Did you choose your dog or did he/she choose you?

How did the pooches in your life come to be?

Long story with Moo, I had lived with my fella for 6 years, as a christmas present (yes I no there for life and I wish she was) he bought me a pup, I was so excited, Princess, soon to become Scrumpy came into my life. The OH parents had stayed up all night with Scrumps so she an extra special present, neverhad a dog before her and she was awesome.

She came to work with me and I trained her, a bit of the battle with oh as he wasn't so keen on training, many days I would come home to Scrumps being locked in the kitchen for a few hours and he would moan there was pee on the floor!

She had a terrible case of demodex but I saw her through it, thick and thin we coped and where as thick as thieves

Me and OH broke up, I left with nothing but bags, moved here and there, couldn't take Scrumps but still walked her when I was allowed, ex oh eventually stopped me from seeing Scrumps, I tried the courts to get custody (sounds daft) but because she was classed as a home possession I had no rights.

Anyways I went through a bit and finally bought my own place, lived here for a year so I new I could afford and keep a dog (especially as its an apartment). Visited Battersea a few times (broke my heart), I got matched to a dog called Tilly. who, when I went to see had already gone. Long story made short, Missy (Moo) had had 3 homes b4 me and the owners where going to SA, saw her, loved her, and 3 years on...................


And breath

Vinnie came not long after i lost my old rescue staffy Diesel due to damage to the spine .. He was bought as a surprise to try and help me get over loosing diesel because i took it really badly! (my dogs are my babies!)
Vinnie did help me get through loosing vinnie his my lil rock i see diesel in him everyday!! they are so similar in personalities.

Skye came to us when i managed to persuade my mom to get a second dog for company for vinnie .. Vinnie is a family dog but skye is mine as i bought her and chose her etc .. she is my lil princess! and knows it lol, im always the one she comes running too haha

Wow.. two powerful stories there.
Good on you both.

Well,we wanted a dog for a long time. We need a dog that would be fine in a flat,likes long walks,be friendly...the list was long. We did a bit of research- and staffy made perfect match. Everyone gave us crazy eyes, my employers ( I'm a nanny and allowed to bring Debo with me) were like are you sure,it's a staffy? I said to them ''You have a dog and you know that you can do magic with a training". When we went to see the breeder,Debo was only 3weeks and has just opened his eyes. It just kind of happened. Of course we went well educated- did read lots of books how to choose a perfect puppy. All fell when we saw Debo and wouldn't changed him fir anything

My jack russell picked!! I went to the rescue and narrowed it down from over 50 saffys and stafffy xs to 2, a dog and a bitch as I already had one of each. I prefered the dog, but Gizmo didn't approve of the competion so it was a no go. How ever when we tried Maggie the were both OK with her. So she came home to the mad house.

Well we had our GSD from a puppy and I thought getting a new dog would make him feel young again! So off we went to the rescue centre in search of another gsd type, however there was bull sat in the corner of his cage curled up looking all sad and hurt' i looked at him and he walked up sat near the door wagged his tail' and the rest is history lol Well it didn't quite work once home the 2 couldn't stand the sight of each other for 6months so we had 1upstairs 1dowm thankfully they get on now but as our GSD is now 13 we'll be repeating the process after he's passed

Teddy chose me.

I am single and moved from the Midlands to Wales 12 months ago. Gave up a full time job to become self employed and bought a house.

I have wanted a dog for a while, have always been around them from childhood but my previous place was rented and no pets.

I work with a friend a few days a week and his wife runs a rescue. This is from Teddys adoption report:-

When Teddy came into the rescue,he was very thin, his docked tail was an open wound and very raw, he had scars over his face, more his head, and the hairline was a different growth around the muzzle and had no bite wounds, this indicated Teddy had had his faced Taped, possibley to be used as bait for an attack.

whilst he was very friendly as you would expect a Staffy he was very stressed, he was spinning in the kennel and biting the remains of his tail, we did many things to try and stop this, after using buster collars etc we tried 'bitter apple spray', this seemed to work, over a period of months the hair started to regrow and the end of his stump has now healed, he is still stressed, but expresses it in different ways.

Teddy has had a very hard journey, he is very loyal and loving, he will need introducing to things gradually, Teddy can be scared from anything to a paper bag blowing in the wind, to a tractor coming behind him, the thing not to do is reassure him at these times, as this will reassure the anxiety, just ignore his nervousness and keep going, when he is with me if we see anything. machery etc, if he shows anxiety I take him upto it, and let him see it is nothing to worry about!

Teddy does not do noise, this is why he struggles with being in kennels, he just can not cope, so be aware that if you have a busy house or a busy lifestyle and Teddy shows signs of stress, this will be why.

