Not a terribly exciting story, but I was in college and had just moved into an apartment that allowed pets specifically because I meant to get a dog. I was doing research on over a dozen different breeds. The one I wanted most, a German Shepherd, was banned in my building along with the standard other "aggressive breeds," although I found a workaround to that problem in my current apartment by just telling the front desk I got a Belgian Malinois, so now I have a German Shepherd too.
Anyway, I'd never really considered a Boxer before and, in fact, never really knew anyone that had them when I was growing up. One of my friends told me, "You should get a Boxer," so I looked up the breed, liked what I read, and happened to find a breeder who had a litter that would be available right as I was finishing a summer internship, which was coincidentally exactly when I wanted to get my dog. The timing was perfect and that's how I ended up with Loki.
As an aside, I looked into adopting a mix (or purebred, I guess, but obviously mixes are more common) from a rescue place as well, but I wanted a puppy and, for whatever reason, none of the rescues where I used to live would adopt out a puppy to someone without a fenced in yard. I thought that was a stupid policy and I didn't want an adult dog, so I decided to buy from a breeder instead.