This is the first time I have replied to a post in quite awhile. We lost our three doxies just a few months apart. They were all quite old 15, 17 1/2, and 15 1/2, and we had them since they were babies. Sassy, my avatar, had to be put to sleep on January 6. I will never forget walking in the house from our vets office and the empty, lonely feeling; it really didn't feel like our house at all. We got her ashes back from the crematory on January 9 which released another flood of tears from both of us. We had decided not to get another pet for awhile since we get so attached and it hurts so much to lose them. The next day I came home from running errands and Larry, my DH met me at the gate with a little black dog on a leash! He had been in our front yard talking to a neighbor when the little dog ran up to him and literally jumped into his arms! She had no collar, no ID at all. We inquired around the neighborhood and no one claimed her. We put out info on our homeowner's association website, and it turns out some people had found her running loose and tried to keep her, but she kept getting out. By this time, we had kept her for a couple of days and were getting attached, but we continued to try to find her owner, took her to our vet and the animal shelter both to have her scanned for a chip. Long story long, we still have her and love her. Even though we didn't want another pet, she has brought love and laughter back into our home as only a furbaby can. She is a darling black mini Schnauzer about 2 years old and so well behaved we can't believe someone was not moving heaven and earth to find her. We named her Alexis, Lexi for short. After all this rambling on (thank you all for letting me share my grief) I will tell you a couple of things she does that just crack us up. When she gets up from a nap, she has a very elaborate stretching routine where she stretches her back legs out, then her front legs. Then she cross stretches--front left leg and back right, then front right and back left. She does this a few times until she gets all limbered up then goes on about her business. The other cute thing she does is washes her face like a cat by licking her paw and rubbing it over her face and whiskers. I have not ever seen a dog do this before! Sorry to be long-winded, but thanks for listening. Oh by the way, she wears a tag with our information, and we had her chipped and given all her shots so if somehow she does get out, hopefully someone will bring her home.