Teddy is a very loving playful dog, he is learning to play with toys which he wasnt used too, and he likes a football or a branch, he can sometimes play rough, and just up to play bite, if you tell him NO and stop the play for a few seconds, he does actually stop.

I am trying not to sound too negative about Teddy because I just love this poor dog to bits and feel he has never had the love of a home, and the companianship of a nice person, I think he has been kept shut away with no socail skills and used as a bait dog, my heart hangs very heavy for Teddy, and only because I have seen him develop into a happy playful dog am I so sure that the right home will need to be aware of his sad life to provide and mould it into a happy one!

To try and help him we started having him work with us for a few hours a day so he had some human company and something to do otherwise he was spending his time throwing his metal food bowl around the run which has resulted in the fur around his muzzle being a little thin. I am also told by the lady who wrote the above that he was not sleeping. He attached himself to me and I started walking him sometimes.

Anyone who has read my other threads will know this is all now history.

We should complete this story with something I have not revealed on here. When I am over at my friends place, apart from the rescue dogs there are two house dogs, Monty & Buster both Border Collies and both originally rescued. Monty has always been great with me even before I moved down here and just came down for weekends. Buster on the other hand is not good with new people and could be a little unpredictable so before I moved here we used to run this really complicated system of keeping us apart.

As last Christmas was my first down here I was invited to Christmas dinner with the condition attached that I had to be friends with Buster. So just before last Christmas the task was handed to Caroline who wrote the above piece about Teddy. Now Caroline is fantastic at dog training and reading dog body language and I trust her. So one morning I was told "come outside in a few minutes and walk slowly up the lane towards the field and I am going to walk behind you with Monty & Buster on leads and let Buster get close enough to have a sniff at you" We spent 30 minutes in the field playing ball and me giving them treats. We repeated the exersise the following day and when we came back we put the dogs in the kitchen and Caroline and I were chatting in the porch. Caroline then said "I am going to open the kitchen door and let them into the porch" to see how Buster reacted to me being in the house. He came straight up to me and sat and offered a paw for which he got a big cuddle and many treats.

We have been the best of friends ever since and I trust him and he trusts me. I have walked them both on my own and spent hours getting soaked to the skin in a field playing ball.

So Teddy chose me and he is now very much loved and has a stable home where he is free to be himself. Hopefully he will become more confident around other dogs in time.

Regards

Simon

Fishguard, West Wales

What wonderful stories

I have wanted a dog for years but my previous job didn't allow for it as I was away from home too much. Well my new job isn't ideal but it is workable and one day I was coming home close to the Dogs Trust and thought I would call in just to get an idea (as I had some holiday coming up a couple of months later and thought that would be a possible target to home a furbaby). I had already decided I would prefer a Staffy the size, personality, activity level etc I felt would most suit me.

There were hardly any staffys in the viewing cages but a young chap called Alfie caught my eye blue brindle and getting over a skin condition he was just shaking at the back of the cage and I went back to the desk to ask more and found out that he had been brought in as his owners couldn't afford to treat his skin condition and their 12 yr old daughter had climbed into his bed and he bit her. So the staff gave me the questionnaire to fill out and someone came over to go through it with me after asking a few more questions she said I think George would be better with you would you like to walk him. George hadn't been on show he was finding kennel life very stressful and in previous kennels the owner had ended up keeping him in their home well they brought him through and that staffy smile and whole body tail wag melted my heart we went for a walk and he was quick to listen to some basic commands but didn't react to being called George. We got back from the walk and while I was waiting for the kennel girl to collect him he jumped up onto my knee and nuzzled his head into my neck.

I was apprehensive about committing as I had some time away with work coming up but the kennel said if I could take him the next week then they would home him for the time I was away and that sealed it, I went away and looking at his profile pic online I thought 'he has a grin like the Joker' and so the name Ledger came to the forefront and as I returned 3 times in the week to walk him he seemed to react to it and the rest is history

He never did go back to the kennels for that week, he instantly won over my parents who offered to take him in

We picked Suki. We went to a breeder that had about 30 to choose from. We looked at them all and spent time alone with quite a few. Suki walked over to us sat down and looked up at us as if to ask okay now what.

