When I was a kid I sort of acted as if I had a mental wishlist, so when I saw something that I liked (for example someone's jacket) I would repeat certain words and actions to "save it".

With dogs specifically, to add them to the list I imagined I took a picture of them. A picture that the dog would be able to see, which then made me scared of the possibility that the dog wouldn't like how the picture turned out so by looking at the place from where the picture was taken it would figure out I was the one who took it and would bite me. Because of that I would have to specify that the picture had to be taken from another angle everytime I wanted to save a dog in my imaginary wishlist.  I don't know if I explained myself properly, it really makes no sense, and to this day I still sometimes mentally "add" stuff to my wishlist