Who Picked Your Dog?

[wigglesworth]

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This is a great thread.

All of our dogs, with the exception of the two newest :* :* , have been down and outs before they joined the family.

Our first dog, a terrier cross, was abandoned at the top of our street and literally chose us by walking into our front garden. I was five and asked if we could keep her. She whelped three pups a few days later so she obviously knew she needed a home quick smart! We called her Lucy (as someone had let her loose, of course). She was with us for the next 12 years.

Our first whippet Tucky definitely chose us. We had gone away for a weekend for Mum's 40th birthday and at the time my parents were looking to buy a plot of land and build a house. We stopped by a display house and met a skinny, windy fawn whippet. The woman who manned the house had found him injured on the road and nursed him back to health, but was looking to rehome him as she lived in a flat with 4 cats (w00t) The next day we went back to have another look at the house, and the skinny, windy whippy got into our car! So that was it. We called him Tucky as the name of the model home was "Kentucky" something or other. Tucky was our one in a million dog and lived until he was 18. I still have a framed piccy of him on my desk :wub: and all our Christmas presents are still sent from the Angel Tucky o

Not long after getting Tucky we were bitten by the whippet bug and went looking for a bitch. Sophie was the puppy that made a bee line for my Dad, so she must have known he was the biggest softie in the family

Next up was Hunter the Iggy, whose show owners were looking to rehome him just as he reached maturity. He was in poor health and I don't think they had the funds to get him treated properly. We weren't told all the details of his medical conditions but we were so desperate to have him. We persevered, became very popular with our vet and he then became a very happy, healthy boy. But as some of you know he tragically died earlier this year.

To fill the whole in their hearts, my parents bought two little iggy boys called Hamish and Hugo. Hugo was the more obviously handsome of the two, but Mum and Dad couldn't leave little Hamish there on his own, so the two brothers came home together :wub: :wub: and now Mum and Dad have one each to cuddle :huggles:

 

[HopeRosie]

Well Rosie chose my eldest son. He was starting school so I had a bit of empty nest syndrome :unsure: , I was working parttime and never had a dog (and was actually a bit scared of them), but my OH had been brought up with large breeds. He said boys must always have a dog :wacko: :- " we compromised on the size and chose a Cavalier. Visited the breeder and she bought in the mum and a large cardboard box filled with her puppies. They all piled out and one plonked itself on my five year old sons lap and refused to get off. Theyve been inseperable ever since.

Poppy (our late JRT) was an internet rescue! I belonged to a horse riding forum. One of the girls on the forum, Stephy, bred JRT's and lived in Aberdeen. She got a knock on the door late one night from a woman holding the tiniest JRT puppy. The woman on the doorstep said that it was an unexpected litter and that the mum had died giving birth, knew that Stephy bred JRTs and could she take her in or she would drown her :rant: So Stephy took her in and hand reared her. When she was 7 weeks old she put her pic on the forum and said that she needed to be rehomed. I fell in love with her, and we decided to have her. Strangely it was the same time that my youngest son was due to start school. :- " She was put in a pet carrier (she was that small) put in the drivers compartment of the Aberdeen to London train, on a child's ticket. Looked after by the business men in the first class carriage and fed little bits of chicken and watered and she even had a wee on newspaper on the floor. I collected her from Waterloo Station and travelled home to Essex! She spent a very happy 15 months with us before she died of a brain heomorage in our back garden. The vet said that she was definately the runt of a litter and that the woman on the doorstep had probably tried to 'dispose' of her and failed. Poppy had a great time with us and was just the funniest personality.

Terribly Terribly upset we got another Cavalier - called Daisy - a complete nutcase who has stayed with my ex as we split up 18months ago. (well suited lol). Its not my choice that Daisy stays with him and we really miss her.

Rosie really misses being part of a twosome and shes now in heart failure although well in herself. So the children and I decided to get a whippet and Ive now moved from Essex to Cheshire and things are lovely and settled now. A new pup might give Rosie some sparkle back, help the children when Rosie becomes o and will give me something positive to help me through what has been a very traumatic part of my life. Different type of dog completely but the breed has everything we are looking for. (ive done tons of research 8) I google searched, came on here, asked about puppies and had about a trillion emails telling me about Pipers pup, Twisters, babies - two left - and now Evie is mine and just a week to wait!!!!!!

