Oh, this is one of my VERY favorite topics.....
One of my very favorite dogs, was little Sugar, a Hurricane Katrina rescue. My little JRT had just died, and our lab needed a new friend. I found her picture at Petfinders...its funny, I saw her, and KNEW I wanted HER. I emailed then called the lady...she had been in a vet clinic for almost a year, w/ a bunch of other dogs. They thought she was a JRT/Pug mix, and she was so goofy looking.
We drove two hours to Barrington , Ill, to see her....they werent supposed to let me take her home til they did a home visit, but they knew I loved her, and let me.
It really was great, she was trained well...did have a few accidents in the house, til I KNEW her. She would go to the door and stare at it, never bark. I always figured she must have been taught not to bark. Perhaps she lived in an apartment.
I took her everywhere, people got a kick out of her, she was so ugly she was cute....huge eyes, overbite, chubby....
She lived with me two and a half years, til she started to get real sick...vet sent her to a specialist in Madison, they did tons of tests, couldnt really find anything, so they put her on steroids. helped for a while, but then she became diabetic, and got pancritis, and her liver gave out. Man, did I cry....she really was the greatest little dog. Vet figured she was elderly when I got her...no one really knew.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE rescue if you can! There are so many diamonds in therough out there. So many new pet searches too....you can say what size, type, age,almost anything.I must have called the rescue a hundred times to askquestions...but SO worth it! You do have to do your reseach to make sure the new pet will fit your family, but I know in my case, it went really smooth!!!!!!!!
Good luck with your search, if I can help in any way, holler at me!!!!!!!