I gave away my perfect and healthy dog.

By Grace K. Bianco

“It’s not like I want to. I have to.”

Meet my sweet little pup, Bo Bear. He is a teacup maltipoo. He’s almost six years old. Bo only weighs about 5lbs.

I was given permission on my sixteenth birthday to get a dog. I spent many years of my life begging my parents for a dog. It wasn’t until high school that I finally was successful.

The guy I had been dating for a couple of years and I decided that we wanted to get a dog together. We worked on an essay together. During one of our college classes, we printed out pictures of cute dogs to really be convincing. I added that all I wanted for my birthday was just approval to get a dog. I refused to give an other birthday ideas. I wasn’t that confident that my parents would actually grant my request, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

On my sixteenth birthday, I opened a gift bag and a balloon floated out with the word “yes” taped to it. I was beyond excited.

I had already been saving money. My ex pitched in about $150-$200, and I saved up babysitting money. I even sold my old American girl doll on eBay. We looked and looked on online.

We came across Bo, originally named Bandit, on Craigslist. He was only 7 months. We immediately called and left that day to…