Do your Estrelas get confused with leonbergers?

Me bad.

We just went along to the (terrible) kennels/pound and walked home with Zeke 30 minutes later, we'd never even met an Akita before, barely heard of them

We chose the breed of our 2nd dog because our first Akita was so amazing

Of the fifteen dogs I've owned over the years only two were my breed of choice .... a Golden Retreiver and a Pyrennean Mountain Dog .... the rest sort of happened!

It seems to be the story of my life because three years ago when I decided I was going to have a Maltese and a Boxer I ended up with a Shar-Pei and a Tibetan Spaniel ????

Ah well!

Came across him "Urgent home needed" on Gumtree - No photo - I'd been window shopping a while .

Family had JRTs when I was a kid, he was used to living in a flat, I sent an email listing the reasons I was a less than perfect home - which knocked the window shopping on the head, got a "Good yes sounds ideal", went to see him with the boss in tow.

He wasn't exactly a JRT but it looked like he'd fit in OK so I brought him home with me. And he has.

Could have ended up with a Staffie/ whippet cross/ Random terrier type - but nothing too big.

Absolutely no regrets.

Initially I wanted a Rottie. I used to know someone who kept them and I love them, but couldn't find one in rescue that the rescue(s) were happy about going to a first time owner of the breed.

Considered getting a puppy, but really wanted to rescue (by the way, this is not intended as criticism of those who get puppies, it's a personal choice), so started looking at Staffies because there are so many of them in need of homes, but initially Jon wasn't keen. By the time I finally convinced him how nice Staffies really are, we already had Guinness.

Moved on from looking at Staffies to seriously considering a pair in rescue, one was a seven year old BC and the other was a fourteen year old BC x Springer. Sadly, the oldie was the sticking point with Jon, he felt fourteen was a bit too old and said he didn't want to fall in love with a dog and then have her die. The rescue would have split them, but I would have felt terrible for the oldie if we'd taken her companion and not her.

Whilst on the website of the rescue with the pair, I'd followed a link about Greyhounds out of idle curiosity. Many links and a massive amount of reading about the fate of numerous Greyhounds after racing later, I decided I wanted to do my bit. I did a pile of breed research and then had a chat with Jon... and now we have Guinness.

Love him to bits; my only small grumble is that he's too lazy! We want another dog, and I'm torn between another Greyhound (because Guinness would probably be happier with that) or a more active dog that will want to do stuff with me without having to be crowbarred out of bed.

I wanted a dog that was big, good with other dogs, people and children. I also definitely wanted a dog that had a personality and a sense of mischief.

Then my brother met his now fiancee and she had the gorgeous Lucky, a yellow Lab then aged 9. I fell for him the first second I met him and happily was then able to look after him regularly while my brother and his girlfriend were both working full time.

When the time was right, months later, for me to start looking for my own dog, I knew I wanted a rescue, and preferably a Lab or Lab X. It took eight months but then through a quirk of fate, I met Dexter, a 14 month yellow Lab who had just been dumped.

For me Labs are perfect; funny, intelligent, mischevious, big muscular dogs, and they tend to make people smile, I find

My first dog was a German Shepherd because they are the best dogs.
I got a Shorthaired Pointer because (a) I didn`t know what he was and (b) he really really needed out.
I got the |Dobie X because he was on Death Row.

Having always been a Dane person my son said 'can I have a dog that can sleep on my bed and there is room for me' and as the breeder of my danes also bred Labs, Buffy came into our lives. Am sure if she bred something smaller than Danes whatever it was I would have got one! The cockers, well thats another story.

When I was a child my uncle rescued a GSD and after first meeting her i fell in love. I begged my mum for one for years and she said I could have one when I moved out and had my own house, so thats what I did. My hubby wanted a boxer but I persuaded him to get a GSD and he too fell in love with the breed. When our first little man passed away we talked about maybe getting a boxer, dobie or rotty but ended up getting another GSD and couldnt be happier with him.

Grew up when poodles were popular but was never allowed one . Finally got one when my children were grown up .
Have had whippets for over 20 years always thought they were gorgeous and finally got one . But one was not enough