Yeah, to be honest I'm not sure I should have gotten a new dog. I'm certainly not going to give her back to the shelter and it has only been a couple of months so maybe things will change over time, but we don't have a bond the way I had with my old dog from day one. Some of that is because she has a different personality, and some might be because I'm just not as open to bonding.

My rescue dog truly loves everyone. He's super friendly and extremely social. If he had his way we'd spend all day walking the streets finding humans and dogs to meet (on a typical day he only gets 1-2 hours of this). He has friends across our neighborhood he visits. Seriously, there are a dozen or two people I don't know at all but he leads me to anytime he smells them nearby because they are his friends--they pet him, play with him, and give him birthday and holiday presents. But I am also without question his favorite person. He will walk away from a crowd of adoring fans with treats if I'm leaving his sight. He is a smart people pleaser but checks with me before obeying commands from others, even my husband. He would probably follow me into a volcano. He's such a great dog our friends argue about who gets to dog sit him when we go on vacation, but they also always tell me he seemed a little sadder without me around.

Yup. I rescued my dog. Literally saved his life. I always felt he loved me, right up until he met my wife. Lol. He immediately became her dog. But the same happened in reverse with me and her cat. We essentially swapped. Both of these animals passed this year. It was really hard for us.

I always hope my dogs go before I do. I’ll take the feeling of loss so they don’t have to.

My little guy was generally a happy, friendly dog who didn't appear to have any trauma (beyond whatever issues ending up in an animal shelter itself causes) although I was told that he had been adopted before and then returned to the shelter because he was rather high-maintenance. By "high-maintenance" I mean that he expected to share my food, sleep in my bed, sit on my lap (he wasn't a small dog), and spend most of the day next to me, not that he had to be nursed back to health. But still whenever he saw something unfamiliar or scary, he would look at me and if I was calm he would be calm too. I could even go watch fireworks with him. It was always clear to me that I was special to him, even from funny stuff like how when we visited my grandparents, he would go sleep next to my grandfather because my grandfather went to bed early, but then when he would hear me going to bed he would abandon my grandfather and run to me.

“I wonder if they have better food”