My hero is my dog Sandy. She is a dog that is in my family. Sandy is a family hero who always helps us through hard times. Sandy was a beat-up shop dog when she was first starting out her life. My parents found her on a busy road and so they took her to the electronics shop where she worked as a shop dog. About 3 months later my Mom had lunch at the mall with her boss. My Mom thought she recognized the dog and she adopted her instantly! She made a phone call to my Dad saying that we had another dog! So that is how she came to be with us. An accomplishment of Sandy's is that she always, every night, walks into my room to see if everything's okay and then she leaves.

Sandy is a very tough and independent dog but she will always come for a little kiss or a hug if she isn't feeling so good or she just wants a bit of attention. But she won't always want that either. Sometimes she will have a rope or another toy in her mouth and drop it at your feet, expecting you to throw it for her. Another accomplishment is that if you are hurt or sad she will go up to you and stay there with you.

Sandy is courageous because she always seems determined to plug on, even though her bones might hurt her. She also seems courageous because she suffered a tremendous pain in her heart when our other dog died. But she worked her way through it and I think that all of that is being courageous.

Sandy is a trustworthy dog because she trusts almost everybody around her. She used to not trust a great deal of people. She would not even trust us. But now that she has grown to know people, she trusts just about everybody. We can always tell when Sandy does not trust someone though, because she bites them in the seat! But this very rarely happens. Sandy stands up for people if she trusts them. She may not even know them that well but she will stand up for them. She stands up for us a lot too. This happens in times when we are play-fighting that she will stand up for us, as well as times when we have a guest over. So Sandy will stand up for our family and our friends.

Sandy is brave because she is old and might have arthritis and her eyesight is going bad, but she will plug on until the road comes to an end for her. I think that Sandy must have been brave when she was with the Humane Society, because she was in a cage and it was loud and noisy, and she was probably a little bit frightened. She would have had to be brave or else I don't think she would have made it!

Sandy loves and cares for lots of people. She especially cares for my family, my relatives and me. She is cautious of strangers though. But I think that if she ever saw anyone hurt or crying that she would trot right up and give them some comfort and nuzzling and then be on her way again.

To me, Sandy is a hero that will be in my heart for always. She is a member of my family and a member of the heroes in my heart. Sandy is a truly special dog.