When did your dog become "your" dog

Im starting to really, really enjoy Mitsu. I have to admit I was very hesitant to actually keep. Her temperment is not something I usually enjoy in a dog, but im finding out she is such a nice balance. And I do really enjoy her. Its nice to have a cuddly, sweet, non snarky dog. I think Mitsu and Teagan balance each other out.

So now I do consider her a part of my family.

So when did you realise that your dog was a part of your family??

This moment:

IMG_3400 by Traveling Koolie, on Flickr

Seriously though, I felt a lot of the "He's mine" when I first say his little guinea pig picture. But when I got him home and was sitting outside with him everything just clicked and I knew he was my boy.

The minute I brought her home from the shelter. It was pouring rain on the way home (the edge of a hurricane!), but we still cracked the windows and let her poke her nose out to enjoy the sniffs. She was sopping wet by the time we made it from the car to our apartment (so were we!), so we had to towel her off as best as we could before she ran through the apartment.



To this day, she LOVES rolling around on damp towels.

Then she ran circles around our tiny apartment, jumping on beds, over sofas, and eventually sitting still long enough to be held for a picture.



My heart was melted, my doggy was happy. She's just radiated pure joy and love of life since the day we brought her home.

I didn't bond with Eve the day I met her, like some people do with their puppies.

I really knew she was mine when she was about 5-6 months old and I began to notice that she was always watching me out of the corner of her eye, and always watching out for me.

never lol. they are hubby's dogs. I get left out in the cold LOL

Classic was totally my dog when we first got him. The car ride home cemented it in.

Zuma took a while, she really didn't bond with me right away. I took her every where with me and did a lot of training with her and now she won't leave my side. It took about 2-3 months before I was her fav.

Neither of my dogs were right away. Meg took maybe 2 or 3 weeks. I resisted a lot, despite how wonderful she was, because I didn't think she was the dog I wanted. As far as I was concerned, she was just a foster. But she is more 'mine' than any other dog could be. She is always in the room with me, she won't leave the property if I'm here, and even if I'm not home, nobody but my mother can take her for a walk - she refuses to go. Including my father, who she loves and has lived with since I got her.

Gusto - it is really just starting to happen. I mean, I fell madly in love with him from his first picture, and I've loved him all along. But really, in the past week or two - he's changed, and only in good ways. I've been attached to him all along, but suddenly I'm smiling even bigger when I look at him, and hugging him a bit more.

With Auggie, the very day I picked him up. There's a picture but my webhost is down so I can't link it. But he was mine from the moment we loaded into the car together to go home. He just... was.

With Pepper, I loved her since she was a puppy. Loving her was never the question. Loving her was always the problem LOL. It was the day I took her to the agility trial with me... actually, it's been almost a year, because it was the Sunday after my half-marathon last year and that's coming up at the end of the month here. I had her out to walk her around and let her potty. I was sitting on a wooden post fence and she had her paws up on my knees, and I was petting her face. And Auggie's breeder walked past us and said, "She looks really happy."
That was The Moment. In my head I thought "Well, ($*@." hahahaha. Because I still hadn't made up my mind if she was really staying or not, I was still going back and forth on if I was the best house for her or not. And when she said that, that just kind of sealed the deal.

With Payton, I was kind of in shock over being so impulsive for a few days LOL. I LOVED him, he was so cute, but it was bizarre to me hahaha. I jokingly say that I knew he was a member of my family on the Friday night after I got him when he bit my arm and left a bruise XD I don't think there was really a "moment" with him like with Auggie or Pepper. If anything it happened in reverse of Pepper, I knew he was going to be mine and come home with me, and then I fell in love with him afterward. But I didn't really have any time to get to know him beforehand like I had with both Auggie and Pepper. I had seen photos but they weren't full of personality like even Auggie's early photos are hahaha. We drove up to see him, I saw his temperament for myself, and I signed the check and he came home with me... and before that I had actually been keeping myself from getting attached, so... yeah.

Jackson was definitely the moment I brought him home. I wouldn't say it was the minute I picked him up - as I picked him (between him and his brother) and then AFTER I picked him out, the "breeder" proceeds to tell me that "that one gets car sick" so we got in the car and he was terrified, didn't seem to want to be comforted by me, and threw up twice. I had a sheer moment where I thought of "OMG what did I DO?!"

But honestly, the MINUTE I brought him home... he was mine and ALL mine! Once he was in the house, he made himself right at home, and he was completely MY little boy. <33

This was his first day home.

With Buster, we knew he was ours when we picked him out from the litter. I mean who could resist this face?!


Rudy isn't really "my" dog, actually. He has more of a bond with my parents and we have never clicked. I really do love him though!

Dixie - when I first saw her when the animal control officer brought her in one night that I was working. And, this... I lost her wooing pics I took at the shelter.

On the car ride home from getting him he snuggled into me, but his first night with us he slept with me on the couch and just before he fell asleep he looked up at me and it just clicked. He was my dog.

Probably a couple months in.

