I know that NERR's 1000th dog, aptly named NOVA was adopted by a fabulous family whose rottie passed away some time earlier - his name...
NOVA!
I think the adoption contract was also signed on the date that the 1st Nova crossed the bridge...
As for me - I truly believe that my Ben chose me. Hubby saw an ad in a local paper advertising an NERR event at a local PetCo. He went to the website, checked out a fe dogs, checked to see who would be there, and we all decided to head down and check it all out.
There were NINE dogs there (it's tough to get ONE at an event in CT these days...:(), and Ben was among that nine...skinny, silly, and adorable -all wrapped up into a 75 pound body. I spent time with four of the dogs there that I was interested in possibly adopting, but Ben seemed to be 'the one'.
After each dog, I went back to Ben...called him Mr Puppy for some reason (come to find out later his former name was Mr Big!).
Anyways - I filled out the adoption application, went thru the process, and a week later he came home with me. I was told that the folks at that event saw 'something' in how Ben and I interacted...something good....
The rest is history :). He's been with us for 2 1/2 yrs and I can't even recall what it was like to NOT have a dog...I vaguely recall haveing ALOT more room in bed & less dog hair on the floor...
:p