A Special Blog from Julia Rose, my daughter and guest blogger:

Once your family decides to get a dog, the quest begins for the right one. There are hundreds of breeds for all different types of needs and wants. Small, big, hairy, hypoallergenic, smart, lazy... the list goes on. And yet I've begun to realize that while it is a good idea to narrow down the list by assessing your needs, the dog you get will probably become the right one, even if it may not fit perfectly in your list.

I have proudly talked a few families into getting a dog. Years ago I had a friend who knew nothing about dogs, but adored mine and wanted that companionship when they went home. (this is not unusual.) So I began to crack down on his parents - giving them the pros of having a dog, sharing funny dog stories. They began to discuss it and decided a lab would best fit their family. Two weeks later I was invited along to look at a litter of puppies that their friend had just gotten and were trying to sell. Two hours after that we were all happily driving home with a little tiny ball of Bernese Mountain dog fluff. If you’re not familiar with the breed, they are best known as the dogs that run along snow-covered mountains with a small barrel attached to their collar bringing assistance to injured climbers. They are big, not lab big!  Monster big! They are messy, with huge jowls producing buckets of slimy drool every minute of the day. They eat like bears. (On the way home we stopped at the butcher and this small 6-week-old puppy consumed an entire steak in less time than it takes me to consume a pudding cup.) And even though on paper this dog was the farthest thing from the easy-to-care-for popular Labrador, It became right for them. This dog, named Hamilton, quickly took over their lives. He sleeps in their beds, drools on their walls, eats more than their entire family -- but they love all 220 pounds of him. They can’t imagine their lives with any other dog.

I can speak from my own personal experience when I say that the right dog will find you. Our very first dog, Boomer, climbed into our car when we were at the breeder “just to look.” She came home with us that night and offered us 11 years of pure joy. Bandit, the first dog I was allowed to get as “my own” came from the pound. Amidst the loud, jumping, barking dogs was a sad scroungy mutt in the back corner of the last cage. I didn’t even see him, until my mom pointed him out. He came home a week later, and although I had to deal with the pain of losing him unexpectedly only three short years later I couldn't have asked for a better dog.

          But the most telling story of all comes with Beast, our 23 lb. mutt who is snoring at my feet as I write this. After the loss of Bandit I decided I was going to convince my parents to let me get a big dog. And I mean BIG. It was my dream for years to have an enormous dog, much like Hamilton. Our house is not exactly suited for such a dog, but after lots of begging they cracked. I found the perfect dog online right around Christmas time. A Newfoundland Pyrenees mix that looked quite a bit like Bandit. She lived in Alabama and would arrive right in time for Christmas. When we picked her up at the airport she arrived in an XL carrier, yet she was tucked in the corner weighing in at just under 20 lb. and was the smelliest, most terrified little thing I had ever seen or smelled. She was a total sweetheart but we all began to get curious as to why her paws were so tiny, and her body so dainty. One visit to the vet and it became apparent that we had fallen for a scam. Our Newfie mix, who should be about 150 lb. full grown, was in fact full grown and not a puppy at all. I was distraught. But couldn't deny how cute she was; and here she is licking my toes awakening from her afternoon nap. Beast is possibly one of the cutest dogs I have ever laid my eyes on. Her size is just perfect, bigger than our corgi but smaller than our Aussie. She is still dainty, and her paws are still teeny tiny, but she's just  the right dog for us nonetheless.

So while collecting *breed books and doing your research is always a good idea, don't get too caught up in finding the absolutely perfect dog, because sometimes that dog will find you.

* recommendation: The Illustrated Guide to Dog Breeds: An expert guide to 180 top pedigree dogs from all over the world, with over 400 color photos