Juno was supposed to be the family dog. After I started working with her, it started becoming evident that she was clearly mine. It wasn't even really a mutual thing LOL she hooked on to me way before I connected with her.

Pip, when I saw his Petfinder picture. I can't find it, but it was very similar to this picture (which was taken his first few days home):


Sure, I went through the formality of meeting him, but I was lost already.

Squash, when I saw this picture:


I filled out a puppy application it turns out his first momma thought that he was a good fit for me out of his litter, but again... I was just lost at the sight of him.

Maisy... took awhile. I wasn't honest with myself about it at the time, but in retrospect I really wanted her to be just like her predecessor, Roxy. I wanted Roxy II. And she is nothing whatsoever like Roxy was. So it took awhile for us to bond. It was probably close to 6-8 months after she came home that she and I really finally figured each other out and truly clicked, now I can't imagine why I didn't want her to be herself all along.

Well, I was pretty in love with Abby when I first bought her home... BUT

I wouldn't say I had fully bonded with her until she was around 18 or 20 months.

The puppy time was fun, but as I discovered her temperament issues my dreams and expectations were shattered. And I felt really wretched and completely incompetent as an owner. It was all very upsetting at the time.

And she has always had this independence and a slight toughness about her that I wasn't sure how to handle at first.

But working with her and building up that working relationship which I didn't really have to begin with was what made us. I loved that puppy, but I freakin' adore my adult dog, warts and all. It's a very strong bond.

With Chloe, the day I met her, before she was even mine. I just instantly bonded with her. She slept with my sister and I on an air mattress that night and it just felt right. She was meant to be ours. Once my dad said we could have her, we had to leave her in Alabama because she was supposed to be spayed (the shelter was being uncooperative however so we ended up not having it done which I regret) and when we left she looked at me as we were walking out the door and I broke down in tears. I didn't want to leave her there, and it sucked being away from her. But we've been together since.

As for Violet, she isn't mine, but I do have a strong connection with her. I think the moment that really bonded me with her was when she was 4 or 5 months and she brought a toy to me and nudged my hand to take it. Holly did the exact same thing, and it just made me want to cry... And I realized just how much she meant to me, because despite all the naughty things about her, she has so many great things about her too, and she's a true piece of Holly. And surprisingly I really love her for her individuality and not just the things that remind me of Holly.

With Luce, it was the moment she dove wiggling and snorting into my lap at the shelter. She had me hook, line, and sinker. And despite the number of times I've tried to pay people to TAKE HER over the course of her life, she is my heart and soul.

It took a long time with Steve. He's always been a really neat and interesting dog and one that I've enjoyed training, but it's only been within the last year, probably, that I've truly felt a connection to him.

And Mushroom, poor Mushroom. His heart belongs to my mother.

With Dekka it happened over a while, which makes sense as she was born here It was when I realized this little puppy found ME the most exciting thing, more exciting than the other puppies, than exploring, than new dogs etc



Kat was very quickly MY dog.

The rest aren't so much. Dash is getting there. Seren might get there, she REALLY wants to be MY dog so much. Its not right but I still have issues with her not being Kat, though she really is a fantastic little dog.

Gavroche was the first time I went into the kennel and hugged him in his cage and told him "I get to take you home!"

Logan was after the first night I slept with him at the breeder's place. I woke up to a collie nose in my face and then just snuggled him for a while. I do think it took a couple weeks for me to become HIS person, though.

It takes me a little while.

I loved Bailey from the start (and never regretted adopting him at all, even though it was basically spur of the moment), but it was maybe about six months before we were really bonded. He was a crazy puppy! Plus he had some health issues, and I was totally new to puppies and felt overwhelmed. I love him with my whole heart now and I don't know what I would do without him.

Gracie has only been with me for a week and a half. She's fantastic and I like her a lot (most of the time, lol), but she's soo different from B (which I wanted, but which is still weird), she's not an easy puppy, and the whole household is still in transition. So we'll get there but we're honestly not there yet. We're doing a ton of training, though, which I know will help our bond (among other things!). I also have a lot of help so I don't feel quite so overwhelmed.

About 4ish days after I brought Mia home. We were playing chase in the yard and she looked up at me and grinned like mad and that was that. It was a definite feeling of 'this is MY dog!' And neither of us have ever looked back. She loved me from the get go and I loved her, but there was a very tangible connection that day. I have a picture taken of her at that moment, I just don't feel like digging it up.

Summer and Mia were both 'mine' the moment we got them home in that they just latched on to me and chose me to follow around from the get go. Summer was my girl completely once she got into the swing of things at college. But I really didn't get how close we were until I had to spend so much time away from her when my mom got sick and we left her at her breeder's/old home. Afterwards she never took her eyes off of me.

I still don't feel like Beau is mine. I still see him as my mom's dog and I think I might always see him that way. Beau and I have always enjoyed each other but in the annoying brother/sister way. He and I like to mess with each other but I don't have that same kind of always following, always watching me like I do with Mia and Summer. He is getting happier and happier when he sees me though. Maybe it will happen, I'm not sure.