I always wanted to follow this thread, living with a dog as I did, yet our 15-year-old family dog was on his last legs when I joined the CHE fora officially many years ago, and it was just too painful to start at that point. My spouse has since taken in a stray that the vet judged to be about three. That was six years ago, thus she is around 9 now (the dog, not my spouse). She is a sweet, well-behaved, and really smart mixed breed (really just a mutt, yet more Chihuahua than anything). She is in good health, but getting up there in years. Someone trained her well, then apparently abandoned her in a park near where my spouse works--no collar or tags or microchip. Several co-workers kept an eye on her for several days as she wandered the area, hoping an owner would appear. After a week or so, she and my spouse bonded, so we took her in and put up signs, ads in the paper and online services, etc. No one claimed her. She definitely is woven into the fabric of our lives now.