The Choice

          Keep the dog, or send it to its death? That was the decision I was faced with when I was a freshman. We had been wanting a dog for some time now and we had finally found him. He was a purebred rottweiler and we decided to name him Franklin.

          He was an about twelve week old puppy when we got him. He was really cute, as most puppies are and he was larger than most full grown dogs. After the first week we obviously had a couple accidents like him peeing on the floor, chewing up pillows, and digging in the trash, normal puppy things. At the time that we got him we were also fostering kittens so the messes the puppy was making were a bit much to handle but we did it and we managed.

          After about three weeks with the puppy my parents were pretty much fed up with it. My littlest brother really wanted to keep it so he practically begged my parents to keep it. They agreed in hopes that it would get trained and break its bad habits. About a week after this we went to the beach and when we returned we found our pet rabbit dead lying at the foot of our stairs. We immediately knew who had done it. My mom started crying and wanted to get rid of the dog that second. We had the rabbit for quite a long time and we all really liked him. It was an awful sight to see. That night we decided to take a vote on whether or not we keep the dog.

          When we put it to a vote it was only my brothers and I. My littlest brother was upset about the dog killing our rabbit but he voted to keep the dog because he has wanted one for a long time. My second youngest brother voted to get rid of the dog because he never wanted it from the beginning so the killing of the rabbit was like icing on the cake for him. Finally it was my decision to either vote yes, keep the dog or no, get rid of it. I was torn but mostly because I was the deciding vote. I knew we would either put the dog in a shelter or "send it away to a farm" if I voted no. If I voted yes, however, we would keep the dog but it could potentially do more damage and cause more heartbreak. The decision was tough but I ultimately decided to get rid of the dog. I really loved the rabbit and it was getting frustrating cleaning up the messes he would make. I didn't want a dog in the first place but he was cute so I figured that would help him get adopted if he went to a shelter.

          I know we shouldn't have taken the killing of our rabbit personally because it was only instinct but we felt that he wasn't the dog for us. He also should have known better because we introduced him to all of our animals before hand in hopes that something like that wouldn't have happened. I think I made the right decision because Franklin wasn't the dog for us but there is someone out there that he would be perfect for. It was a tough choice but I felt I made the right one.