This is poppy at her first xmas - you can see how tiny she was, shes about 14 weeks old here. RIP Poppy o

 

[Strike Whippets]

Well here goes (w00t)

Joanna was given to us .....We both said we don't want a Whippet .......but we'll foster her and find her a good home ........Well next months she's 12 :wub:

Jacob was the last in his litter and not wanted (who wouldn't want a black Whippet ??? ) ......My OH brought him from our friend as a surprise .......He's always been a good lad and this is where my love of blacks came from ........

Inca .......Well she was just Inca, she bonded straight away with me, that by the time she was 10 weeks old she cleared a 2 foot puppy pen at Gloucester open, leaving her breeder, 2 sisters and her brother to be with me because I walked away ........Her pups may not always run, but they have her 110% loyalty :wub: :wub:

Miya was my pick of her litter .......Her breeder Julia said I could have a pup if I gave up smoking (thanks Julia :huggles: ) .....I gave up smoking and waited for Julia to pick her girl ........Julia picked and luckily it wasn't Miya .......She's such an honest, kind dog and we have NEVER regretted having our Miya, Miya, pants on fire :wub:

Connie and Eric .........Well we bred Eric and Connie ......We were going to keep the two black bitches, but I loved Eric from the moment he was breech, slow, revived and born :wub: :wub: .......Keeping the two girls was a no, no as they hated each other so we chose our Connie Conkers .........Eric got sold to a lovely family, but I couldn't let him go .........So my soul mate stayed with his sis with us ........People laughed at the breeding, but we know we have the most perfect dog ever born ........

Tink .......We bred her litter and Tink was Chris's choice and Vinnie was mine .........We ended up selling Vinnie and keeping Reggie as no one wanted him ..........After 10 months of trying to get Reg to fit into our pack .....trying to stop him bullying my pack and biting us .........He finally did it when he tried to kill my old girl Joanna .....My friends who had Tink and Reggies sister said they'd have him for a month .....He fitted into their working pack, which left us with our lovely Tink .........Then unfortunately the owners of Vinnie met difficulties and had to re-home all of their dogs, so Vinnie came back home .......We always knew he was ment to be (unfortunately that racing name had already gone)

And now we have Ethel booked ....... The one OH, Beej and myself said "I like that one"

 

[FoxyDog]

"FOXY" was a surrender to our shelter where I work and was compleatly unaprochable. I don't know what the owner could have done to her to make her so fear aggressive but he sure did something! > (She was only nine months old too!)

Anyway, each day I'd sit on the other side of the kennel and throw her some wet food, I didn't get too close because she would have bitten me. This went on for about a week untill I could actually get her to come to me and eat from my hand. Another week and I could pet her and she started to trust me. I then took her to the obedience classes that are run through the shelter and the trainer there helped a lot with her problems. Even though she was makeing a lot of progress she still couldn't be adopted to the public yet. Because we were running out of room the decition was made to euth her. Well after all that work I couldn't let that happen so I took her on as a foster dog (my parents were NOT impressed). After another month and lots of obiedience work they deemed her adoptable and she was put in the adoption kennnels. Unfourtunatly when the vet tech tried to vaccinate her she got scared and bit her. The shelter manager felt she was too dangerous to adopt so she was on the euth list again. So...I stole her. I got in a lot of trouble but the trainer really helped me out and I managed to keep my job.

It's been 6 years and not a day goes by that I don't get a complimant on what a good dog she is. It's been a lot of work but I wouldn't trade her for the world! She is a champion agility dog, has her Canine Good Neighbour award, loves children, and LOVES me.

"PUZZLE" had all the advantages that poor Foxy didn't get. He came from a wonderfull breeder would did an amazing job with the litter. I was looking for a pup with a lot of pep and spunk and I sure got it! Puzzle almost died before he was even born. He got stuck in the birth canal and had to be removed by C-section. He didn't breath for a good min. afterwards and the vet thought he was a gonner for sure, but he made it. At first I had wanted his brother because I wanted a brindle dog, but his brother turned out to be far too relaxed and mellow for me. The first thing Puzz did when we met was bite me! I knew right then that he was the pup for me! Luckily the breeder agreed.

FoxyDog

 

[pollyanna]

I love this thread!!

I got Polly from a first time breeder. His sister was an experienced breeder in Norfolk and thought his dog, which came from excellent show lines, should have a litter. So she did - bred to one of the sister's other dogs -and she was such a placid dog and an excellent mum. At the time, I had lost my shih tzu almost a year before and wanted another dog, but we had a trip to Australia planned so I was going to wait until we came back.

I saw an ad in my local shop for a litter of 'white' whippets! I looked up all I could about the breed and then contacted him The pups were then 9 days old, definitely NOT white, and would be ready the week after we got back from Oz so it seemed like fate!

