There is no easy way to avoid or handle it. It's just one of things that you cross with in life while growing up. Everyone has been through it. Everyone has been through the heart break and pain of losing a dog.

Just a few short days ago I had to say good-bye to the light of my life. He was a beagle and German-pointer mix named Snickers. He was the living-proof that I am spoiled in life. But he was also the thing that I loved the most. He was mine. In simpler terms, he was my baby.

What started out as a trip to buy cat food with my Mom and brother turned into me falling love. I found him at a rinky-dink pet store in our small town. He was the only one in the cage but oh, he was the loudest. His shrill beagle bark echoed through the store and he jumped around like a kid on candy. While my Mom was looking for cat food, my brother and I looked at the dogs. Now my brother is a typical brother. He will protect me no matter what. And when it comes to upsetting me, he is first in line.

"You know they feed the puppies to the snakes." He said.

That's when the tears came, my heart couldn't possibly imagine letting that puppy get fed to the snakes. He was so tiny at only about 6 weeks old, with a little swollen belly and a wagging tail. So I cried like any little girl in love with a puppy would do. I cried for 2 days. I cried until my Mom finally gave in and bought that mixed puppy at the rinky-dink pet store.

It was cold when we brought him home, cold and snowy enough that we had to put a little sweater on him to go outside. When he wasn't wearing a sweater he was wrapped up in blankets. I'm not sure who decided on giving him the name, maybe it was just mutual; maybe we were all hungry and needed a snickers. I mean, he did satisfy our hearts. In the end, we named him Snickers Caramel Crunch. But that's a long name to yell at 2 a.m. when he is running wild - Snickers is much shorter.

There is no denying him that he was part beagle. That bark used to echo and screech through the house, through the neighborhood even! Though he had the dominant trait of a beagle bark he also had the trait of his other bloodline. While it took us time at first to figure out the other breed. I think we finally had it pin-pointed to German-pointer. Sometimes if he saw a squirrel outside, he'd get in his stance and pull up his paw. Snickers was a pointer.

Sometime during his life as a joke I called him "beagle." I said it in a teasing way because he wasn't full blood. But the nickname stuck and we all began to call him "Beagle." It eventually confused my friends who would say, "I thought his name was Snickers?"

The dog was just as spoiled as me. Maybe that's why we got along so well. If I was sitting in the kitchen eating my yogurt, he would look at me with those big brown-eyes. The same eyes that made me cry in the pet store were the same brown eyes that made me give him yogurt for breakfast. He loved carrots too, peanut butter, and matzo crackers. But hands down, his favorite thing was gum. You simply couldn't chew it in the house. He would do anything in his power to get gum. He always won.

A spoiled, loud dog was also the most protective. From barking at strangers to chasing squirrels outside, there was one thing that tops the rest. When my Dad went into cardiac arrest, the ambulances arrived and everything was chaotic. While other dogs may have gotten scared, my Snickers stayed by my Dad.

I'd do it all over again. I would cry for him again. I've came across a lot of things in life. Expensive cars, designer dresses, exotic places; and I'd trade it all for the love of a Beagle.