My family and I were at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina for vacation about 4 or 5 years ago. The vacation was filled with swimming, eating, and having fun. The weather was nice and we had a great time One day the clouds were out, the wind was blowing, and it was raining. The whole family was bored and we were all wondering what to do on that gloomy day. Our family had been talking about getting a dog. We had a dog before named Franny, but unfortunately, she died about 2 years earlier. Our family loves animals and we felt that there was a missing piece in our family. So we decided to find a local rescue center and search for a dog. Looking at the website, there were tons of dogs to choose from. It was hard to make any decisions online. Eventually, we decided to take a ride down to the shelter to see the dogs in person. After about an hour in the car, we finally arrived at the shelter.

As we walked into the lobby, the barking of dogs filled the room. A lady guided us to the cages. We searched through the dogs and picked out the ones that we thought could potentially be future members of our family. A number of dogs amazed me and I wished we could take every single one home with us, although I knew that would never happen. Almost every dog was barking or jumping up onto the gates. Some looked happy and some looked like they wanted to get out of there. We finally found a dog that we liked. My older sister looked at this dog on their website earlier that day at the hotel. Her name was Mabel and she was a brown and tan coonhound with a mix of something. To this day, we still do not know what she really is. She was paired with a white lab.The lady brought us into a room and then the dog walked in with her. We played with a cat who was allergic to grass while we waited. Then the kind lady brought in the dog. At first, Mabel was scared, but a few minutes into meeting us, she became more comfortable. She was a very friendly dog and loved to be around us. She would run around and lay on her back looking for a belly rub. Our last dog was not as energetic as her which was a good and bad thing. We played with the dog for a few minutes and then the lady took the dog back to its cage.

My mom and my sisters instantly fell in love with the dog. However, my dad was on the edge. He kept saying that we were never home and that this would be a huge responsibility for all of us as a family. However, my dad was always like this. He is never interested in any of the ideas that our family comes up with. I remember thinking about what he said. At the time I was just about to start middle school and I knew that was going to be a lot of work. I also remember thinking to myself, we really do not have enough time to take care of this dog. At the time, I played several different sports. My parents worked all day too and my little sister was still really young. My mom kept telling us about how every single day we would have to take her for walks and make sure all of her energy was run down. She also mentioned that we would have to train the dog so she did not ruin our floors. I remember thinking long and hard about this decision. I thought about every single thing that could possibly happen and every bad thing that a dog can do. A few days later our family ended up rescuing the dog which we now named Sadie. She was free and only had one more week in the shelter before she was put down. We had to drive 12 hours home with her stepping and sleeping on us. Sadie is still alive and well and our family has been taking great care of her.