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You know who you are.

You wake up before sunrise so your pooch can romp with friends at the dog park. You put more thought into your dog's diet than your own. You plan your vacations around dog-friendly hotels. You rush from the office to pick up your pooch from day care. And perhaps you've been known to take your pup for a massage or an acupuncture session.

We were overwhelmed with stories when we asked readers about the importance of dogs in their lives.

And given Pima County's serious pet overpopulation problem, it was nice to see that a majority talked about rescued or adopted animals. (October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog month.)

We only had room for a fraction of the stories in this issue. You can read more on our new blog, go.azstarnet.com/ petstucson.

These are some of the many readers we heard from when we put out a call for dogcentric folks. Most of their responses have been edited for space.

"I got my dog Monkey from the Humane Society at the beginning of April. Two weeks later, he came down with parvo (right at the beginning of the big outbreak) and spent 11 days in intensive care. After that, he got pneumonia and is now recovering from valley fever. I've spent about $8,000 on vet bills. And now that Monkey is starting to feel better, he's insanely hyper and is tearing up my house.

"However, I still really, really love my dog. I do definitely center my day around him. I juggle my hours at three jobs around my dogs. I miss the weekly lecture series in my department at the university every Thursday to make sure Monkey (and our other dog, Cotton) gets enough attention since my fiancee and I are both at work long hours on Thursday. We've started spending a lot of our weekend time at the dog park at Reid Park, as well, and will continue to do so. As soon as Monkey is completely healed, I will be shelling out $50 a week to send him to doggie day care and will change my schedule again to accommodate that. I get up early to take him on walks and rush home to make sure he gets his lunch on time. It's all worth it though. I love my Monkey!"

"I own a 10-year-old Siberian husky who has been a registered, licensed therapy dog through Delta Society for six years. (He was abandoned, and we adopted him when he was 3.) He works with the Green Valley Library reading program, visits patients at Tucson Medical Center and is a part of Gabriel's Angels, a nonprofit organization that works with abused, abandoned and at-risk children. He's pretty busy doing that work."

"My little one's name is Tatianna, but we call her Tati for short. When I got her in March, she was 12 weeks old and weighed a whopping 1.4 pounds. A long-haired Chihuahua, she has now topped out at 4 pounds. I raised nothing but boys, so when I got this little girl the first thing I did was buy her a couple of girlie outfits. I work at an elementary school. The staff fell in love with her and started buying outfits, too. Soon she had a suitcase full of clothes."

"My roommate got involved with a cattle-dog rescue group about three years ago. I was skeptical since we already had one cattle dog, Gryphon. Our first foster dog, Ruby, was 8 years old. She also has an eye disease and requires two eye medications twice daily.

"Ruby picked my room to make as her own. We bonded. After one week with us, she was ready for her first adoption function at the Humane Society. People came by and saw her but were looking for a younger dog. We took her home and I adopted her. She's a wonderful dog! She wakes me between 3 and 4 a.m. every morning for a walk to the park. We go for another walk in the evening when the sun goes down (eye disease).

"She has gotten along well with our other foster dogs (we've had 12 in all) till they've been adopted. She taught them some manners.

"Ruby loves people. She shows her appreciation by giving me a smile and kisses. I've never had a dog that could smile. Ruby was definitely meant to be 'My Girl.'"

"My Labrador mix came from a dog found pregnant, dehydrated and dumped in Saguaro National Park West. I got my 8-week-old puppy and bought a new home all in six months. We took in a friend of his from the dog park whose dad was moving to Hawaii.

"These are the first dogs in my life, and the learning curve was a large one. Luckily, along the way the Dog Whisperer got his own show. Friends at dog parks would show me their vacation photos from Dog Beach in San Diego, and soon my dogs and I were in Colorado and California and eating snacks at the Puttin' on the Dog event.

"So now I make dog bowls for friends, co-workers and family who adopt dogs from shelters. I encourage people to rescue and not breed. If you ask my pottery class who I am, they will tell you I am the dog-bowl lady. If you ask at work who I am, they will say the woman who spoils and loves her dogs."

"Bao means 'precious treasure' in Chinese. And that's what he is: my precious treasure, my constant companion.

"He snuggles up next to me when I'm reading and sleeps at my feet when I'm working.

"So I spoil him. Of course I do. When it's chilly, he dons his Donald Pliner Italian leather jacket — personally signed by Donald Pliner, of course. And he's got a hair-clip studded with Swarovsky crystals. And a little striped necktie, for going formal. His portrait was recently painted by Foothills artist Russell Recchion."

"Are we dogcentric? We don't get out of bed until the dog wakes up. We'll lay in bed and be still so as not to wake up the dog! Our border terrier, Beezer, has a pretty good life. He has a cushy pad on two sofas; he gets a fresh-made dinner each evening (lean ground beef, tofu, celery, carrot, green pepper — menu varies); more toys than I care to count; has a play date every afternoon with his 'bff' from next door. I didn't leave him for his first 22 months — being away was quite traumatic. We haven't been on any trips since we got him and are considering buying a motor home so we can — because of course, we have to take him with us!"