How did you realize your dog was a keeper?

A friend of mine brought Mattie to me one day. And said she thought I needed this little girl as much as she needed me. She knew I was totally depressed after losing my Mom. Mom was my best friend, we lived 5 minutes apart and did everything together. She suddenly got sick was diagnosed with lung cancer. I took off work and stayed with her because she went downhill real fast. She died 6 months later. I was hesitant to take Mattie at first. But my friend was right, I did need her. She snuggled right up to my neck and melted my heart. Taking care of a puppy, definetly kept me busy enough to help snap me out of a deep depression. My mom's name was Pattie, I thought my Dad may get upset if I named a dog after my mom. He is not a big petlover. So I named her Mattie. However now my Dad loves her to death too.
 
I saw Casie on Petfinders. Something about the look in her eyes just melted my heart. I had been looking at petfinders for several months. But something about this girl just got to me from looking at the picture. She had been brought in with her littermate. They were 3 years old. Apparantly they had lived their whole lives tied up outside. Her littermate was put to sleep because of heartworms. I felt like she and Mattie needed eachother. I was so excited I could not sleep that night. Mattie and I went to the shelter an hour before it opened the next day, just be sure I was the first one there. Casie was very timid and scared to death. I took them both outside in the fenced in area together and let them spend several hours together. Casie came home with us that day, fit right into our lives. I cant believe her owners said she had to live outside because she was to dumb to be housebroken. She has never had an accident in my house from day one. I cant take credit for that though, much as I would like to. She followed Mattie outside through the doggy door. And she just seemed to know what to do.

Like Stanley'smom said, we just knew.  I lost my 17-year-old girl and we went to the shelter to see if our hearts would open to another.  My husband adn I both fell in love wtih Isis, but neither one of us admitted it to the other.  I was thinking she was too big and I'm not sure why my DH didn't think I'd go for her.  The instant I saw her, I knew.  It didn't hurt that when I went by her kennel, she raised herself up to her full height, standing on her hind legs, and placed her paw through an opening, as if to touch me.  I think she knew, too. 

With FeFe, Gracie & Trixie - circumstances lead them our way.  A man accidently hit Snoopy, our family dog, while I still lived at home.  He felt so badly that he gave us a dog that he had previously given away to someone else (he felt they weren't treating her very well and he was right).  I didn't want another dog but as soon as Fe walked toward me - it just felt right.  Fe was so timid and the more time we spent together, the more her personality came thru.  What an angel!  She came with me when I got married and was our sunshine for a little over 12 years.
 
Gracie was given to us as a 'thank you' because we found someone's dog and took care of her for almost 3 months while putting the word out in hopes of finding her owner.  Gracie was a surprise... we always wanted to have another dog for Fe to bond and play with so when they asked if we'd take her... we just couldn't say no.  She's just the sweetest thing. 
 
Trixie came a little while after FeFe passed away.  DH, Gracie and I were all grieving over our loss... turns out Trixie was a stray taken into a clinic and then someone adopted her (in hopes of selling her) and placed her in a kennel.  The guy that grooms our girls told us about this little furball that had a similar personality and breeding as FeFe so I went to check her out.  The first time I held her, she kissed my nose - that's something FeFe always did when I asked for sugars.  When DH met her, she did the same thing to him.  As with the other girls... it just felt right.  She's been a blessing to us -- they all have been. 

When I went to pick out Crusher, I wasn't even sure I would be coming home with a puppy.  When we got there, the puppies were all outside in thier pen, awake and playful.  They all knew the way out and as soon as the breeder let went to the door, they started to bark and jump all over each other.  All except Crusher.  He just sat his fat little bottom down and stared at me.  After all his brothers and sisters(there were I think 11 in that litter) had wrestled their way out of the pen, he stood up and waddled out after them.  He was the chubbiest one of all of them and he just looked so cute I couldn't resist.  And when I picked him up, he cuddled into my ear and started making these cute little grunting noises.  Still to be fair, I put him down, where he promptly sat on my foot, and took turns picking up all the other puppies.  They were all soooo cute, being huskies, I almost wasnt prepared.  But none of his littermates was as cuddly as him, or as calm, or as beautifully marked (I know that last one shouldn't have mattered but hey! I'm human)

He fell asleep across my shoulders on the way home.  I've been hooked on him ever since. 

