Dogs you've had and how you got them.

Of the current crew..

Julian is from a byb. I knew better, yes, and wouldn't repeat it, but he was a bad puppy and I worried someone else would mistreat him for those issues. He's grown into an adult dog with his own quirks, but we love him. So, while I'd not go to a byb again and always advise others against them, I don't that particular situation. 

Ginger I adopted at 10 years after her former owner called the clinic I work at and said she was going to take her to the shelter (which was very overcrowded and where owner turn ins were euthed almost immediately) She said her medical issues cost too much..but her only health issue was diarrhea from grocery store food (went away when she was put on a better food) and seasonal allergies.  Another tech fostered her for a month, and then I adopted her. We love our elf dog.

Aesop was acquired from a breeder. We wanted another Chow (still had my late Legend then)and looked to find one from lines bred for health and temperament. He's a great boy and is exactly what we were looking for. Always happy and just a goofy, loving boy.

Grimm was turned in to the clinic I work at with parvo. His owners did outpatient treatments for a few days, but he got worse and they couldn't afford in hospital care. They chose to sign him over. He was treated and started to recover and, once on the mend, came home with us. He's the happiest dog I've ever met.

 Our first dog I remember was Cindy she's was a all black poodle don't know how my parents got her.

Then came Chucky  some guy from the neighborhood asked my mom if she wanted him she took him, he was  half  pitbull and don't know the other

Then soon after we got Tiffany who was my dog my crazy aunt would get dogs and then return them well she was going to get rid of her because she said Tiffany didn't like anyone  she liked me so I ask my mom and dad and they didn't want her but then you know when ur a kid and cry and cry they give in lol Well I got Tiffany and my aunt told me she had to have her back on the weekends told my dad and he told my aunt that wasn't gonna happen.

Then in 1996 we got Daisy, someone at my grandma's job said she had full dalmatians she was giving away for free but then her story changed to a dachshund  got ahold of her lol, all I know for sure is Daisy's mother was full dalmatian, my mom didn't even tell us she was getting a dog she just went and picked out Daisy herself she said it was hard to chose because they were all so cute she also said they all looked like dalmatians and she picked the one with the most spots lol. Daisy's brother's and sister's some grew up to have longs legs others shot legs like Daisy.

Then came my Princess I wanted a dog and my parents said no but then graduation was coming so they allowed me to get one I looked in the newspaper in the free ads and they did have pitbulls but I wasn't allowed to get one so another ad said pure black labs free lol yea right well my parents said ok to that.  I kept calling and calling the couple only wanted us to visit at night so finally we did and there was 3 dogs and she said that only one came out pure black lab and that she was at the farm lmao no joke its what she said we just looked at each other with yea right on our faces.  I wanted the boy because he looked pure rottweiler and with having Daisy already my parents didn't want me to get a boy so I picked out the smallest girl which became my Princess. The people had abused her.

Then in 2000 my sister came home with this little hairball lmao who is Lucky, my sister first tried to claim while she was at work at the mall she went out on her break and this little puppy came out from the bushes and my sister couldn't leave her and the dog stayed out there until she got off of work at 9pm lol yea she actually thought that story was gonna work.  She now says some girl came in and asked if she wanted a puppy so of course my sister said yes, we still to this day we think her boyfriend at the time gave her the dog because she had a dog that looked just like Lucky lol.

Well since my mom got Daisy and Princess was mine and Lucky was my sister's my brother wanted a dog but my parents said no and that we had enough, well believe it was 2002 Copper came into our lives my brother was at his friends and they we're walking around his neighborhood when Copper and his brother we're running in the street and my brother and his friend tried to catch them because the highway was close by some guy came out his house said you want those dogs he said they were his and he didn't want them so my brother took one and his friend took the other one.

Now they all live with me except my Princess who passed away

Now for my cats was never a cat person until Kitty Kitty came into our lives, we found her in 1997 the neighbors behind us moved and left her I would see her and try to get her to come to me finally she started to stay in front of the house I begged my parents to let her in they said no so by winter time they finally gave in.

In 2001 a week before halloween I was outside and seen this black cat under the car never seen the cat before so of course I tried to get it to come to me and she did didn't know if it was a girl or boy at that time but we found out soon about 4 or 5 month later when we finally had to bring her in because she was pregnant. That was MamaCat she had 4 babies one didn't make it two of the kittens I gave to my uncle the other kitten I wanted to keep my parents said no we already have Kitty Kitty and now MamaCat, but we kept her baby. Who is BabyCat, MamaCat passed away but she was a great Mama.

