Dog lover spends 20 years searching for their perfect large and fluffy pupper, only to fall in love with the short legged, non-fluffy runt of a terrier mix litter but: ‘I went in to meet him, and haven't left him since.’

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Dec 27, 2025 3:00 PM EST

We might have just passed the Christmas period, but that does not mean that we are done bringing you holiday season worthy stories to warm your heart and melt your soul. For today we have the tale of a young woman who wanted nothing more than the love of a doggo for the majority of her life. Year after year she suffered through her parents' contentious combat over what is the right way to care for a dog. With dad strongly believing that dogs live outdoors and work for a living, while mom was adamant that doggos are like children and deserve to be cuddled in bed.

But with all the turmoil our protagonist was undeterred and stayed true to her dream until she was old enough to move out for college and get a place of her own where should could make up her own rules. And that she did, though in a surprising twist and turn of events the doggo she had spent the majority of her life dreaming about, a large and fluffy doggo she could give a full body hug to, turned out to not be the doggo for her. For after months of searching, she came upon a desperate little puppy who was neither large, nor was he fluffy. But he was just right for her soul. And the rest, as they say, is history.

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    "I had settled on a medium to large size, and I wanted something fluffy."
    via Rouladen
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    I had wanted a dog for the last 20 years. To give you perspective I turn 21 in a couple months. My parents had given me excuses, telling me dads allergic
    via Rouladen
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    when really he had zero problems with most dogs. What it came down to was that they never could agree on how to raise them. Dad grew up in the
    via Rouladen
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    country and had hunting dogs. They worked and lived outside or in the barn, only allowed into the house when it was really nasty.
    via Rouladen
  • 05
    Moms family had a series of English sheep dogs with stories upon stories of them sleeping at her feet and coming on vacations with them. The
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  • 06
    consensus was that any training my dad did would be undone by my mom making the dog part of the family. Well as |
    via Rouladen

  • By the sounds of it the consensus was more about painfully opposing ideas of how a doggo should be raised and included in family life. And so much so that it would likely cause a cataclysmic rift between the parents. Rather ironic that they would so dramatically differ in their opinions when it comes to canine care and not when it comes to child care. Then again the idea of working children is rather antiquated (though we would argue the same is true for working doggos). 

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    Cheezburger Image 10590891008
    via Rouladen
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    was entering into my junior year of uni I was able to move into a place that actually allowed pets. I'm pretty well off in that my parents have been able to pay
    via Rouladen
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    for most of college so I can go full time without needing a job. What that means is every piece of savings I have is entirely mine. Well a
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  • 10
    couple weeks ago SF and LA had a 'clear the shelter' event. For months prior (since I knew I was going to move into the dog friendly place) I had been refreshing the
    via Rouladen
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    pages on 4 different shelters websites maybe 15 times a day, looking for the perfect pup. On the day of the free pet event | was stuck in a writing
    via Rouladen
  • 12
    placement test for school. By the time I got out all the websites were showing dogs that didn't fit my criteria. I wanted something sorta young (to me
    via Rouladen

  • You know, we think that it might actually be really fair to say that finding a doggo to adopt is one of the only things in this world that is much better done in real life rather than online. There is something about the connection you get to literally feel when you lay eyes upon a dog, that you simply cannot recreate online. Sure, you might have an idea of what kind of pupper you want to bring home. But just because they fit the description on a web page, it does not mean that you will find that same connection with them when you meet face to face.

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    that was 18 months to 5years), I had settled on a medium to large size, and I wanted something fluffy. I was upset and my boyfriend
    via Rouladen
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    was being particularly useless at the time so I resolved to wait until December 2016 when I knew they'd have a similar event. The next
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    morning I wait up to a notification on my phone from my boyfriends roommates girlfriend, the shelter now had a bunch of puppies!! I was
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    43
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    curious and took a peak at their website. Ooo cocker spaniel mixes. That was about the smallest I was willing to go and I knew I liked the breed. Well I
    via Rouladen
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    dragged boyfriend out of bed, bought him a McDonald's breakfast and raced down to the shelter. I found my favorite adoption
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    counselor, because I had been by so frequently, and had her point me to the liter. By the time I got there all but one was spoken for, I told her to put
    via Rouladen
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    me on the list before I even got to the room. When I peaked through the window I was pointed to the runt, a short legged, slightly chubby, non
    via Rouladen
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    fluffy, terrier mix who showed no cocker spaniel what so ever. And I was in love. I went in to meet him, and haven't left him since. Not really
    via Rouladen
  • 22
    a cool story but it's how I got my pup when it wasn't what I thought I wanted.
    via Rouladen

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searching fluffy dogs pupper runt reddit story years perfect love dog story legs dog lovers large dog terrier fall short
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