Onyx is BF's dog.  Don't really know what that is all about, but she can have her lovable moments too. 

 
We found our dog at a shelter (he was 8 years old) he really engaged us both that day - in which we put him on hold, and really was interested in us the next day when we finalized our adoption.  Riley was a great fit for our family.

But I definitely knew he was staying (i.e. read my husband fell in love with him) the second day when my husband actually let this dog into the office.  There was never, ever going to be a dog in the office.  NOT EVER. 

If you are interested (and I apologize we are not great at posting pics because I am a techno-moron) his blog is here:  [linkhttp://thelifeofrileydog.blogspot.com]http://thelifeofrileydog.blogspot.com[/link]  It does have a couple of pictures in it, in the October and September archives.

My dog Billie picked me, she was my first very own dog, and I had went to a farm to look at the puppies.
There was 3 left and my husband and I were playing with them, we ended up liking two of them, a very prim and proper one and then Billie, who was very energetic and playful. We had walked to the truck to decide on a puppy when I heard the man say, "I guess your taking that one,eh?" I looked down and there was Billie sitting by my foot. I opened the truck door and went inside and she jumped in. She became my heart dog from that day on.
Abount 7 months ago Billie was diagnosed with lymphoma, I was heart-broken. A couple months passed and I could tell she would not be with me for much longer. I had planned on getting a second dog before Billie was sick but had put it off. I had looked at different breeds of dogs and discovered the Catahoula, so I decided if i ever found one that would be the dog I would get. But they are rare out where I am. I had went to town to buy Billie some food and on the bullitin board of that grocery store was an advertisement for CatahoulaXBlue Heeler pups. I did end up going and seeing then really just to see what they looked like. All the spotted ones were spoken for except for a female one and I had decided on getting a male pup. Something about that little spooted pup just made me laugh. She came to me as soon as I called and she always stood up for herself with the more rowdy bigger pups. So she ended up coming home with me.
Xena- Warrior Princess a named that suited her so well =).
She helped me cope with the loss of Billie and it's weird how she does act like Billie sometimes, like within the 2 weeks they were together that Billie taught her some doggy etiqute.
I am glad I got my crazy,goofy,beast when I did, she helped me in more ways then I thought.

We have been looking for a dog about three months when I found these two adorable puppies up for adoption on Pet Finder and something kept bringing me back to them. Finally I sent a email to the shelter and we talked about them then and she even told me about the third pup SOS Sam that was going to be put up on their site that was their sibling. He kept pulling on my heart and I would stare at his page for hours except my mom didn't want him she wanted the female. Well we filled out the papers and where aproved for adopting the female only to turn out another employee had adopted her out to a family half an hour later. Instead we brought home Blue and he has brought so much joy in my life.

I still have his pet finder page in my favorites...
[linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=2548502]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=2548502[/link]

How rare it is to have a giant Corgi.[]

lol...take your child along and you will know which one you have to have   zoey was easy... i had limitations...good breeder, female dog.  well there were three pups, two females one already sold   i got the better pup i am sure! 

I didn't have a choice.  My aunt gave him to me.  I suppose I decided to actually keep him for the rest of his life when I noticed that he was alot calmer than his brother, Willie, and didn't pull on the leash.  Of course, I would have kept him anyways, but his calm personality is what made me want to kee p him even more.  He had a peeing in the house problem, but we fixed it, and now he's the ideal dog, except for the fact that he doesn't get along with larger dogs.

I volunteer with a greyhound rescue and JJ had been there for 7 months after having 3 previous homes in 2 years.  He was a total grouch and would snarl at a lot of people (I believe this had to do with fear aggression that began after a serious tail injury that later resulted in amputation).

