Sometimes, it's just getting the overall combination right. Raptors have had a terrible history with me. My original blood elf had tamed a venomhide raptor, but there was zero click. Kallimon had tamed Dart on a whim as Pacane, but I just wasn't feeling it. The running animation bugged me. But I wanted to like raptors; they're essentially baby devilsaurs. Still no luck.
Fast-forward to the 4.0.1 PTR. I tamed a handful of different colored raptors for Kalliope, since I was going to need a sundering pet. Nothing worked, no one clicked. No name fit. The worst of it was that I never had pictured her with a raptor at all, despite loving Theseus (King Krush). I figured I'd try Takk out for my localized example of the gray skin. Unfortunately for Takk, I had previously tamed Humar (because he was there!) and the dismissed-pet-appearing-when-you-dismount bug was still in place, so he got one-shot. I sighed at Humar, little suspecting that this was a gift from him and P.Dawg. I tamed one of the nearby pink raptors while debating whether getting a different gray raptor would be okay just to see if there was a click; I could always get Takk for real on live later. Pink was pretty much out of the question, as I really didn't like the concept of a pink dinosaur. And yet...there was something appealing about the color combination. I went back the next day, only to find Takk still missing. I did head over to WC for a temporary gray raptor, but I could tell it wasn't working. I could tell the only color that I liked was the pink, as much as I didn't want to admit it and couldn't rationalize it in my head, so I kept looking at the other colors. Suddenly, I knew her name - Psyche. And finally, the pink made sense. Everything came together.
There was still the trouble of Pacane not truly clicking. But she had to stay; my devilsaur is far too attached to her. The orange skin was soulless to Pacane. It was killing me, especially since I like Dart. I considered a color change. I had never liked the green raptor skin; the squinty eyes did nothing for me. But I tried it on Pacane....and it clicked. It was her. Her personality, which had already been determined, bubbled to the surface. I waited for 4.0.6 so I could tame her as the ravasaur matriarch - I'd always liked her too and then Pacane and Beignet would be from the same zone. Everything made sense!
I did eventually end up with Takk too - on my blood elf.

The challenge of the massive leaping tame gave me an idea, so I went and got him.
But yes, sometimes, it's just the right combination of pet, hunter, pet personality, and hunter personality to make such things happen.