An open letter to the dog who stole my heart.

“A Dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

A dog is kind of like a lifelong companion, except his/her life is typically shorter than your life. I found this out first hand after having my best friend with us for almost 12 years.

I clearly remember my parents saying, “okay, we’re going to go look at a puppy!” We went and looked at this rambunctious nine month old Dalmatian, who’s owner called her Annie. After playing with her and her brother for probably a half an hour, we finally got to bring her home.

She was anxious and nervous and fairly shy at first, however, after a month or so, we realized who Annie really was. A very loving, energetic, and protective dog.

After Annie was probably two or so, she was itching her fur like crazy, and just looked rough. After numerous tests later, we found out she had allergies. Yep, just like humans get, she gets them too. Annie was allergic to every grass that we had in our yard, soy (which we had soybeans in the fields by our house), and basically everything else. We joked that she was allergic to everything, including herself. But I wouldn’t have changed anything about her. She put up with everything that we put her through, weather that be rough-housing with her, or taking silly pictures to use the Snapchat filters.

I think that the best part about Annie was that she taught me how to love something. No matter how early, (even 2 am) she would wake me up because she had to go to the bathroom, no matter how much dog hair was covered on my clothes, no matter how much sneezing and smelly food she had. I would have never changed anything. I would have never wanted those 12 years differently.

“You took a piece of my heart with you when you went.”

You were the best furry friend that any 7-year-old could have asked for.

I hope heaven has plenty of squirrels to chase, and plenty of steak for you to eat, you deserve that

Annie (June 2004 – June 2016)