Do you agree that our past dogs choose our future dogs?

[acsc]

My first dog was a rather insecure male Jack Russell, he needed lots of love and attention. His name was A. Then we got a female jack Russell, she was all self confident and loves the family. Her name was H

My female jack Russell (H) passed away when she was about 12, she was very sick, but no vet was able to determine what was wrong with her and why she kept having seizures.

When she died my first jack Russell (A) was devastated and then we got news of an abandoned jack Russell, and we adopted her and named her B. She adored and loved my male jack Russell (A) and comforted him (A) everyday until he passed away at about 15 years old.

Shortly after my male jack Russell passed away I heard of another Jack Russell for adoption, so we adopted her. We named her J

Her mannerisms, and skills for catching insects were the same as my Male Jack Russell. I didn’t believe in this story until. B also got sick and passed away just recently also at age 12, and her mannerisms and behaviour was very much like H when she was alive.

We just adopted a Maltese (no jacks this time) and named her K. And some how she is sort of like B and H, a true joy, loving not fussy, not barkish kind of girl, so loving.

So I am kind of believing the myth that our past dogs choose our future dogs for us.

Anyone else have such similar experience to mine?

 

[guenhwyvarthecat]

@acsc I do not believe that. However, it's not surprising to see many of the same mannerisms because they are reacting to the common denominator -you. You also are falling to unconscious bias and cherry picking the things that are the same.

 

[ameedee87]

@acsc I don’t know but reading your post made me happy. I love to see people who keep their dogs til they pass of old age. Thank you

 

[tdselector]

@acsc No, that isn't how anything works. You're just choosing dogs that are well suited for you. When organisms die, they are dead. They can't "choose" things or do anything else after dying. That's what being dead means.

I'm glad that you've been happy with the dogs you've gotten and that they fit well into your life!

 

[acsc]

@tdselector Actually none of the dogs were chosen we were chosen by the dogs. We have always let the dogs decide if we are the one for them.

As the dogs are adopted, it’s normally people who told us - hey we have this dog, do you want it?

And we would say ok, and we go to the dog and ask (literally) this is us - we live (where)

And we talk to the dog - if the dog will have us - the dog will come to us. If not - then it’s not for us.

Our latest addition, we applied to 3 shelters who have strict guidelines on who can adopt dogs. We applied to all 3 who have former breeding females who are given up by breeders.

We applied and only one shelter immediately called me and said can you come tonight. I said ok.

We went there and she brought out this dog. And we asked her if she wants to come live with us. And she came over.

And the dog shelter ppl said - bring her home tonight…i as a bit in a shock cos it’s 9pm and we are 45 mins from our home (that’s far by our country’s standards)

We actually weren’t 100% prepared mentally but we brought her home and here in his photo is J (the jack) and K (the Maltese)

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[birdie1214]

@acsc It does seem like it.

 

[djung]

@acsc Not mine, but I do look for certain characteristics when it comes to bringing them home (e.g. not high energy, good temperment, etc.) so I imagine they're likely to share those. I also try to learn from the past, so that can guide future decisions as well.

For reference, I went from a super energetic, barky, highly biddable Border Collie to a dead silent, chill, stubborn Akita. Not too much in common there (other than being loving and lovely), ha.

 

[acsc]

@djung I don’t know why we feel it’s for the dog to choose us. If we are fated to be together they will want us.

The interesting story was when we went to buy H
My first 2 jacks were purchased from pet stores.

H’s story was, she was in a pile of puppies. All in this caged area. We picked H first. She was so excited, elated and she was wagging her tail and covering us in kisses. So we thought all in the litter was the same. The next puppy we picked up had a bored deadpan demeanour, so was the next and the next and we went back round to H, and she was so excited and wagging her tail and kissing us.

She wasn’t exactly pretty or standard breed markings but she was special. And despite being 2.5x the price we paid for our first Jack - A, we didn’t blink and we had to have her.

We never had to teach her what to do. She knew where to pee, like she came with her own instruction manual to our house

She was also the one to say “hey it’s late time for bed! And demand we climb in bed with her to sleep”