Rows and rows of intimidating cages, full to the brink with terrified K-9’s, sat before my family as we exasperated to pick the finest “man’s best friend” for us. Once I past a puppy that was afraid and confused yet quickly warmed up to me, I knew this Saint Bernard Red Heeler mix was the dog for me. To me, Max is a large, loving, human part of the family.

It’s been 4 years since my family adopted this purely white creature, with the exception of the brown dusty patch of his face, from the Saginaw City Shelter, and I learned the with every dogs saved from shelters and pounds, there is another who still needs rescuing.

With that in mind, I am grateful to have Max every time I interact with him. He always recognizes just how to cheer me up whenever I’m sad. With Max, I know I’ll never truly be alone.

Although there were several dogs frightened and alone, Max had a unique story that spoke to me. Like Max, at least 8 million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters each year. Of that amount, 4 million are euthanized each coexisting year, at the hand of kill shelters. Even though the amount of non-kill shelters (14,000) significantly outweighs the amount of kill shelters (4,000-6,000) that doesn’t automatically mean that most are safe, in fact, most non-kill shelter are beat to the rescue by animal control via the kill shelters.

Therefore, once I’m old enough to do so I will open my very own pet rescue that will hold these companions for as long as needed to protect and save as many innocent lives as possible.