Our family had always wanted a dog but we lived in an apartment and couldn't have a dog. When we moved into our house i though that finally my christmas wish of getting a puppy would come true, but the people we were renting the house from said no pets and my heart was crushed. One day my brother came home with a puppy and I was so happy, But my Mom said no because the rent lease said no pets. My brother took the dog back to his bestfriends Girfriends. When he came back he told my mom where she was going to go. They told me that she was going to get put down but i found out the truth. She was actually going to a family that had, and still did abuse animals. When my mom found out she immedietly said go get her back. We hid the dog for quite a while but they eventually found out but never said anything. She quickly became my bestfriend and her name was Trix. She was a black lab, dalmation mix with a white belly and black spots, white on her nose and tip of her paws, and a white diamond on the back of her head. We quickly became attached. She had been passed around to seven different owners and was very nervous, she didn't want to be held or petted. When she got older she was a lap dog at 70 pounds. On August 15th 2001 we had planned to go to Six Flags in Aurora, Ohio, which is about 60 miles away from where we live in Norwalk, Ohio. It was the first real vacation in 13 years. We were going to go to Six Flags and stay in a Hotel over the night. We Left at 8:30 in the morning, went to the bank and headed for the Ohio Turnpike. We got to Six Flags and had a great time. We got to the hotel, checked in, took our bags up and went to get ice. We got our ice and my brother had to find out when he had to go back to work. When he calledhis work, one of the workers said someone called and said there was a family emergency. We called my grandma and thats when we found out our house had caught fire. My mom immedietly started crying and asked where the dog was and my grandma said she was dead. When i found out i was in tears, i thought i'm only 13 how can i handle this, My house burnt down and my bestfriend dead. One of the firemen had taken Trix to his farm to burry her. It was a long six months until we got back into the house and we missed our baby so much. We moved back in February 1st. My mom wanted to wait to get a dog until spring, but i didn't want to wait, so i started volunteering at our local humane society. On April 15th we went out to the human society to look at a different dog but she was already taken but there was a bunch of black lab mix puppies and one dog just stood out from the others. We ended up taken him home and naming him Lucky Charms( Lucky for short ). He has leaped into mine and the rest of the family's hearts. I always said it can't happen to me but it did. I just want to let everyone out there know there not alone and our animals, even if they have passed still know we loved them and they love us to, and that they are happy and in a better place.