Puppy's Life
Picking Your Pup
Fun tales about people meeting their puppies
As a new puppy owner, it’s your most treasured memory—the moment that your soon-to-be furry friend sniffed you out, claiming you as his owner. Whether your pup jumped over the puppy gate to see you, fell asleep while cuddling in your lap, or gleefully licked your nose, there are dozens of different ways a pup can pick you as his or her new best buddy.
Lori Lustig, owner of Kilo, a mixed breed of Saint Bernard, German Shepherd, Siberian Husky, and Akita, believes that she and Kilo were meant to be best friends from day one. One day, the Walnut Creek, California, resident woke up at 8:30 a.m. with a strong desire to go to Trader Joe’s, a local grocery store. She decided to try it out that day. When Lustig arrived at the store, she saw a 12-year-old girl with several litters of pups. “I picked up one puppy at a time, looking for a sign,” she said. She narrowed her selection down to three, and then picked them up again. “Kilo, right in the middle, just started licking my face like there was no tomorrow, and that’s how I knew he was the one,” she says. “We found each other.” Kilo now works with her as a therapy dog. “We’re a team,” she says.
When Erin and Zach Hoover of Savannah, Georgia, started their puppy search, they knew they wanted a Labrador Retriever. After contacting several adoption agencies, they learned of a foster mother who was housing a litter of pups, and decided to make a visit. “I told Zach that we’d know which pup was ours, because he or she would pick us, not the other way around,” Erin says. “So we were set that the pup for us would be the one that came straight to us.” Upon entering the foster mother’s home, one pup walked straight to Erin’s feet and flipped over, belly side up, waiting for his tummy to be rubbed. “We played with him a bit and learned more about his goofy character,” she says. “We took him for a walk and had fun. He’s the one that chose us in the end.” Jack has developed a special bond with Erin—Zach was deployed to Iraq shortly after the pup arrived—and Erin and Jack are “inseparable.” “Nothing beats walking into our house at the end of a long day and seeing his bright Lab smile,” Erin says. “He’s a much bigger gift to me than I could ever be to him. We’re best buddies.”
As the owner of a pet store in Seattle, Washington, Norm Blacksher knew when opening up shop that he’d be accommodating dozens of pups in need of a good home. He promised himself that he wouldn’t take one home. But when a Coton de Tulear with a big personality arrived, he knew he couldn’t live without him. “He had a smile on his face and a tail that wouldn’t stop wagging,” says Blacksher, who now owns the pup he named Alfy. “He just had that look. I would pick him up and he would fall asleep in my arms in a minute, literally.” Best buds Alfy and Blacksher now run the store and do everything together. “He always looks like he’s smiling. We became tight friends in seconds.”
As most new pup owners say, you’ll instantly know when you spot your new best friend—there’s an immediate connection that the two of you will share. Whether you stumble upon your pup or search him out, it’s true—your pup ultimately chooses you.
