@Helen427 we have two: Bexley and Alonso.
Alonso is a galgo, and he was adopted from Spain: he was discarded at a shelter by a hunter there when he was no longer useful for chasing hare. We named him Alonso because we wanted to give him a Spanish name and we both liked it. It was also the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband, and I loved the book Farmer Boy when I was young. His shelter name was Planet because he was one of the biggest galgos they'd ever seen, but he didn't respond to it and we didn't like it. He's 5, and he does like some guests, but he tends to be a bit standoffish at first. He didn't have a good experience at the shelter in Spain - he was there for a year - and he doesn't like most other dogs. He doesn't do anything bad to them: he just avoids them.
Bexley is an American greyhound, and he was adopted from a track in Florida. His racing name was Mega Chivas. No one could tell us his call name and he didn't respond to Mega or Chivas, so we settled on Bexley. It's the name of the town where my grandmother lived in England, and it's also the name of a charachter in the Red Dwarf series of books (Jim Bexley Speed). He is also five. By some bizarre coincidence, he and Alonso were born 1 day apart. His personality is the complete opposite of Alonso's: Bexley is Mr. Personality and he loves meeting all guests and their dogs. He always comes to the humans for pets and a good lean against their legs, and he loves playing with other dogs.
We always warn guests to keep the screen or french doors shut, because the dogs use the backyard. We had guests who didn't heed this and the dogs ran into the guest flat and ate about half of the guests' dinner before we could get them out. Luckily they saw the funny side: we were mortified!
@Helen427 Haha, what pet owner doesn't like to talk about their best friend?
Minga the Mystery Dog appeared at my house when she was about 5 months old. She was curled up against an outside wall, wet, as if she's come through the arroyo near my place. When I spotted her, I went over, and said "who are you? You're beautiful." She sat up and gave me her paw. ("I'm yours")
She wasn't thin or mangy, and was super friendly. I assumed she'd been lost. But no one ever claimed her and I never saw any other dogs around town that looked like they would have been from the same litter.
When I went to work the next day, leaving her in the unsecured yard, I figured she'd be gone when I got home 8 hours later. She was lying outside the front door and was so excited to see me she instantly peed on the porch.
That was the one and only time she's ever had an "accident". She won't even pee in the yard, let alone poop. She wanders off to the back of a nearby field.
I just figured she was a lucky Mexican mutt mix, but a couple years later ran across photos of dogs who looked identical to her and on further reading, the temperament was her to a tee. Korean Jindo. How one got to my neck of of the woods is a total mystery.
She's an excellent watchdog- no one gets within 100 meters of my place without her barking. And she has a big bark And weighs about 70 pounds.
She's headstrong and independent, which has been a challenge. But she's super sweet and quite funny. She has a strange idiosyncracy of picking up a dry leaf when she's excited to see you. She won't let you have it, it's like something to contain her excitement, or maybe show you what a good hunter she is.
Almost all my guests, unless they're just not dog people, have fallen in love with her, some commenting that she has some special aura.
And she likes my guests as well- they get leaves when they come home.
hates riding in the car, hates the ocean, not a water dog, though she'll cool off in the arroyo if it's really hot out. Has virtually no smell and nothing sticks to her fur. This is typical of Jindos- they're known for their cleanliness. She'll lick herself like a cat.
She prefers to be outside, which is where she is most of the time. Only wants to lay in the house when it's super hot and humid out, or when it's storming, which terrifies her inconsolably. She sheds like mad, so I'm glad she's primarily an outside dog.
She's 11 now, slowing down a bit, has a bit of a hard time getting up from a lying position, her bones probably ache like mine do. And she doesn't run much anymore, which she used to love to do. She could sail between the wires of a barbed wire fence at full tilt run and never even get scratched when she was young. People used to cringe when they saw her not slowing down for the fence, sure she'd get ripped to shreds. I'm sure I could have taught her to jump through a hoop. Super smart. She's gentle with other animals, except for other female dogs, which she's been known to terrorize. But never bitten anyone or anything. I consider her the perfect dog (and I've had several throughout my life) except maybe for her barking, which I've never been able to curb. But there's only about 5-8 minutes of barking spread over the day, so not too bad.