Now I feed another stay I've tried to take her in but she won't she makes these loud crying sounds and when I mean loud she gets really loud. I feed her and finally this year she stays in the carrying case and sleep I put it out again one night when it was really cold and she slept in it. I named her KitKat, should name her Moose she's a big lady lmao
 

Since Princess passed away I have to say I don't think I will ever get anymore dogs again or cats as well.

Gaci and Shimmer were both bred within the family. For me, Gaci was a choice made the day she was born after her mother died during a C-section (her mother was my girl). Shimmer was a choice made after realizing that she had some strong issues from puppyhood, and we kept her to work with her before placing her with a family.....at eight months of age though I decided to keep her as my own rather than to place her with another family. She has some special personality quirks that I thought may make trouble for other families who wanted "normal" puppies and I knew how to handle her so she stayed with me!!

Zipper came from a breeder in the States, bought as a stud dog. He was my sweet boy when I still lived at home with my parents, but when I moved out I only took the two girls. Ten months later after getting set up on my own he came to join the family, and we haven't looked back! He still is a stud dog for my parents' breeding program but he's legally my dog.

Obie: my first dog came from SPCA. I initially wanted another dog, a 8 months old black lab girl named Rose. But I sat on it for too long and when I went back she was adopted. I looked around and saw two 10 weeks old pups in the next pen and it was Obie and his brother Ivan. I took Obie because he was the more laid back of the two. He is just a big sweet muffin boy with not one ounce of meanness or aggression in him. He got his CGC at 9 months. I'm hoping to start showing him in obedience next year. He is smart but a little work challenge

Dottie: Also came from SPCA. 1.5 - 2 yrs old when I adopted her. This time around I went looking for a crazy, drivey dog for sports and saw this insane 15lbs nutjob spinning around in her pen, barking, jumping, doing her best driving everyone and every dog in the shelter crazy. So I took her haha. She is turning out to be an awesome dog. High prey and food drive, tireless worker. Her nerve is a little suspect at time. But considering where she probably came from (abused and neglected. Her nose was broken at some point and never healed completely) she turned out to be a remarkably happy, cheerful, outgoing little girl. She is now in training for agility.

Ike: my first purchased dog. From Belgium. He is my schutzhund prospect. Really crazy. A little terror on four legs at the moment. Hopefully he will stay that way LOL.

 Dogs I've had since adulthood-we waited until we had a place of our own with enough room for dogs,

Mystic Knight III- Mystic was a yellow lab we got from a broken family.  His original family divorced.  One of my brothers called me and asked if I wanted a trained hunting dog.  He was beautiful and gentle and could go over a 6 ft fence like a squirrel.  He taught one of the neighbors to knock on the door and wait for an invitation to come in.  Nobody got hurt, but he was growling so low that the windows were vibrating.

Braggi Ragnarson-Rags, son of Ragnar, if you're into Nordic myths , a liver and white English Springer Spaniel. A field bred springer I got from my brother, who has friends into field trialing and managed to get a good female from one. Rags was a beautiful dog and was the first I've had from puppy to grave , 17 years.

Bear-a black lab X I rescued .  He had been abandoned in the country(you know farmers love to care for abandoned dogs).  The farmer asked if I wanted him, or he was going to call the sheriff to get the dog.  A nice friendly dog.  He loved to retrieve.  If you could throw it, he would try to get it back to you-unless it had feathers. 

Piper-My current dog, a field bred ESS, black and white.  Got Piper from my brother.  Piper is a sweetheart.  We went the training route with her.  Puppy classes, obedience 1 and 2.  She picks up new things quickly.  For example, "stay home".  We pull on shoes and head to the back door, she thinks "ride", which she loves.  Somewhere along the way, she figured out "Stay home' means go back to the sofa. When she starts into a field, she is a thing of beauty to watch.  Those of you with working dogs know how much these dogs enjoy doing what they were bred to do.

 

Of the current crew:

Lexi, our first belgian malinois, was found running on some livestock farms in an area where I worked on a horse farm. She had been there about a week and farmers were starting to shoot at her. I brought her home, much to DH's dismay, sure that an owner would call about this fantastic dog. Of course no one was looking for her and she has turned out to be a truly wonderful dog.

