In the year 1989, a very special dog was born. We shared a lot of special times together. My four-legged friend was a black, white and brown half poodle, half rat terrier. Ariel wasn't the prettiest dog in the world, but she was the cutest to me. She lived to be ten years old.

Ariel was the best gift I had ever received. My sister, Cindy, gave her to me. I remember one time when Ariel broke her leg. At the time, she was six weeks old. My son, Adam, was running out the door to go play with some friends. When the door slammed, Ariel, who was following him, had the door slam on her leg. Since the poor babe couldn't walk very well with a cast on, I carried her around in a little basket. Everyone got a huge 'kick' out of that.

Ariel was an extremely well behaved dog. She would rarely leave the yard unless she was on a leash or with the children or

Ariel loved to watch movies with us. During scary movies, she would stay real close as if we needed her protection. But her favorite movie was Beauty and the Beast. On Friday nights, Ariel, the children and I would make a huge bowl of popcorn and settle in a blanket with the remote control for the VCR. When the movie would start, we would cuddle up close and enjoy quality family time. Sometimes Ariel ate all the popcorn!

When Ariel was four years old, she went trick-or-treating with us for the first time. We dressed her up as a jester. She came along for extra protection in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Camping trips were great fun with her around. She loved camping and enjoyed the outdoors. I think her favorite pastime while camping was to hide in the bushes at bedtime and spook the children by jumping out at them in the dark. She always used to scare Ryan, my youngest son, the most. He never seemed to know where she was hiding. These were the sort of things Ariel did that made camping so much fun.

In this short explanation, I hope I was able to show you some of the reasons why Ariel was my best friend and part of my family. After all, she was my friend, a sister, a comforter and protector, but most of all, a great companion. I still can't bring it upon myself to replace Ariel with another dog, because I will never find another dog that can be as close to me as Ariel was.

Even though Ariel liked to scare

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Approximate Word count = 960
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)