona so much... Rob couldn't have picked a better dog, that is for sure!

 

[blue]

I was looking for offroad parts on a local board and Bluedawg's pic was posted under the freebies. I figured somebody would take him. After seeing posts of people who wanted him but couldnt they needed more time to get a place or they needed to convince their parents or any number of things. I owned my house and there was allready a dog here. He looked sad and I didnt wanna see him go to the pound.

So I figured if he was still there when I came back from Chicago Ill take him. He was and I did.

 

[darkchild16]

Walker chose me very painfully might i add.

He was at a art festival in tallahassee. My mom had gone to the festival to get a break from all the family since we were visting all our friends and family here. Well she calls me at my grandfathers and says do you care if i bring a dog home for you since i was looking for a dog. I was like where are you and she told me where they were and that i had 15 minutes to get there if i wanted to see him. So i got my grandfather my brother and my cousin all in the car in one minute which is a miracle in our family. We sped across town what was usually a 10-15 minute drive turned into 7-8 minute drive cuz i kept tellin my grandpa to hurry up lol. Well we parked in the first park which was about a a quarter mile down the park. I could see where my mom adn her boyfriend were standing and could see a lil head starin at me. He stared the whole i time i ran up there even though a bunch of little kids were tryin to pet him. As soon as i got there i picked him up even tho the other puppy was more houndish which was the kind of dog i was lookin for. Well i put him on my sholder and he snuggled his head against my neck, clawing my sholder, fell asleep. Well i got to hold him for about a minute or two before the lady tried to take him back to the pound so we could go adopt him. Well as I tried to get him off my sholder he wouldnt let go so he clawed my sholder and tore my shirt. so we got the application from the lady i filled it out on the way there while rushing my mom. As we got there i ran into the puppy room and he of course was the only one i saw. So i went to his cage and grabbed him and took him to the play room and of course the minute i put him down on the floor he pooped so i cleaned it up and told my mom hes mine. So i went to the lady said heres my application and i instantly got approved. She then had to take and microchip him but he wouldnt let go so she just had me hold him while she did it. That night he was supposed to sleep in a box we had since we were on vacation and didnt have the room in the trunk for a crate. Well he crawled out of the box and slept on me all night. Well we had a 5 hour drive the next day so we lined the box so if he went potty in it it wouldnt be a big deal to clean out fast. Well i took him out for 5 seconds to calm him down and thats when he decided to pee

and i kept him why???? he clawed me and peed on me and pooped so i had to clean it up before he was even mine in the first day i got him. lol

 

[lastkid]

After my last dog died, I didn't want to be dogless - I hated not hearing tags jingling, and not having that physical dog presence in my house. So I spent a lot of time looking for somebody new, preferably a puppy, since I hadn't had one before and was in a good place time-wise to have one. I came across the most stunning Aussie/GSD mix puppy at a rescue about a hundred miles away, and filled out the application. The woman who ran the rescue told me that someone was ahead of me in line, but if Samson hadn't been adopted, I was welcome to come out and see him.

Samson got adopted. The woman told me that she had another litter of Aussie mixes just about ready to go - they were six weeks at the time - and I could check them out if I was interested. I went up, saw the little fuzzies (none of which looked at all like Aussies - lab mixes, chow mixes, but not Aussies) and promptly decided I didn't want a puppy at all. While I was there, we spent some time with the momma, a sweet black tri purebred Aussie who some idiot had dumped at the shelter two days before she gave birth (grrrrr...). I didn't want one of her pups, but Penny came home with me a couple weeks later, when the pups were weaned and ready to go. And she's been absolutely wonderful since, even when she's chasing the cats and trying to kill the vaccuum.

 

[StillandSilent]

My mother swears that from the moment I could talk, I was begging for a dog. Big dog, little dog, any dog! She was reluctant because both my sister and I were very small. Then my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and entered a nursing home, leaving her 5 yr old Cocker Spaniel homeless. Of course my father took her in and my dog fantasy was complete. Molly was everything one could wish for in dog. Well behaved, gentle, tolerent of being put in a tutu and danced around with. She was truely my dog and we were inseperable. Unfortunatly, the year we were both 10, Molly died very suddenly. This was January 9th. We wanted another dog, but planned on waiting until summer, to give us time to grieve and to ensure we would have time for the new addition.
That June we traveled from Chicago to Ohio to visit relatives. We spent the day in Amish country and visited a working Amish farm. The last stop was the barn, in which there was a mother beagle with her two pups. We promptly made the huge mistake of falling in love with the little female, without researching the breed or doing anything else to prepare for her. $30 later we had a dog. Fortunatly, the relatives were dog people and didn't object to a stop at Petsmart for supplies and a crate. God bless the employee there who told us about crate training. During the hour long ride, the dog, now named Lilly, threw up twice and peed in her styrofoam transport crate. Ah, love at first sight. Not to mention the 8 hour ride home three days later.
And lastly, Radar. After we moved to NC, our cat passed away. Lilly, who at this point was about 2 yrs, had been best friends with the cat and was extremely lonely. So we went looking for a companion. We called the local rescue looking for a small or medium sized dog to play with her. Yes, we were told, they had just pulled a little terrier from animal control but he would not be ready until he was neutered at the end of the week. But we were welcome to come meet him. We pulled up to the rescuers house and came to the front door. A man answered with this hairy little dog that had the biggest ears I have ever seen. The dog took one look at us, jumped out of the mans arms and ran to us, squealing like he had known us forever. He clung to me and my sister and everything was perfect. We made arrangements to pick him up at Petsmart, that Friday. My father says that all he heard for the next three days was "Radar, Radar, Radar". With that our family was complete. Until the cat 6 years later, but we are all still a little confused about how Puss ended up staying.

 

[AnimalLoverCatRescuer]

All are adopted from shelters.

Wow what a great story!

My Sheltie Max was adopted when one day my mom decided she wanted a dog. She already bought a purebred Himalayan cat a couple years previous and so I told her no more buying, we are adopting from now on. So we tried a few different rescues looking for a Sheltie, I looked on Petfinder.com of course. We went to one shelter but the Sheltie was huge, probably Collie most likely.

Then we went to another and found Max. We was just so sweet and laid back. So my parents adopted him. Then my mom turned into the "eww dogs are smelly and they bark" type of person and I take care of him now. He still lives with them until I find a new place to move to.