Hello!
I would love to know your love stories.
In our case it was most definitely the dogs choosing us (in my mind anyway!).
Both our dogs come from rescues centers.
Dog one was just a small wimpy blob in the corner of a rotten US Rescue center (they were really unfriendly!!!). I had been up looking for a dog countless of times but it was not until I saw her that we struck up an affinity.
I was not allowed to take her out of the cage for 3 days, but I went up and sat next to her and slowly she got closer. It was not until day 2 that I finally saw her standing up and saw what a peculiar shape she was - long body of a corgi/ dachie and the rather large arse of a Labrador. :)
At first I could not touch her she was so scared, but once I managed to touch her with one finger through the cage she slowly moved closer.
When we finally were allowed to meet her properly they brought her out to the reception area and she lay flat on the ground like a puddle of water and would not move a muscle. But she clearly remembered my finger so when I picked her up to get her out into the meeting and greeting area she literally clung to my neck whilst i carried her. I sat down on the grass and would not leave my lap, ignoring our older dog totally. Her tight clasp literally begged me to take her away from there. My ovaries flipped over 3 times and she was ours for ever more!
Our second dog was a part of a large litter at a truly wonderful rescue place in Switzerland. The whole pack of them charged out to greet us and were VERY exuberant. It was impossible to catch one to see if they were boy or girl or even what they actually looked like. Until our boy just stopped for a cuddle, zoned out with bliss before charging of with his 9 brothers and sisters, but 5 minutes he was back again doing the blissful zoning out thing.
The owners of the sanctuary said it was a very unusual reaction and swiftly swept away all the other puppies and that was it. He most definitely chose us and even though I am pretty sure that he was not the prettiest one of the litter, his personality shone through and now he is an absolutely gorgeous dog.
So there is my essay... What stories of 'finding the ONE' do you have to tell?
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Did you choose your dog? Or was it the other way round?!
ChocDee · 23/05/2012 07:55
I went to the pound for a staffy. The scruffy terrier in the 'cell' next to the staffy was 'on his last day'
He came home with us the following day.
The whippet ended up in my inbox disguised as a kitten and was offered to my dd1 who would post "Dose anyone no were I can bye a kiten from on x road for £5 for my dawter" on my facebook wall whenever I left the page open.
X road is the only road she is allowed on unsupervised 
Someone replied to my inbox, then sold the kitten, then offered her a puppy instead and then told me the puppy would be drowned that night if it didn't find a home when I said we were not interested in a puppy or a kitten.
We got the puppy. She was going to be found a rescue place within a few days. That was over a year and a half ago
Junior Dog - I chose her. The whole litter were much of a muchness activity/personality wise but there were about 3 who were more keen on toys so out of those 3 I chose the one I deemed prettiest.
Senior Dog - was Junior Dog's mum. She chose us, really. We only really wanted a puppy but SD was SO gorgeous and I found myself looking forward to seeing her almost more than seeing the puppies when we visited. She greeted us like long-lost friends and elbowed her offspring aside to park herself on my lap every time. Once there, she would lean on me and gaze at me adoringly as if I were a deity. It's hard to resist that sort of flattery 
So as it was her last litter we took her home with us. Sort of a BOGOF.
Fate chose most of ours.
DDog1 - Mum said I could have a small dog that didn't bark - When we pulled into the RSPCA carpark we could hear one voice over all the others - it turned out he was collie sized, and guess which one came home with us He was my soul dog for 14years.
DDog2 - When DDog1 passed away, I was taking his food etc into the charity box at PAH. Above the box was a notice that said GSD good with Kids, Good with animals. We had decided to wait until DS was older (8 mths) before getting another, but thought going and seeing wouldn't hurt. She was 9mths old and her and DS were inseperable.
DDog3 - was the only breeder bought pup. He chose DS - straight into his arms, and hence DDog3 came home with us.
DDog4 - when DDog2 passed away, DDog3 was bereft. When I was in PAH buying gerbil food, I saw a sign up in exactly the same place as DDog 2's was. Also a white GSD, so we went to meet him and DDog 3 started to perk up.
DDog5 - I was looking on the internet for a dog for the PiLs and fell in love.
DDog6 - I was again looking for a dog for PiLs [grin} I never did find them one.
