On a chilly summer day towards the end of July, we found a black lab puppy on a newspaper add that stated, “Black Lab and Golden Retriever puppies for sale.” Knowing that all we wanted was another dog to fill the empty space in our hearts, we decided to check them out.  Bella, a charcoal black lab puppy, whose fur felt thick, ended up being the perfect puppy at first because we just needed something or in this case someone to distract our minds off of our dog that had just recently past.  Even though she was a pretty good dog, a few years later she began to get lonely and didn’t really want to do anything anymore, so I ask my parents, “Can we get another dog?” 

My dad responded, “No.” 

We ignored his desire and since Joey, my mom, and I went to the Fort Defiance Human Society to just look at some dogs, maybe to find the lucky one to come home with us.  We ended up finding a run away beagle puppy mix.  When I put my hand against the fence, he pressed his cold, slippery nose to my hand.  I asked, “Can we take him out to play?”  It was a yes, but we were warned that the dog’s owner had a certain amount of days left to come and get the dog.  We ended up driving home afterwards and okaying it with my dad because he wasn’t really into taking care of another dog.  I showed him the picture, and he stated, “He is pretty adorable.”  He ended up falling in love with this dog even though he didn’t even want another dog in the first place.  My mom and I ended up driving up the next day to potentially adopt this dog, but later we ended up finding out that the owner had come back for him.  We felt devastated; my heart sank in my chest, and I felt like crying when I found out the news but at the same time happy that the dog go to going home. 

All throughout the week I had been looking for puppies online and ended up finding a dog breeder with puppies for sale at a decent price.  The dog that I found, located in Southern Michigan, was a beagle.  We ended up contacting the breeder and later that week, my mom and I drove up to Michigan to check out the puppies.  Because my birthday was around the corner and I wanted another dog for Bella, this dog was going to be mine.
When we arrived at the farm surrounded by barns, the owner greeted us: “The puppies are over here.”  He opened the gate to the shed where all the puppies were inside a pen.  While all the dogs ran off to the road, one puppy stood back, staring at me.  Shiloh was freezing from being left outside and also had a fragrance of pine needles.  She mainly had a silky black and coffee brown coat; the fur around her eyes used to be coffee brown, and her snout was white with charcoal black spots.  The fur on her torso was mainly black with numerous frosty white stripes near her tail.  The tip of her tail is like a fox’s, white and sticks straight up. I walked over and picked her up.  ‘What will I call her?’ I thought as I carried her around listening to the history of her parents.  “I’m going to name her Shiloh,” I commented to my mom.  I ended up getting what I thought was the timid one. 

One our way home, we decided to stop by the pet store and give Shiloh a bath, knowing that she must not have had one.  She wasn’t alarmed; instead she was curious of the water flowing down on her scalp; sploosh, slosh, and splash went the water as her paws hit the floor. This surprised me because she acted very shyly. 

Afterwards, I trimmed her needle claws and searched for a crate for her.  She also was spoiled with some toys.  Her favorite was a stuffed green alligator.  I asked her, “Which one?” and she grabbed the alligator off the wall.  Her tail was a whip with excitement.  She always makes me laugh, always.

Shiloh used to act like a friendly, loving, and sweet little puppy, but now she has transformed into a ferocious, mischievous, playful monster. She has a thundering bark like a pack of wolves howling at a full moon and likes to talk back to people and chew up everything like Kleenex and shoes.  She likes to rummage through the cupboards. When she did this, it made me mad, and my face reddened. I was ready to smack her but remembered that she was still a puppy.

Shiloh may have been stubborn to handle, but Bella and she have made me feel better throughout all of the hard times.  Shiloh makes me laugh with her propeller tail and searchlight eyes and can make me laugh even on some of the hardest days.  She also keeps Bella active and helps her to open up more.  Even though they roughhouse all the time, they always seem to get closer and closer together.