MEGAN, Age 13
Grade 8, Deridder Junior High School, Deridder, Louisiana
Best Friend:  Gumdrop, 1-year-old Chihuahua/Beagle/Rat Terrier
September 11, 2006

Gumdrop

    I love Gumdrop and she loves me. I treat her like a human, almost like my baby. That dog is extremely spoiled, and she knows it. She sleeps at the foot of my bed every night. When I'm in the bathtub or shower, she always sits right outside the door and waits for me to come out. She is small, as you can tell from her breed, but she is an amazing guard dog. Nobody enters the house without getting a full examination from head to toe. She also inspects stray dogs on the property.
    There is one thing she's not so sure about - our goats. One of them had a baby two weeks ago, and Gumdrop wanted to get a closer look at it, so she got in the pen with it! My poor dog got horned and chased by two fat pygmy goats! She was crying and whimpering so loud, it sounded like she was dying! I couldn't let that happen to her, so I ran in there and saved her.
    Gumdrop now knows I will always have her back, and I know she will always have mine and my family's. She and I make a perfect team. Hopefully she will still love me this much when I bring her to college with me.

ABBY, Age 10
Grade 4, Country Dale School, Franklin, Wisconsin
Best Friend: Jessie, 5 year old Golden Retriever
May 17, 2006

Best Friend, Jessie

    My best furry friend I have is my dog, Jessie. The first time we got her there was a bunch of Golden Retrievers and it was so hard to pick. They were mostly all looking alike. But the time I first saw her come out from under the truck and saw her eyes I knew it was the right one. She didn't feel any softer than the other ones, but still her eyes were not going to let me not pick her. She was a little bit hyper than all of the other dogs but I do like some that I can play with so they are not too tired all the time.
    She is very generous when outside during a tug-of-war game. She will always try to win and will not let me win for the fun of it. Although that might seem not very generous, I enjoy having a challenge.
    I go to the park often with friends to play with them. Jessie begs to come, although she really can't beg, she will whine. I will take her by any chance, because by experience they will all end up playing with her and petting her. They will try to make her jump up on them, but I will say "down dog" and she will get off because when she gets trained, she is not aloud to do that.

LAUREN, Age 13
Grade 7, Home Schooled, Springdale, Arkansas
Best Friend: Bogey, 2 year old Beagle
March 23, 2006

My Best Friend, Bogey

    Bogey: seems like an interesting name, doesn’t it? Well, all you golf lovers out there should know that it’s a golf term. We could have named him Birdie or Eagle, or even Par, because my dad LOVES golf! But we decided that he looked more like a “Bogey.” After I held him for the first time, I knew that we were going to be great friends. I was right. Bogey is the most lovable dog I’ve ever seen! He’s friendly with everybody he meets.
    Bogey is an awesome friend! Whenever I’ve had a bad day, I usually sit on my parents’ bed, and then he comes over to me and licks me or lies down beside me. I pet him and sometimes tell him about what’s going on in school or a fight that I’ve had with a friend. He listens with open ears. Bogey not only likes to nap with my mom, Lindsey (my little sister), and I, but he has endless energy to play! He likes to play tug-of-war with his rope ball and go for walks with me. I think he’s the best friend a girl could have!

AUSTIN, Age 11
Grade 5, Center for Creative Learning, Phoenix, Ellisville, Missouri
Best Friend: Tiger, 3 year old Cockapoo
February 28, 2006

                          My Dog, Tiger

    My dog is my best friend that is not a human. Tiger definitely lives up to his name! He is always playful, excitable, and sometimes rascally. One day, I mentioned to my mom that I saw Tiger limping on his back left foot. We found out that he had a sprained knee, but the vet said that we should let him just walk it off and let him out grow it. Then, a few months later he started licking where he “lets out wastes.” We found out that he had a rash, and we had to give him a bowl-shaped headband that prevented him from licking there so the rash would not get worse and would go away. Just recently Tiger started to limp again. Now my family was thinking that it was his knee again. So we let him just walk it off for a few months. It went off and on. Then we finally took him to the veterinarian and found out that he actually had an infection on his paw, and it was making him limp on the same foot he was limping on when his knee was sprained. We also found out that there is a special dog food that helps infections like that go away and stay away, but we could not find it. We are still searching, and I hope we’ll find it soon.
    My dog is very special to me. He has always been special. Every time we bring him into the car and he knows he has a leash on, he knows he is going one of two places: the vet or the groomer. He is usually excited, but if he sees he is going to the groomer, he gets all excited and wants to run out the door immediately to see all his friends at “Smelly Dog,” where he goes to get groomed. If he sees he is going to the vet, he does the same thing, because he wants to get it done with, and he wants to see all the cats and other assorted animals at the Clarkson/Wilson Veterinary Clinic, where he gets shots sometimes and where he gets to try to get into the animal section to play with any animal he possibly can. I have met many other pets, but none of them are as special to me as my pup, Tigey Wigey!

ALLY, Age 8
Grade 2, Orangewood Elementary School, Phoenix, Arizona
Best Friend: Ben, 6 to 8 year old Golden Retriever
January 14, 2006

    This is a story about my lovebug, Ben. My mom rescues goldens with a rescue group. One day she got a call to get a stray that was brought to the vet. My mom brought me along. When we saw him, it was love at first sight. His eyes were telling me that he needed us. That's probably why he loves us so much. The next day, we heard Ben didn't get a home. So we took him for 3 weeks. One week....two weeks...three weeks.

    My mom and dad told me and my sister that we were going to keep him. We were so happy!! Now he actually smiles with his teeth and puts a huge ball in his mouth. He makes me laugh so hard! He's the best dog ever!!

                       The End.