DDog7 - Found on the internet when I was so not meant to be looking. DH drew the line at 3, and we already had 3. He was on the other side of the country and looked exactly like DDog3. I left his picture on my screen whilst I went to do school run and came home to find DH (who never subscribes to my dog broodiness) having phoned the rescue and agreed to meet half way.
I'm not allowed anymore, as DDog5 won't tolerate another female amd DDog7 won't tolerate any male, and we can't take him to meet & greet cos he hates people. Which really doesn't help when I have found 3 on a local rescue website, that all get on together, and who really need big open Husky proof space, which we have. And who's link I accidently clicked on from my favourites - so FATE. I can cope with 6 big dogs can't I?
When we were looking for our first dog we lived in a house with no garden. We knew we could provide a five star home regardless (very active lifestyle, home a lot of the time, 100 yards from endless rolling hills and footpaths, just no bloody garden and couldn't afford a house with one) but the garden thing precluded a puppy as house training would be a nightmare, plus I wanted a dog that I could be active with straight away, not waiting 12+ months for a pup to mature. So we looked at rescues - nope, no enclosed garden, no dog.
Soooo, we did the one thing that you absolutely should not do and started scouring the local paper, freeads etc. looking for a medium sized, active breed, young adult dog. I was thinking collie, springer, GSD but OH wasn't keen. After some months of searching he pointed out an advert for two Siberian husky bitches - one older, KC registered, very attractive wolf grey with blue eyes (£500!!) and one six month old, short coat, black/grey/white, brown eyes, not nearly so pretty and in the very gangly ugly stage, unregistered, £100.
We brought the cheaper one home. 
It was a disaster from day one. She crapped and pissed all over the house, had such severe separation anxiety that she trashed the house if we left for even 30 seconds, endless things were destroyed, bins strewn everywhere, cupboards raided and contents tipped out, water bowls scattered. She HOWLED. She pulled so hard on walks that she aggravated a very old back injury, one that hadn't given me trouble in years, and so walking her frequently left me in tears.
She had been locked in her previous owner's back garden and very seldom walked so she'd no socialisation - she'd scream, turn backflips and lunge to get to other dogs because she found them so overwhelmingly exciting, then piss them off with her overexuberance. She was an embarassment to be seen in public with. I was thrown in the deep end with the whole 'can't let them off the lead' thing and the fact that they are basically untrainable. On more than one occasion in those first weeks and months my hand hovered over the phone to call her old owner and send her back.
Years later she is my pride and joy, my very best friend and my go-anywhere, do-anything wonder dog. :) It wasn't easy but she taught me a great deal in the process. She is a superstar lead dog in harness, competes regularly and with success, is coming up to competition standard in agility (very unlikely for the breed!) and her basic manners and obedience are exemplary. I don't know what I'd do without her.
Boy Wolf came from the Siberian Husky Welfare Association once we'd decided that Girl Wolf had reached an acceptable standard of behaviour and it was time to find her a companion and start building up my racing team. Unlike every other rescue we'd tried they were unfazed by our lack of garden, they just wanted proof that we were experienced with the breed and able to provide a sufficient amount of exercise/stimulation. When the home checker came we went for a walk with our dogs and chatted husky for hours.
One of their foster carers called me the day after our successful home check and said she'd got a dog that fitted our requirements (fairly young, male, able to live with a playful bitch) but that he was 'a bit funny looking'. He turned out to be a piebald, mostly white with uneven grey spots, a ridiculously tightly curled tail and what I can only describe as a 'derp' expression. We took Girl Wolf to visit him and brought him home the same day. He expressed his gratitude by shitting copiously in the boot of the car on the way home.
That was his only misstep - from that day on it was as if he'd always been with us. He's fugly, sheds like no dog I've ever known, has turned out to have weird medical ishoos (dysfunctional bladder, house dust mite allergy, pollen allergy) and is deeply, deeply stupid but he is my special snowflake. Unlike the bitch he is a snuggly cuddlebug and is most often to be found curled up on my feet. He makes up for his stupidity by pulling like a demon in harness and I have high hopes for his first full racing season this year.
Lovely stories 
my boy is a pedigree from a breeder, he was our first choice but had already been reserved, but the people changed their mind so we were able to have him, although he has turned out to be totally neurotic.
