I remember the cloudy, warm summer day when we went to go get Finn. The animal shelter in Golden Valley was congested with people and animals of all different types. “Hello how are you guys today?” asked one of the volunteers. We stealthily moved ourselves away from the volunteer, we just wanted to look, we didn't want to be dragged into it like we were buying a car. Little did we know we would be bringing one of those dogs home, Finn.

We went to the shelter to go look at the dogs we didn't want to get a puppy because they are a lot of work to train and we didn't look forward to cleaning up pee all the time. The very first dogs we looked at were the puppies. There were puppies of all breeds, there were chihuahuas, labs, beagles and a few others that I don't know. There were about 10 puppies in all. Only one of the puppies seized our eyes. His name was Rubel, we all loved Rubel and we wanted to take him out and see him, only to realize that he was on hold. When a dog is on hold, it means that someone has put that dog on “hold” to get the necessary things to bring that dog home.

After we all talked around the puppies, we decided to go look at the dogs because that's what we went there for anyways. We walked into the area where all the dogs were and it reeked of urine and wet dog. It smelt like a morgue, that all of the electricity has been out for days. We looked at all the dogs and played with them all, but we really didn't see any that we really liked. When we got over to the other side of the vicinity, there was one dog that we (really only me) really liked. His name was Bumper he was a really cute dog, he was also really cool looking, he had a gray coat with a little bit of white and black, he was the perfect size, the problem was that he was 10 years old. We didn't want that old of a dog. We played with him and gave him some treats and decided to just walk away, better to walk away than to get to attached.

Once we walked out of the big dogs section we went back over to the puppies to see that Rubles sign that said “on hold” was gone! This was a good and bad thing. The bad thing was that it means that the person that wanted him doesn't want him any more, so now instead of going home somewhere he would be staying at the shelter another eerie night. The good part of it was that it means that we would be able to see him and take him out and play with him! We took ruble out and held him, we brought him into the play area, where you meet the dogs to see if you are able to interact with them in a suitable way.

When we left that room we knew we had to bring him home with us. Our parents contiguously told them we wanted him and they put him on “hold”. We went and did all the paperwork to get our little Ruble. We didn't know what to name him, we started to think about Domino for a little bit, but soon realized that it would be to hard to train him if the word “no” is at the very end of his name. That's when my mom mentioned the name Finnegan or “Finn” for short, and Finnegan it was.

Never shall I ever forget going up the kennel and seeing that little face looking up at me. This is a little poem I wrote about that experience I had that day;

Never Finn, Will I Forget
Never Finn, will I forget the loud crowded afternoon at the animal shelter,

Never Finn, will I forget the little white and black face, and the little black button nose positioned perfectly on your innocent little face,

Never Finn, will I forget the sight of you, a baby 8 week old rolling around in a confined prison, crying to let you be free and be loved,

Never Finn, will I forget the cloudy warm summer day, when we chose to bring you into our lives,

Never Finn, will I forget the happiness, when you jumped into my arms for love and warmth,

Never Finn, will I forget the changing of your expression, that went from sad and desperate for love, to happy and hopeful,

Never Finn, will I forget the tail wagging, your whole body swaying back and fourth, and the cries of happiness and joy when I picked you up,

Never Finn, will I forget these things as long as I live,

Never Finn, Never

That was a poem that I wrote about the day that we got Finn. Finn has changed the way I think. No matter how small or different someone is everyone deserves a chance. If everyone doesn’t get a chance, then how are they going to prove that they can do something good? We gave Finn a chance to live with us and that was undoubtedly one of the best decisions our family has ever made. Everyone deserves a chance human or not.