My mother had quite possibly the ugliest dog of all time. Despite the eyesore that the terrier mix was, she loved that dog more than anything. It was her first dog and she had rescued it from the animal shelter where it would have most definitely been put down had she not adopted it. Her name was Isabella.

I was about then when she got Isabella. I grew to dislike the dog for whatever reason (I attribute it to teenage angst and lack of compassion). At any rate I and my friends would constantly joke about how that dog would live forever just to spite me; and it pretty much did. Isabella lived for about 16 years after my mom had gotten her (we estimated her being about two before my mother rescued her).

Last year, we could tell that she was nearing the end of her life, you could tell that she was in pain when she walked and she hardly moved. Mom was reluctant to per her to sleep. With her children being out of the house, the dog was her main source for company during the long winter days.

She finally gave in and had Is put to sleep. She went through the next few weeks with a heavy heart, and my sister and I did our best to cheer her up. After a few weeks she decided that she was ready to get another dog to replace her beloved Isabella. She had called me to tell me the news and so I came to look at the new dog....it looked exactly the same.

My mom had explained that while looking for the next Isabella, she saw ChiChi staring at her through the bars of a cage, not barking at all. My mom said to the dog "There you are,".