When he was about 2 we wanted a pal for him but not a puppy so went to a rescue and picked a lovely girl also age 2 but she didnt like our boy and I didnt want 2 staffs who might scrap a bit as DS was still quite young.
A litter of Staff X pups had just been dumped, and we were persuaded to look at them, after much begging from DS we picked one, but when we went to collect her there had been a mix up and we got a different pup.
Our boy dog took to her right away and they have been inseparable for 7 years now.
Bit of both really,
MuttDog was from Many Tears Rescue. She was from a litter of 6 that had been dumped in a sports bag. She was one of the smallest so had gone, with her brother to a foster home as she was very timid and wasn't getting her fair share of food.
We travelled 3 hours to get to the Foster. Walked into the house and was shown into the living room. Foster mum then went upstairs and got both the dogs down.
MuttDog (who we had been warned was really timid and would probably hide from us) leapt up onto DDs lap - and bit her brother when he tried to join in. I took her off DD and sat her on my lap. She dug her nails into my very lovely sweater and climbed up onto my shoulder....where she sat, like a parrot, for the next half an hour.
I tried to get her down so I could sign the paperwork - she clung on. I gave up then, even walked to the car with her still on my shoulder.
She's still my shadow even now
If it my girl from a accidental litter that was heading to rescue the next day. A friend told me of them in the village and we went it look, just look 9 pups lurcher x springer all crazy but one pup climbed into my ds s lap (he was then 2) and didn't budge, wouldn't budge cried when he moved away....we bought her home and not much has changed since! She is great fun, bouncy and super fast protective but soft as butter really. The other day I walked in on ds and his friend pulling out her tongue (gently) to see what it is like-and the dozy dog just lies there letting him with a look of blind adoration on her face
I chose our Springer puppy from two females available. She was the calmest and fell asleep in my arms like a baby. There was no way we were leaving without her . I can't remember how we chose our Westie; I think we let DD choose.
Toboldlygo, Snowflake is beautiful. You sure he's not a Huskita? Has that kinda look.
DDog1 AKA Huffy (5) had been in the rescue for 5months or so and I had been droolingadmiring him for aaaages but DH was a bit . Talked DH into seeing him at the rescue and the big lug just attached himself to my side and cried when we were out of sight. DH couldn't sign the rescue papers fast enough Unfortunately for DH my boy is firmly attached to me
DDog2 AKA Trouble (6mths) came to us via another rescue as they knew from Huffy's rescue page that we had a JA and thought she would do well with us. She has more than lived up to her nickname and totally dominates Huffy . Unfortunately for DH she has also decided that she is my dog.... I just exude the alpha vibe 
My house now resembles the aftermath of a snow storm as Huffy is blowing his coat AGAIN...... Damn this changable weather!
He isn't actually called Snowflake, I just call him mummy's speshul snowflake. He's all husky, just with a totally defunct tail and only one brain cell.
Kindle, your profile doesn't appear to be public, I can't see the pics!
We choose the first two, black labs, then we're told - oops they've gone. So had the 2 leftovers, one of whom was the runt.
Then a proper starving waif turned up and tugged on my heart strings. She came out from her hiding place and curled herself around my ankle. A little scrap of bones, skin and grime.Then a stray turned up and fell in love with my waif
. He spent an entire day, about 9 hours, desperately tying to squeeze through a too small gap. When he finally made it we couldn't get rid of him. We lost him to rat poison
.
The 2 first dogs had escaped and not returned, so the waif was left all alone. We choose another dog to help her get over, she'd spent a week sitting by the gate anxiously waiting for someone to come back, from the 3 missing dogs.
That leaves us with 2 dogs, 1 German Shepherd and one German Shepherd look-a-like officially listed as mixed.
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We chose both of our springers.
DDog1 was the cutest of the litter. First of all the breeder put all the pups into a kinda like play pen and my DH go in with them. There was no way we were going to choose one like this as they were all running and jumping all over him. He was in his element They were then moved to the paddock so that we could watch them playing in a more open space and he was the cutest of the lot, running and tumbling but also kept coming back to be by my DH. So we had to pick him .
DDog2 was chosen because when we got to the breeders house I sat on the floor and he was one of two dogs that came to see me. However, he again was the cutest, he also sat on my foot and was in no hurry to move. So that was that
Pics of both are on profile .
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