My 6.5 year old girl, Lady, had cancer and passed away. I was absolutely beside myself with grief and it was affecting every aspect of my life. I began looking at puppies and dogs in shelters across the state. I had never adopted a puppy before, though I had puppies in the past. Finally, just before Labor Day, I ran across her photo in a nearby town's shelter. The puppy was a lab mix, 9 weeks old and ready for adoption. The shelter told me that her whole litter had been dropped off shortly after they were born, as they were not purebred! I was incensed and put my application in at once. I arranged a time to meet her and showed up at the shelter early. One of the volunteers put this sweet puppy in my arms and I spent about 15-20 minutes getting to know her. She was quiet. I talked to her and we looked at the pictures, leashes, etc. that were in the lobby. She snuggled in on my shoulder and didn't make a peep. People milled around doing their jobs and she was just more interested in snuggling. I made up my mind, this pup was going home with me. I paid the fee and took her outside. I had not purchased a leash for her but she was tiny. What a mistake. When I let her down to do her business, the quiet pup ran for the highway. Thankfully she was small and easy to catch. I put her on the blanket in the box in the car I had prepared for her and began the 45 minute drive home. She began barking and immediately decided to jump on my lap, put both paws on the steering wheel and 'drive'. I wrestled her the whole way home, praying all the way. As soon as we got home it was clear I had been duped. She was not a quiet pup, instead she howled like a hound dog. My neighbor hated her, but I was absolutely in love with the little trouble maker. She chewed holes in the carpeting and destroyed the couch before she lost her puppy teeth. She was and remains an adrenaline junkie! She would climb to the top of the couch and freefall backward! I ran miles trying to catch her! I even blocked access to the couch, but the rascal just jumped impossibly high and got there anyway! It was the scariest thing I have ever been through! Six years later she is still a noisy trouble maker, but she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I can never thank the volunteers at the shelter enough for what they did for her. She has no idea how much they loved her too. She also has no idea she is a four-legger. She tends to have 'arguments' and want the last word. She and my 85 year old mother get into some of the longest arguments you ever want to hear. Neither wants the other to have the last word! To say that she is an important member of my family would be much less credit than she deserves. She is the princess and she knows it! That said, she has never met a person or critter that she didn't try to make friends with. She is silly and makes me laugh all the time. She simply is the sweetest girl that ever lived and I am lucky to have her.

Susan N Warr
AU GRES, MI