This is my dog, Bella. She is a majestic, 7-year-old German shepherd that enjoys taking up the entirety of my bed at night, hiding treats behind the couch, and barking at any slight movement spotted in our backyard. She is adorable.

But she is also horribly behaved.

My family got Bella when she was 3-years-old from a friend of a friend of a friend off of a Facebook post. The post pictured this beautiful, black German shepherd, saying that she needed a new home. My mother and I immediately fell in love with her and began the efforts to convince my father to allow us to get her. It didn't take much convincing. However, there was a slight problem.

The post described Bella as overall well-behaved but, more importantly, as "good with other animals."

FALSE.

At the time, my family had two other dogs as well as a cat, so it was crucial that Bella got along with them. When we went to first pick Bella up in was very clear that this dog was crazy. She was bouncing from one side of the room to the other, jumping up on the couch to press her wet nose into my face. It was clear that this family owned a hyperactive dog, one that was overwhelmingly friendly. It was like watching a big, furry, black blur.

But I LOVED her.

So, we took Bella home. Once we got there we quickly realized that she did not get along with our other animals. This realization came quite quickly because Bella immediately made a sport out of chasing down our poor cat upon entry to our house. This chase ended in the cat hiding on top of a dresser in an upstairs bedroom with the dog lunging off the side of the bed to try and reach the poor thing.

Turns out that Bella is not good with our cat.

Then, came the two dogs we had, another German shepherd, but twice Bella's size, and a dopey black lab mix. The interactions between them weren't obviously aggressive at first, but as all three of these dogs continued to occupy the same space it became obvious that Bella was not nearly as agreeable as we first thought. The dogs were getting into fights constantly, mostly territory wars between Bella and the lab mix, who thought he owned the place. The other German shepherd would just walk off and try not to care, but Bella didn't always allow this to happen. She pestered the other two dogs endlessly, which would always end with the barring of teeth and claws. We didn't know what to do.

We hired a trainer. Didn't work. We tried training her ourselves. Didn't work. We tried slowly socializing her with other animals. Absolutely not. And it was as my parents began to lose hope that I became increasingly worried.

I was in love with Bella. She was sleeping with me every night, cuddling up with me in my bed. She was loving towards me, and all other humans, and always by my side. I had found my new best friend, but the problem was is she was putting our house in disarray. She was harassing the two dogs I had grown up with since I was a child. She was putting them at risk of getting hurt. I loved this dog almost instantly, but I also loved the other two, the ones that had been with my family for such a long time.

But we didn't get rid of Bella. We kept her.

It was brought to our attention that if we were to give Bella away she would most likely end up back in the shelter if her behavior continued. We had no reason to believe that her behavior would get any better, so this was a likely outcome. Also, dogs that don't get along with other dogs are often times put down in shelters, which was something my family would not allow to even become a remote possibility.

Next thing we know, our home became divided. The lower half of the house was for the older two dogs and the upper half was for the energetic, new-edition, Bella. We had to keep them separated at all times, otherwise, WWIII would ensue. This divide resulted in Bella barking every time we opened the basement door, the use of 3 baby gates strategically placed throughout the house, as well as scratches all along our windowsills because of Bella's barking tantrums whenever she would catch a glimpse of the other dogs being let outside. She was a nightmare and to this day she still is, but we don't care.

We let our house be disrupted by this personable pooch for many years and will continue to for many more. She and the other two pups occupied the same house, the same war zone, for the remainder of the older pups' lives. The older two dogs passed about a year ago and Bella continues on, still unable to access the basement because of our cat.

I like to say the cat is immortal. She is showing no signs of slowing down.

So, my family home continues to be "terrorized" by Bella and my family couldn't be more happy about it. I call her the love of my life and the light of my world more than I would like to admit. She continues to sleep next to me when I come home from college. She barks through the day and the night, as we are on phone and have guests over. She is a nightmare like I said, but she is our nightmare.

We kept my crazy dog, and I couldn't be more grateful to have her.