Did you choose your dog? Or was it the other way round?!

[ChocDee]

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?

We did everything wrong acquiring Daisy, lab border collie cross 18 months ago. We love her and have worked hard to make it work but here is a list of what not to do.

1. Get a puppy when a family member is dying ( FiL)
2. Go "just to look" at a litter of puppies advertised in local paper.
3. Go "just to look" with DCs, SIL and her DCs and MIL with Alzheimers. There were 9 of us meeting 8 puppies. The woman selling the puppies had 2 very small DCs who were in the mix and crying that they did not want the puppies to go. She kept shouting to her DC's "PUT THE PUPPIES DOWN" so we kept guiltily putting them down, not realising she was not speaking to us.
4. From this bedlam my SIL and I each chose a puppy. There was a potentially difficult moment when we both had our eye on Daisy but SIL backed down (unprecedented in our relationship).

When I chose Daisy I realised that having had a black dog when I was a child, I was still looking for a black dog. All the other pups were black and white or brown and white. She is mad, has turned our lives upside down and I love her dearly. DH swore at her this week when she broke a plate but spends a lot of time stroking her silky ears.

We got our dog completely the wrong way. I wanted a pug cross so looked on pets4homes and went to see them. The one I'd thought we get was pretty manic and the lady thought we'd be better off with the other, quieter one although she failed to point out the massively overshot jaw .

Betty has by luck, rather than good judgement turned out to be the best dog in the whole world. She's devoted to me and the kids and loves DH too. She's the opposite of quiet now but I really can't think of a better dog for us. I'm embarassed now that I got her from a pets4homes advert but at the time I didn't know any better. I'd like to get her a rescue doggie friend in the next couple of years.