Had dogs all your life or not?

It took me and my sister a LONG time to convince our parents to get us a pet other than fish.  In second grade, my parents agreed to let us get a cat.  Well, there were two adorable kittens at the shelter cuddled up together...and my mom decided we HAD to get both.  Finally, in about fifth grade...we convinced my parents (well my mother) to get a dog.  During summer vacation, my mom got us an adorable shih tzu puppy...while my dad is at work.  When my parents split, I went to live with my mom...my dad kept the animals...and now refuses to give them to my sister, who asked for hem, lol.  He LOVES them.
 
So I was dogless for about 5 years.  However, I decided this year, we needed another animal.  And my mom agreed to let me, since my fiance, who lives with us, is more than happy to take care of the dog while I'm at school.

I've always liked dogs but my mom isn't fond of them so growing up I never had a dog. My boyfriend and I are now seriously considering adopting a Labrador from a rescue. I've always loved Labs and I think that's because one of my aunt's had a dairy farm when I was younger and she always had at least 5 dogs there. 2 of the dogs that I have the best memories with on her farm were black Labs. Sarah and Sadie were their names. My boyfriend had a black lab mix, Shane, when he was younger who lived to be 16 and they just had him PTS last year because he was having seizures. About a month later his mom got a female black lab puppy and named her Maggie. My boyfriend's sister has a yellow Lab named Luke and her boyfriend has 4 chocolate Labs named, Sadie, Cletus, Jr, and Bear. Jr and Bear are 2 of the pups from Sadie and Cletus' last litter. 

Yep, had dogs all my life.  My father was the exective president of the National Animal Control Association followed by the president of a handful of Humane Societies.  So we always had dogs and cats.  

Yep i've had dogs all my life, me and just about my whole family are animal lovers. []

I tried to convince my parents for 18 years to get me a dog. they refused, my mother has never really liked them, despite growing up with dogs on the farm. my parents refused to let me have any pets actually...and i am a huge pet lover.  we had a cat growing up, that was all, im not even overly fond of cats.
 
when i moved out i knew id get pets, i started off getting a rabbit, then 3 years later i finally got my first ever dog, and that little beagle has been everything i hoped for! i am planning on getting another dog in 6 months or so, we are on a waiting list. i think thats my limit though, 2 dogs at a time. i think more would just be too many all at once.

We got a little Manchester Terrier when I was about 7 that we knew had been abused by kids (we heard the kids abusing the dog trying to 'ride' him like a poney when we got up on the porch and heard the owner KICK the dog away from the door and I think my parents would have taken him had he been stuffed just to get him away from there).  but I was a little kid who desperately wanted a dog to PLAY WITH **ME** and the dog bonded to my mother.  I tried to get "Tiny" to come up on my lap and help me "play piano" (when I was supposed to be practicing) and I wound up getting bitten in the face (my fault not his and I knew it then!)  My parents rehomed him with an elderly woman who doted on him forever.
 
My mother tends to be a clean freak and we never got another dog til I was a senior in high school.  Again this one was supposed to be Moms and *I* bonded to Pip.  But while I was away at college he truly was my parents' dog.  When I came home he was heartbroken that I wasn't gonna live THERE (I had my own place in the same town).  And he just wasn't happy being with just *me*. 
 
The neighbors next to my folks had this little street stray who was trying to sleep on their deck (after she got kicked out of a moving car, still full of milk and apparently her puppies drowned).  She was only 6 months old and already had whelped a litter -- a little pom/peke mix.  These neighbors thot it was HORRIBLE that I was a young single woman living on my own (this was 1974) so I took the little black dog home, named her Prissy (cos she **was**) and my life was changed. 
 
It was Pris who got pancreatitis at 3, and I learned to take care of a "sick animal".  Pris lived to be almost 21.  And I've never been without a dog since. 
 
My folks "like" dogs and my mother was so grief-stricken when they lost Pip she swore she'd never have another.  But I'm far more prone to vet dogs and make sure their health needs are met.  And they are "family" in every sense of the word. 
 
So I didn't really have them growing up -- gold fish were the only constant.  But I've always loved animals passionately.

Had dogs (and horses, and chickens, and cats, and lizards, and fish, and many other critters) growing up. Always had Golden Retrievers - my first love [] - and I would get one again in a heartbeat. Our first dog, Marcy, remains the most amazing dog I have ever met, and my parents' current Golden, Tucker, is the happiest, most gleeful (really, there's no other word to describe it. Some dogs are hyper, some dogs are goofy... Tucker is gleeful) dog of all time.

I did go through a 4-year period after college where I was without a dog - didn't seem like the right time, and I was working far too many hours. I'm so excited to finally have (1) an apartment and (2) a job that facilitates dog ownership. I am definitely one of those people, however, who thinks that life is better when your car and home are full of hair-covered blankets [] - and I do think that having pets as a child can help to estabilsh that sentiment.

As a child I got my first dog at age 11, after my Dad retired from the Air Force and we bought a house.  We ended up with two...I think the only two my parents ever owned in their lives.  They were loved and trained, but probably not very well vetted.
DH grew up with lots of dogs.  When we got married, his parents had 5.  We have been married for 29 yrs now, and have had 14 dogs.  7 of them with us now.

There are medical studies which conclude that allergies are reduced in children that grow up with animals. 
 
I grew up with dogs, then we added in some cats.  When married we waited til the children were old enough  - we had a cat already, fish too...So, when we had time and ability to care for a dog and have supervision ...we started in again with dogs. 
 
Funny, I was developing some bad allergies and since we started in again with having dogs, the allergies are very much reduced! 

Yup - I come from an animal loving family. My grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles have always had animals and we had a horse too growing up.

It took all my strength not to get a dog when I was in college, but I knew I couldn't properly care for one at that point in my life. Once I graduated and was on my feet, we adopted Rosco. Then two years later, Lexi and three years after that Luna joined the crew.