Lilly, our mini schnauzer, was an owner give up at the shelter I worked at. Couple college kids bought her from the local pet store, landlord said no way, so they dumped her off the next day. Dragged DH into the shelter at 7:30am to see her, then brought her home because we had a parvo outbreak and she was only 6-7 weeks old. She never left :-)

Jamie, our other belgian malinois...well, what can be said? Five failed adoptions in her first year of life left me as her only option. She is getting better, slowly but surely, though I don't know that she will ever be "easy".

All my dogs have been rescues or shelter dogs/puppies, except Sequoyah.  I purchased her from a reputable stockdog breeder because I had always wanted a working style Aussie puppy and couldn't find one from ARPH.  The oldest dog I ever adopted was Fergie - she came at age 11, and is now 20 1/2.

Wow, I didnt know how many people here have rescued dogs :) Thats great.

My childhood dog, really my parent's dog, is Rex. He's a big brindle-y mix. He came from the shelter as a puppy - maybe 16 weeks or so? My parents adopted him in 2000.

Pirate came from the same shelter, in 2006. My BF picked him, when we were in our first year in college. The shelter workers didn't want us to have him because neither of us were 21 at the time. In a nutshell, BF's mom marched in, adopted him, and handed me the leash in the parking lot. She paid his adoption fee, too. I guess I still owe her :)

Tiki came from the SAME shelter. They were a lot nicer this time around, considering my BF is on their board of directors now :) She wasn't adoptable, but wasn't unadoptable either. We had started looking for a sister for Pirate this summer, and we asked them to let us know if they got a female terrier mix between 6-18 months. They showed BF Tiki one night after a board meeting, and he called me and said that he'd found our next dog, and that she was 'a little older' than what we were looking for. She's 10, LOL.

BF's parents have two dogs. Cricket, a 'witch' of a rat terrier, who is easily 14-15. You'd never be able to tell. Murphy is their lab/poodle mix - they refuse to call him a labradoodle, LOL. I knew a lot of doodles and I thought they would be a good match for BF's family. I mentioned rescue to BF's mom and she started nosing around. It just so happens Murphy (formerly Marley) was in a foster home with a friend-of-a-friend. He has purchased for $1500, and then his original owners got divorced and didn't want him! He has 'papers' and everything *eye roll*

I sincerely doubt I'll ever own a purebred, or purchase a dog from a breeder. That's all well and nice for people who want it, but I love my mutts too much :)

My first dog was purchased from a petstore when my family lived in Texas and I was around 5 or 6.  She was a yellow lab pup.  She was a great dog.  However, she was never spayed and ended up with 9 puppies, 8 of which survived.  We gave the pups away and when my parents were looking for a new house to rent they turned her in to the shelter after not being able to find a home for her.  My parents reasoning was that my mom was allergic (which she was, but my dad really wanted a dog and that they couldn't find a house that would allow dogs).  I have never forgiven them for getting rid of her.  She was about 2 or 3 when they got rid of her.  I've never forgotten her or stopped wondering what happened to her.  I still have pictures of her around the house even though I was eight when she was given up.

My second dog was Buster (a possible greyhound/pit mix - in my avatar)who my dad got for me after my parents got divorced.  He came from our local animal shelter.  He just passed away this past February at just over 14.  He was about 3 months old when we adopted him,

Max and Lady came with my husband.  Lady was purchased from a petstore and is now 15.  Max was from the same shelter as Buster, he is now 10 or 11.  He was about a year when he was adopted in 2000.

Benny was given up by his owner.  She purchased him from a petland.  Then at 6 months old she boarded him in a Petsmart and paid for him every month but never visited him.  She finally decided after a year, that she didn't want him anymore, so I took him.  He was a year and 8 months when I got him and he is now 4 years old.

Finn was the first dog I got on my own and actually went to the shelter to pick him out.  He was approximately 3-4 months old when I adopted him and he is now almost 9 months old.

