All Carrie's 70 or more dogs are friendly towards people. They may be pups or older dogs, they may have suffered grievously at the hands of stupid people, but under the loving care of Carrie and her staff, they have learned to trust humans once more.

They just may not like another dog for one reason or another.

I'm visiting Carrie to see if among this small sub-pack one of the dogs can live with me and my herd of cats. Although still young, the pups are a bit older than I expected. You met one of them last week - Lulu, the terrier mix with the sassy smile that won my heart as soon as I saw her photo.

Lulu greets me with the same sassy smile, checking out all the feline smells on my jeans, then prancing away to play with her sisters, mother and grandmother.

I've watched other people in other circumstances pick out a pup. Some were looking to buy a purebred; others, to adopt a rescuee. In some cases, the breeder would bring out a candidate, let the prospective owner hold it for a few minutes, then take it away and bring out another pup. With this method, you can check if the pup is healthy, if its colouring and markings are what

you want; but how can you appraise

its personality? I couldn't.

In other cases, a prospective owner who was allowed to see an entire litter or a "pack" would wait to see which dog would approach him. "I want the pup to choose me," one person told me.

I'm not sure that's a good idea. You'd want to see how the dog interacted with other dogs, wouldn't you? You'd like to know if the dog dominated or was dominated - or just strove to get along - especially if you already had other dogs in your household. Does the pup like to be held or is it terrified of being touched?

Does it race around non-stop, indicating an energy level your lifestyle may not be able to accommodate?

You should also be assessing the breeder or rescuer as well. Does the person appear reliable, caring enough to understand the dogs, trustworthy? With Carrie, of course, there's no question that she loves her dogs. She wants only the best homes for them she can find.

As I watch Lulu, though, I realise that she's bright, friendly and intelligent, but she's already a pack dog, one that would be extremely unhappy as a single dog dealing with cats.

My vet, who knows dogs, has only to look at Lulu's photo to warn me against taking her home. "Terriers are chasers," she says. "This dog will not accept your cats."

Carrie understands my reservations. "That's all right, Laurie," she says, adding a bit sadly, "There will always be other rescued puppies."

By Laurie rosenthal