You know, if I'd known then what I know now, I might have tried declining Keira. Might have. Not that it would have been my choice. But my reason being is simply because she ended up becoming 98% my responsibility as she's a terrible match for my mom, for whom she was intended. Or at least she was intended as more of a family dog. But she nearly feels like mine, because literally she is awful to live with if my mom is the one to be responsible for her. So in some ways it's kind of frustrating. For one thing, my mom doesn't have a dog that she can do whatever with, and for another, while Keira is an easy dog for me in most ways because I know how to manage and live with her, she's not really my type of dog, so I never would have chosen her for myself.
With that said though, I adore the dog Keira grew up to be most days. While she may be frustrating when other people are home, when it's just me and the four dogs or just me and Keira, she's wonderful. And she's taught me a lot about how to deal with a certain type of temperament and made me a better dog owner in that way, and she's taught my mom not to just say yes to a dog because it's pretty haha. The smart thing for my mom would have been for the family not to take Keira, though. But now that she's here, I can't imagine her with anyone else. She's stuck with us and we're stuck with her for the rest of her life. And I say that with a lot of love haha. Truly she's a wonderful dog, but her energy is just too frantic and pushy and anxious for the person she was intended for.
As for my other dogs, I definitely would have still taken any of them. Ripley didn't quite grow into the dog I was hoping he would be, but he's the sweetest dog in the world and is a lot of fun. Rarely do you ever get just the dog you hoped for. And Dance, for as much of a weirdo as she is and how I wish she wasn't and that she could just be a 'normal' dog, I can't picture life without her. She's so important to me. She's hilarious, brings so much joy to us all, thinks the world of me in her own little way, etc. Quirks and all, we all love her immensely. Lately I've been thinking that, regardless of quirks, no Toller could ever possibly even come close to living up to Dance. She's my world. And if I'd gotten a 'normal' Toller instead of Dance, regardless of the awfulness of missing out on a dog like Dance, I wouldn't have Journey right now either, and that would be horrible. And Journey, no way I would ever dream of saying no to her. She's just a puppy, but so far she honestly is the dog of my dreams, no matter how cheesy that sounds. It's true. If I made a checklist of all the things that would've made my future dog perfect, Journey would hit all the marks and then some. I feel very lucky to have her and feel like she's going to be one of those 'once in a lifetime' dogs. She already is. It would have been the stupidest decision of my life to decline her. And I'll be forever grateful that I hit the 'send' button the day I had a whim to e-mail her breeder.
When it comes right down to it, all of my dogs, be they necessarily ideal for us or not, have all been influential in shaping the dog owner I am today. They each bring something new to the table, and they each have taught me something be it about patience, training, how to live with a certain personality without getting frustrated about it, etc. Even Keira's 'maybe' is a very slim maybe, because she's helped make me a better dog owner. And if we hadn't taken her, there also would have been a lot of good that we'd have missed out on.