Growing up, I have always been surrounded by dogs.

Never once in my life has my family not had at least one dog in the house. We always go to the shelters and rescue dogs. Every summer for the past five years, my family ended up adopting a new dog. We now have six dogs running around our house. Our dogs are rescued from many different animal shelters on Long Island.

(my 6 dogs)

When you adopt a puppy, you have to potty train them to avoid having to clean messes up in the house as well as training them as to what they can chew on and what not to chew on. The best though is when you teach dogs some tricks including sit and stay. A person with a puppy has to have a lot of patience to train them because they will always be distracted by something.

If you're adopting an older dog, there can be some more challenges. Some dogs may be more set in their ways than others. I have learned if a dog was raised in a abusive household, they will not be friendly at first, however, once they have realized that you aren't going to hurt them, they will never want to leave your side and will protect you through anything.

When you give a dog a girl, you will see happiness through the girl's eyes. Dogs bring a lot of joy towards others. Even if they are being silly and spread out laying down:

(my dog Shelby laying on her back asleep)

So when you give a dog a girl, there will be a lot of responsibility, but it is all worth it. Once you have shown the dog that you wouldn't hurt them, they will love you and always protect you.