I am only 13 years old. My parents got Teddy in 1988 from the Animal Shelter. He had already been brought back once. My mom and dad told me that when they went to pick out a dog, Teddy layed down and stuck his paw out of the fence and started to play with my older brother. They knew he was the right dog. When Teddy was home, he chewed everything up. My parents didn't want to take him back because he would just be put to sleep. They gave him more chances and eventually he got out of chewing. He was the best dog anyone could ever have. He loved to go walking and everytime my mom put on tennis shoes and he saw, he always thought they were going for a walk (even if they weren't.) When I was little, Teddy would sit on my slide and when he saw a bird, he would run down and chase them around the pool and run back up the slide (almost knocking me off!) We would race around the backyard and I would sit by him and watch TV. It was required from the animal shelter that you buy a dog house for your dog so my parents bought him a dog house. Teddy would never go inside it, he would only sit on the top of it. We all loved Teddy so much. But, as years pasted, Teddy got older and one weekend while we were at my soccer tournament, Teddy got out of the backyard and got hit by a car. He was paralized in his front paw. And of all the things that could have gone wrong with him (breathing problems, chewing off his paralized paw, etc.) nothing did. It was a miracle. He learned to get around with three legs and was doing good. About 2 years later though he was dropping downhill fast. He would walk and lose the muscles in his back legs and fall and hit his nose on the ground. It was a bad site seeing him like this and we knew he was in pain. On Wednesday July 9, 2003 Teddy was put to sleep. I know now that he is up in heaven with god having a pain-free life. WE ALL LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH TEDDY!! YOU WERE ONE OF THE BEST DOGS IN THE WORLD!! XOXOXOXOXOXO! -Lin