My partner, Eliese, has wanted a dog for years. I did my best to dodge this request because I've had little experience with dogs. I think dogs are high maintenance and I'm quite accustomed to my footloose and fancy-free ways. I was hesitant to the thought of being responsible for something that would change my life so dramatically.

I ran out of dodges once Lindsay's dog Clio had her nine pups. Oddly enough, I was the one to suggest adopting a puppy after I met the little lumps of fur when they were only a week old. When I told Eliese about taking in a puppy, her eyes lit up with joy and she said, 'I want the ugly one.' (Eliese has this thing for ugly animals. I'm not sure what that means about me ...)

So we both did a meet and greet with the puppies when they were three weeks old. I had initially thought we'd take one of the unique-looking gray-and-black pups. But when we got there, Eliese and I were drawn to this little black sausage roll who had a wrinkly face and paws that looked like she dipped them in white paint. This pup hung back from the pack a little — she wasn't anti-social, just observant and thoughtful. We'd found our 'ugly one.'

We visited her as much as we could over the following weeks. When she was a little more than 8 weeks old, we brought Boo Radley home. Since then, our lives have changed a lot — much for the better, I think.