Q: How did you pick your special pet?

Was it the eyes, the personality....

For all of you who answered my previous question by giving me advice, I want to tell you I am not looking for another pet right now.

I was just wondering how YOU picked YOUR special pet.

I'm a volunteer at the Dubuque Regional Humane Society where I adopted my last pet, a mixed breed dog named Ginger. I'd been looking for a while for my next dog. Ginger was a stray puppy in the dead of a midwestern winter with freezing cold termperatures. As I walked down the aisle of kennels, just looking, she caught my eye. I backed up and turned around and there was her happy little face, peering at me through the kennel. She was quiet and she just looked at me. I didn't feel any special pull toward her like I have a number of the dogs I have worked with at the shelter, but I hadn't had any interaction with her either at that point. I took pity on her and thought a collie mix might make a good demo demo and therapy dog. She was just three months old, so I was right on the cusp of the criticalocialization period, but she was still young enough to socialize and train correctly. I put a hold on her for 24 hours to think about it and make sure I truly wanted this particular dog, and came back and adopted her the next day.

Her name was Sadie. I changed it to Ginger since she has red and white coloration. She's a little spicey too! Ginger and I are growing slowly in our bond. Perhaps it is the lingering grief over the loss of my last dog. Perhaps it is a little of Ginger's personality. She's not a real affectionate dog - but she is playful and always happy to see me. So that's how I picked Ginger.

When I'm ready for another dog, I have certain breed chracteristics I'll be looking for. Ginger really could use a companion other than my cat -- who is also adopted from a shelter in Wisconsin, but currently I rent and am at my max for now.

My previous pets have been shelter adoptees as well, all of them, but that's not to say I wouldn't purchase a dog from a reputable breeder if that breeder had the dog I wanted.