In a way, all shelter animals are or have been unwanted at some point in their lives. Some are deemed to be unwanted forever because they are old, black, have bad temperaments, or are a stereotyped breed. These are the unwanted that I want to address. Just because the sign on the cage says 'aggressive', 'not good with kids', 'doesn't get along with other animals', and/or 'unadoptable' does not always mean that the animal is what they have been labeled.

When I was just under one year old my parents and I had gone to our local humane society to get our cat and dogs licenses. While my mom took care of business my dad took me to go look at the dogs. We came across so many adorable dogs when we stopped at the most adorable black and white puppy. My dad and I fell in love with her instantly. My dad found my mom and said, "I know that we agreed that we didn't need any more animals but you have to come look at this puppy!" So my mom went in the back to look. Her cage had said that she was a boy but she in fact was not. When we told the people that we wanted to take her home they said, "We have to warn you that she was adopted out and then brought back because the couple said that she was aggressive toward their baby." My parents did not see any signs that the puppy was aggressive so we said we would take our chances.

We took her home and, sure enough, she was in no way shape or form aggressive. She was a puppy who nipped and jumped because no one had taken the time to train her. We named her Sheba and she was my best friend who I did everything with for fourteen years of my life. Sheba never once bit or nipped at me. She slept with me and played with me. Everywhere I went she would go too if she was allowed. She was my protector and my friend who helped me through a big move to not only a new home but a completely new school and environment, we had moved from the city to the country. Having to put her down after being together for the first fourteen years of my life was the hardest thing that I had ever had to do. I only had one other experience with putting an animal down, it was with my dad's 15-year-old German Shepherd mix the year before.

The moral of this story is, do not jump to conclusions the minute you hear or read these labels. Just because someone one time said that they were aggressive does not mean that they truly are. It could have had something to do with the person that was handling them or it could be that the person/people have no experience with the specific breed of animal or the age of the animal. My parents took that chance when they brought Sheba into our home and it was one of the best decisions they have ever made. If we could go back and do it over again, we would not change a single thing.