I have to be honest, my dad was paying for lexi and he only took me to see her cause she was cheap (she has an overbite so wasn't "show" quality) but she was so soft ans smelled so good i had to have her. I wanted a white one and her sister was white but i had lexi in my hand and i couldn't put her down lol NO regrets at all

Love the stories! Mine is simply that after our last pooch passed away (Gimli), we thought we would take a long time to get another as we were so devastated. However, we discovered that the house was empty without a dog and all 6 of us were sad to come home. We had been referred to a great breeder as we wanted a healthy bully breed after our bulldog, but she was on the other side of the country. I spoke with her for a long time and decided to just describe the personality we were looking for and let her pick. In the meantime, my parents got a blue healer pup who came over to our house to visit but came down with parvo the next day. I didn't want to bring a pup into a home that had been contaminated so I called the breeder to ask her if she would be willing to keep a pup back for me until it had all the shots so that it wouldn't take a risk. She agreed but then a few weeks later called and asked if I would be interested in one of her show dogs that she was planning to retire to make room in her kennels. She normally would have only allowed him to go to a show family, but thought his personality was perfect for us etc. I agreed and Monte came into our lives. We loved him so much that when the breeder rescued Frosty from a bad situation, we took him too. Then my wife saw Piggies picture and begged for her (to think, my wife who didn't like dogs until Gimli- now has 3). I got her for my wife's birthday (ok, she was rescued, but that is one thing that makes her so special). Now I don't let her look at rescue pics or I'd have a dozen!

When we went to look at Tilly's litter , my OH and Jen chose Tilly as she chose them at the same time.

We had a choice of 2 pups with Tommy and really coudn't decide so after my first visit , we took Tilly with us and Tommy came straight up to her to begin his campaign of terror

My hubby and me went over to Morrisons in Cambridgeshire to do some Christmas shopping a couple of weeks before Christmas 2010. When finished I just happened to mention that Woodgreen Animal Charity is very close lets just go and have a look around there.

After looking around for a few minutes we came across Rocky who just looked at us through the wire fencing and he decided he wanted to come and live with us, quite simple really. We took him for a little walk around the centre and we all fell in love. So Rocky chose us, I'm really glad he did.

Lovely stories and lots to bring tear to my eyes. The Universe conspired to bring Tyson and me together.

It took me a long time to get over my Staffie Zulick. I was looking into getting a new Staffie and had been in contact with a number of breeders who had been referred by a Staffie Club. After a lot of dithering I had decided to leave it and look at pups again in the new year.
That is when the conspiracy kicked in. Wheels within wheels turned and before I knew it, I was meeting with the breeder to collect my little man. She drove 650km with him. The rest is history. We are s

It's been a bit of both with all my dogs bar 2. I'm a great believer in seeing how a pup reacts to you.

The two exceptions were Dempsey who I put a deposit on blond because someone I trusted recommended him, and my 2nd Border Collie - I'd already decided I wanted a bitch pup from a specific sire & dam & had my name down before the dogs were even mated!

It was a bit of both with me and Bis too! I'd just left my job as a behaviourist's assistant to work with rescue dogs, so had experience with "difficult" dogs and grew up with staffies. Had been at the dogs home for about a month when I got called out to pick up a big terrified ball of nervous aggression, she'd just had her pups taken away from her at a few weeks old and some guy covered in scars and gold chains dumped her in our reception claiming he had "found it."

No-one could get into the kennel with her for weeks, they thought she was a pit bull so she was isolated for 3 weeks until the tests had gone through and she had been treated for mastitis and the fag burns on her side had cleared up. She decided I could be her friend and I started spending time with her but the centre deemed her not safe for re-homing and she was due to be put to sleep the next day. So I did something bad and took her to my dads house in the woods for a few days I managed to get away with it and continued to spend more time with her, desperately trying to find her a home, but found passing her on to new handlers an impossible task as it took her a long time to trust people and she was terrified and highly aggressive towards men.

I finally persuaded the centre to keep her if I agreed to work with her; and then she had a cancerous tumour show up on her leg. Again, they decided to put her to sleep within seven days...the rest is history. She excels at obedience, lives with me and my housemate (who's a man!!) loves other dogs and the cancer hasn't returned. She's my shining star and she's got more lives than a cat i'm sure

when we went to see sasha,there was just her and her sister left,her sister was just chilling in the garden,whilst sasha was exploring and eating the the flowers ,needless to say we picked the naughty flower eating girl

When our last gsd past away suddenly at the age of 7 he left a big hole so didn't want another gsd and we had had a staff before but not from a pup so we went to look at some pups but something wasn't right so we left and I stopped looking
One day I was at work and my oh phoned saying finish early were all going out long story short we saw Skye she was the last of the litter and I found she was born on the day my granddad past away fate really
Buster was found on pets4homes ( I know) but when I found out where he was and that I knew who owned him it was well if he was ok with Skye any other problems we would deal with ( I think if he hadn't come to us he would have had a few more homes or been used for fighting )

Bit of both really we'd seen photos before we went to the breeder, and vinnie caught our eye the most out of all of them, although there was a lovely sweet all white girl that i was interested in too - But when we got there believe it or not Vinnie threw himself on my OH and he picked him up and never put him down untill we got in the car on the way home