Sarah is my niece.  She is 6 years old.  I took her with me when I went to the animal shelter the other day.  I thought I might see what she thought of the puppies there.  She was so excited to see all the puppies, and I just stood back and let her have a grand time trying to decide which one she liked best.  She asked a lot of questions about how they got there.  She wanted to know where their families were and if they got lonely at night.  She wondered if they were afraid of the dark.  She finally decided their treatment was up to her standards.   She wondered who would hear them if they cried or wanted some water at night, and went about trying to convince me that we should bring several puppies home with us, just so they would have a family to love them.  I convinced her that we couldn’t bring them all home with us, but maybe she could pick one out to take home with her.  It was a hard choice according to Sarah, but she finally found the perfect puppy for her.  She said she was in love for the first time in her life.