I've had seven but I'll just go with the three I have currently: Gobie, got at 8 weeks, is now 13. first dog, I was a total novice and he's taught me all lessons dog. Got him from a BYB and I really didn't know any better, because I thought if you were a breeder then the dogs were fine, especially with akc papers. Lexi got from a byb BUT she adored them and they were house pets and pampered. She was 7 weeks when I got her and has some nice lines behind her in her pedigree. She is now 10, (can't believe it!!) She was shown. Darby, ch sired and out of Lexi, have had her since birth, she's 8 now. I aquired a few fosters (bichons, poodles) and rehomed them on contracts. I bred a few litters and placed them on contracts as well. I also had nice show poodle girl given to me, who took up a loving to one of my friends who has her now and adores her. and that poodle's son, who I kept for show, went well over height and is with a great older couple who love nothing other than spoiling him :) Another bichon was given to me, I finished her (got her Champion) and then her co-breeder wanted her back (I HATE co-owning, never again!) With all this I've learned that I am totally a pet person, living to spoil only a few instead of mass=producing and tryign to get that perfect show puppy. I much prefer spayed/neutered and enjoy them as pets and a bit of fun stuff here and there. In the future we plan to add a Bernese Mtn Dog to our family, he/she will be from a reputable breeder since the breed has many health issues. And then next likely will be either a parti-color standard poodle from a UKC reputable breeder (I know of 2) and/or a Lowchen from a dear friend of mine who is reputable breeder.

2 cocker mixes, male & female, as pups, from my aunt & uncle

hound mix, adult female, from a farmer

mastiff mix, elderly male, stray

rat terrier, male pup, from a farmer

cairn terrier, male pup, from a breeder

cairn terrier, male pup, from a breeder 

My next dog I hope to adopt from a shelter.

Rosco -- adopted from a reputable Boston shelter in 2002. He was labeled a "beagle mix." Go figure!

Lexi -adopted from The Arlington Animal Welfare League in VA in 2004.

Luna - Purchased from a reputable breeder in 2007 to be my show and performance dog. Fell in love with the Aussies and am not looking back. :)

Puppy X - To be acquired in the 1-2 years and will come from a reputable breeder. He'll be a conformation dog (I really want something I can campaign and special) and also a performance dog because agility and rally are musts. And some herding and tracking too.

 Honor, Eli, and Nikki all came from the same breeder.  Honor was purchased as a puppy, and Eli and Nikki were given to me by my breeder because she knew I would do dog sports and therapy work with them.

Nike is from Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue.

 

This is a really cool thread.  It's neat to hear the "histories" of everyone's dogs.

Harry is my first dog.  BF and I adopted him from the Atlanta Humane Society, a no-kill shelter.  According to his papers, he had come to them from a rural county kill shelter that is one they network with to place adoptable animals.

BF and I went to the shelter on a very busy Saturday morning (Groundhog Day 2008).  We knew we wanted a puppy, and while we were perusing the puppy room, we saw this adorable little black pup.  As people walked up to his cage, he just layed there and looked at them kind of disinterested.  When BF and I walked up, he jumped up and started wagging his whole butt, lol.  So, we like to say, he actually picked us.  His shelter name was Toby (one shelter worker called him "Toby with the stubby tail), but it didn't seem to fit him.  BF and I couldn't decide on a name, so while on the phone with my mom later that day, she suggested Harry, and it fit him perfectly.  He was 12 weeks when we adopted him, and had been at the shelter since around Christmas.

Sammy we adopted from the same shelter (AHS) this past March.  We decided we were ready for Harry to have a brother.  He gets along better with male dogs, so we wanted a male, but would have taken any dog that seemed a good fit for Harry.  Our only other requirement was that we wanted an adult dog.  We took Harry with us on a Sunday morning (planned so it would be less crowded while folks are at church).  We initially looked at a purebred BC that was from a hoarding raid in KY, but that dog did not like Harry trying to play with him.  He was very sweet, but we didn't feel was a good fit.  So then the volunteer that was helping us told us about a dog she had just walked that morning who she thought might get along with Harry.  She went to get him, and when she brought him into the lobby, Sammy and Harry sniffed each other for about 2 seconds, then Sammy play-bowed to Harry.  Harry returned the gesture, lol.  So we took them to an outdoor fenced area to play off leash.  They luuuurved running around together.  They played for about 1/2 hour, and we were sold, lol.  So we adopted him.  He had been an owner surrender, and to our surprise, was already housebroken (woot!), and already knew a couple of basic commands.  He'd been at the shelter for almost exactly 2 months, and at the time we adopted him was 1.5 years old.

Sammy is actually exactly 2 months older than Harry (Sammy's b-day is August 29th, Harry's is October 29th).