I have always loved animals.  Over the course of my life, I have had many pets, including three toads, several fish, a bird, and a dog.  Eleven years ago, a cockatiel flew into my family's backyard.  We assumed that the bird was someone's pet, for cockatiel's are not known to be a wild species in Plymouth, the city I live in.  My family and I walked to a house a few homes down the street in which we knew of a family that owned exotic birds to ask if the cockatiel belonged to us.  As we walked down the street, the bird followed us, by walking quickly behind our feet.  We asked the people at the house, and they said that it was not their bird.  So, we walked back to our home, with the bird shortly behind us.  When we got home, we decided that the bird was not going to leave any time soon, and we kept it.  The bird then became our pet cockatiel, Mac, and she remained in our house until she passed away two years ago at the age of nine.  Oer the course of her life, Mac and I bonded in a special way.  I pet her every day and I played her Green Day songs, which was the only music that she seemes to enjoy.

Seven years ago, my family decided to adopt a dog.  One day, my mother took my sister and I to a house in Clinton Township where we met a lady who was selling Maltese/Shih-Tzu puppies that were about ten weeks old.  My sister and I played with the puppies for several minutes, and we decided that one of the two girls was the one that was the most playful, and my mother told the lady that we would buy the puppy.  The next day, my mom went back to the lady's home to purchase and bring the puppy home.  That puppy became my now seven-year-old companion, Zoe.  I look forward to going home from  college just so that I will be able to see my dog and play with her for hours on end.