  SO JJ had never had any problems with me, but he was a PITA at the rescue, always barking and whining (which is unusual greyhound behavior).  DH and I took him home for an evening to be his “driver” to the greyhound reunion picnic the next day.  He was one of 13 dogs up for adoption and 11 of those dogs found a home at that picnic BUT NOT JJ! He was horrible…he snarled and growled at every person that came by him. The greyhound rescue owner even looked at him shaking her head and said “this is a dog that does NOT want to be adopted today”.  I was the only volunteer that he didn#%92t snarl at that day and he had been the perfect angel at my house the night before..even sleeping a foot away from my cats with no problem and being perfectly quiet.  Anyway, so JJ picked me as his owner and not the other way around.

  Pru also picked me…she was a spook and had been returned several times and she chose JJ, DH and I as the ones who she would actually approach.  That is how we got our first spooky grey 8 years ago…he wouldn#%92t approach anyone but me.

  So I never know a specific dog is the right one…but they always seem to know that I was meant to have them![]    

lets see we have 5 dogs and all are with us for one reason or another
 
Lilly- is my heart dog, she was the last of her litter born and nearly died. Her mom had 4 other puppies to worry about and didn't bother to take the sac off of her. She was small and weak and if I hadn't been there she would have died. She was mine from that moment on
 
Riley- I originally went to the breeder for a 4 month old show prospect, my parents ended up taking him (Nick) and while I was there playing with the pups Riley captured my heart he was 11 weeks old and was the most playful happy pup I had ever met, and he still is at nearly 2 years old he is the most laid back dog in the world
 
Calvy- We got a call from a vet in the area that owners brought in a 6 month old westie to be PTS because of "aggression" the poor pup had a nearly broken spine from abuse. The people agreed to sign him over to me instead of being PTS. He is very fearful of men still, but he has come a long way
 
Lewis- is the runt of Lilly's last litter. We kept him because of the fact that he had seizures as a reaction to the vaccination he was given. We couldn't sell him and just hope for no other problems. He still has a few neurological problems, but he has been seizure free for almost a month. He is an absolute terror, but we love him
 
Bisou- she adopted us. We went out on the porch one night and there she was sleeping. We were originally only going to foster until we could find a home (4 westies seemed like more than enough), but she stole my heart along with those of my daughter and fiance.

I had been searching for the right husky for me for about a month or so. Then my friend and I drove a few hours to a breeder I had researched.  They recently had a litter of pups and had 3 nine week old grey and whites available for adoption.  We were able to hang out with them for a while. Anyhoo, Ki chose me because she kept coming to me and there was something about her.  She had also inherited a mohawk from her grandmother which is a fairly rare thing to find.  And my current hairstyle was also a mohawk at the time.  Right then I knew she was the one for me. I went home thought about it, then the next day drove back up and adopted her.  I've been inlove ever since. 

We got my dog from an adoption center. When we got to the puppy room I wondered off on my own to look around, and I came across the most adorable little puppy I had ever seen. We made eye contact right away, and I stuck my hand in the cage and she came and sniffed it. By this time I was going nuts with excitement, so I called the rest of my family over. We took her out of the cage to one of the side tables to play with her. She was very shy, but very sweet. My mother held her up in the air and looked her straight in the eyes (some kind of aggression test?). After a second or two, she licked her right on the nose! From that moment on we knew it was meant to be. []

I only picked one of my current 3 dogs =). Buddy.
We (my mum and two little sisters...who actually cared more about how many dogs they could pat before leaving than actually picking one!) went to a Border Collie breeder. As you can imagine it was adorable to see a bunch of 8 or 9 week old Border Collies scrambling around over and around each other. It was actually earlier that day that we had to return a stray we brought home ([]). Buddy was the reserved one of the litter. Most of the puppies flew over to us and licked us, but Buddy just sat behind them, watching reproachfully. Perhaps thats why we've been having bonding problems! But it's working out now. I just couldn't help leaving the one who seemed to need love the most.
My mum brought home Max in a pizza box =D. Need I say more?
Striker was the last one and the runt of the litter. He was a surprise and a wonderful one at that. I came home from school and he was flying around the yard like the crazy little JRT he is. But I think that when I really knew he was a keeper was when I had to sleep on the tile floor every night for a week because he simply wouldn't sleep without somebody's hands by his kennel.