Dogs love us unconditionally. There's no pretense or agendas. No complaints. They never fail to greet us at the door with passionate exuberance-even if we just left the room for five minutes to take out the trash-and they simply put us in a better mood.

What we learn from our dog? Everyday Arrow reminds me that following your heart will take you to the right place. You see, he didn't belong to us.

WOOF Patrol: Arrow wasn't your dog?

Nancy Johnson: Two years ago he started showing up daily at our house. We live in the woods, about a quarter mile from the road. Arrow somehow found us. He came to play with our dog. We noticed he was wearing a tag but it took a few days before he'd let us come close enough to read it. Once we did, we called his owners and left them messages for several days. Arrow is such a great dog and by the end of the week we had grown extremely attached to him. However just as he was settling in, the phone rang. It was his owner.

W.P.: Were you concerned that it took days for them to get back to you?

N.J.: If that were my dog I would have been frantically looking for him. But there was an explanation. It turns out the young man was traveling and left Arrow in the care of an irresponsible pet-sitter. He was near tears, begging me to let him come get his dog. I asked him questions to make certain that Arrow's welfare was top of mind. He assured me of his dog parenting skills, sensing my concerns. Arrow was relinquished after having a better understanding of the situation.

W.P.: Follow your heart and it will take you to the right place, right?

N.J.: For several days afterwards every time Arrow broke out he'd come straight to our house. The owner finally called us. He knew we loved him and could provide a good home. He asked if we wanted to keep him. Arrow followed his heart and we're all living happily ever after.