I will give my wife and children accolades; against my better judgement, they adopted a shelter dog. She's 4 year old, uhhh, I think it was "Westie" that they have called Pippin. I have real problems with dog smell in the house; don't judge! But she has won me over, even though she was so badly mistreated that she is literally terrified of everyone she meets. She was apparently kept outside in a dog lot with 5 or 6 other dogs; the owner would throw them out a scoop of food every day or two, and they would fight over it; being the smallest of the bunch, she didn't eat much. She was so filthy and matted when she was seized by the animal control folks that they had to shave her; cleaning her otherwise was out of the question.
I will try to get a picture to post, and tell other endearing stories about her as time passes. Unless she bites me. Then you'll get only angry embittered stories much like the ones I occasionally tell on the show.