Having no idea about pups, I just picked the prettiest little girl. He brought her to me when she was a day short of 8 weeks so he could check I had everything in place before he let her go. She is now 5 and has always been a happy, well adjusted thief and typical whippet.

Twiggy, on the other hand, is NOT beautiful and came to me as an emergency foster dog, aged 9, in 2003, looking like a cross between a coffee table and a whippetty type. in total shock after being with her owner when she was hit by a car. She had originally been rescued by Whippet Rescue from . I think, some travellers who treated her so badly. she's never been in a house until she was adopted at over a year old by her previous owner.

Her owner was in hospital 7 month+ and reluctantly signed her back to JRWR and they asked if I would keep her. As she had velcroed herself to me from day 1 I had no choice!!

She and Polly get on very well, though Twigs is jealous if I give polly too much attention -she just 'looks' at me Now she is a proper whippet shape too!!

Lily, aged 13+, who is equally velcroed to my friend next door was also an emergency adoption. I was asked to take her, but felt my health wasn't up to another dog, so Bea said she would have her and Lily absolutely adores her and gets very agitated when she is missing for more than a few minutes.

She was literally being starved to death and was very weak, weighing only 11 lbs max when we got her. He owner had died and his second wife hated dogs and so put the poor scrap outside with no shelter and little food. The housekeeper reported it to JRWR and they just went in and took her - the wife only releasing her as she was assured there was somewhere for her to go. She said the dog was pining to death!! Pining my a**s!!! She never stopped eating from day one and is now a healthy 18 lbs and a real pickle. Almost blind, totally deaf and full of mischief!!

We wouldn't be without our old ladies and polly. :thumbsup:

 

[foxway]

a sentence i read on a site today has had me thinking all afternoon  - it said dogs dont get to decide where they live - mostly we pick them and they have no say in the matter.
and i thought about it, and i realised that yes, i chose Digit - he and his breeder decided that he would live with me.

but Digit and Bloggs chose each other ..... and that's why bloggs joined the family.

If he and Dij hadn't totally adored each other, i know i would not have picked Bloggs.....not because there's anything wrong with him  :wub: but in my head i was looking to get a small pedi bitch.....Bloggs is a largeish non-ped dog!

so i got to wondering how the rest of you aquired your dogs .... I'm sure most people do what i did with Digit; find a dog you like for whatever reason, and then buy/adopt it ..... has anyone else have a dog pick them? or homed a dog that their own dog has chosen?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

when i met my hubby he had a smooth fox terrier, who i begged him to breed. we let a breeder we know choose the stud dog he was a handsom doggy! we wanted a litte bitch but unfortunatley she died at birth i was heartbroken. i fell in love with all the four boys we had and kept asking if we could keep one i had chosen one in my heart and promised hubby that if i kept him i would show him walk him feed him ect, but he kept saying NO. He said if he didnt get sold we would keep him, luckily he was never sold and on valentines day last year i opened my card which had a message inside about keeping the puppy! i was thrilled and since then i have shown him up and down the country and he has qualified for crufts twice already. I have become obsessed with showing my fox and he is my best mate, i couldnt imagine being without him. I think it was fate that let me keep Fox and that it was meant to be. I now have two more puppies that i chose from my own litter a litte girl at last! and a new boy they are all sooo cute and i love me smooth fox terriers!

as for the ones we sell we usally let the owners decide which one they would like, unless they want a show dog and they we will prompt the to take the best one, but we always make sure the go to loving homes and if the dont fit in we willl always have them back. Only thing i do miss is going to a breeder and picking a puppy i have never done that but maybee one day when i manage to persuade my hubby to let me have a wire fox i would love to choose a pup from someone else but which would i pick the show quality or the one that runs up to me first? it must be hard choosing puppies! :thumbsup:

 

[Linda Curtis]

Hello this is my first post,but I really love the subject.

Nine years ago I had my 14 year old collie PTS'D, I work as a veterinary receptionist and we had a stray RTA in the hospital for the past 10 days.

My collegues new I was grieving and asked me to take home the stray to see what he was like in a home with children etc. He was scraggy a looking cream saluki x greyhound x something. That was the start of my love affair with sighthounds thanks to Ralph.

7 months later a relative who used to show lurchers told me he was taking his recently aquired whippet x greyhound to the next game fair to flog him as he was too nervous for showing and had too much white on his face.

I couldn't bere to think what might happen to this rechid animal so I said I would have him.

One year later he was still urinating on the spot if you looked at him the wrong way but six years down the line he was a fully paid up member of the family and no longer the lodger, and what a hunter. (no rabbit was safe)

Then this time last year he was diagnosed with cancer!!!

We kept him going untill August and he was still after the bunnies to the end.

We decided that life would be easier with just the one dog but you know what it's like. Walks aren't the same anymore, was Ralph in need of a companion, were we in need of another dog.

So then a client at the vets told me about K9 and after about 2 weeks we saw a post for a 13 month old whippet who needed a forever home.

Seb (as we call him) came home in October 2006. I won't say it's all been plain sailing because it certainly hasn't. there were times during the first few months when we thought we couldn't cope and Ralph was suffering because of him but we stuck with it and although we still have the occational issue he is now part of the family.

I stongly believe that you have to work at things and and what you put in you get back twice fold. We have only had Seb for 6 months but he has made such a difference to our lives and the really nice thing is he is a proper daddies boy which is so good for my other half.

He is actually sitting on my lap as I write this, which for a 22 inch 16 kg whippet is not exactly comfortable.

I will attempt to add some photo's so fingers crossed.

 

[Linda Curtis]

Well I managed to add the same post 3 times but not my pictures. I think it said they were too big or somrthing. can anyone give a stupid person advise on how to add piccies. I just down load them from the digital and then go to the saved file.

HELP!!!!!

 

[jue332]

Hello this is my first post,but I really love the subject.
Nine years ago I had my 14 year old collie PTS'D, I work as a veterinary receptionist and we had a stray RTA in the hospital for the past 10 days.

My collegues new I was grieving and asked me to take home the stray to see what he was like in a home with children etc. He was scraggy a  looking cream saluki x greyhound x  something. That was the start of my love affair with sighthounds thanks to Ralph.

7 months later a relative who used to show lurchers told me he was taking his recently aquired whippet x greyhound to the next game fair to flog him as he was too nervous for showing and had too much white on his face.

I couldn't bere to think what might happen to this rechid animal so I said I would have him.

One year later he was still urinating on the spot if you looked at him the wrong way but six years down the line he was a fully paid up member of the family and no longer the lodger, and what a hunter. (no rabbit was safe)

Then this time last year he was diagnosed with cancer!!!

We kept him going untill August and he was still after the bunnies to the end.

We decided that life would be easier with just the one dog but you know what it's like. Walks aren't the same anymore, was Ralph in need of a companion, were we in need of another dog.

So then a client at the vets told me about K9 and after about 2 weeks we saw a post for a 13 month old whippet who needed a forever home.

Seb (as we call him) came home in October 2006. I won't say it's all been plain sailing because it certainly hasn't. there were times during the first few months when we thought we couldn't cope and Ralph was suffering because of him but we stuck with it and although we still have the occational issue he is now part of the family.

I stongly believe that you have to work at things and and what you put in you get back twice fold. We have only had Seb for 6 months but he has made such a difference to our lives and the really nice thing is he is a proper daddies boy which is so good for my other half.

He is actually sitting on my lap as I write this, which for a 22 inch   16 kg whippet is not exactly comfortable.

I will attempt to add some photo's so fingers crossed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Well I managed to add the same post 3 times but not my pictures. I think it said they were too big or somrthing. can anyone give a stupid person advise on how to add piccies. I just down load them from the digital and then go to the saved file. HELP!!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Welcome to K9

What lovely stories about how you aquired your dogs look forward to seeing their pictures, this may help you . . . . . . . .

Right click on a pic

scroll down the option to open with and select PAINT

in paint click on image at the top of the screen

select stretch/skew from the options list

In here reduce your image to 25% on both options

click OK

you now have to save your reduced pic as a new image

click on file

select save as

give your new pic a name

save it :thumbsup:

Hope this helps

 

[sumo]

Really interesting stories,nice to hear about so many kind people.

My present dogs: Charlie is a rescue ex-puppy farm Cavalierxcocker. He had 4 homes before I took him in, and a lot of undiagnosed medical problems which are now under control. Now blind and deaf he is however happy around the house, eats well and never stops wagging his tail! At the age of about 12 he is better than ever!

Pearl is an adorable pug who was sold to a family as a very young puppy. They had a child who was very rough with her so the breeder took her back. I would have got rid of the child and kept the puppy actually....Only joking! :b She loves everyone and luckily is very confident so was obviously not traumatized by her bad start.

Digger is a scruffy Jack Russell who, as the runt of the litter, was unwanted as a 9 week old puppy. He is very sweet-natured and the pug`s best friend from day one. They have been together for 3 years now and are great company, both for me and eachother.