1. They're the first to greet you at the door.
Really, is there any better feeling than having your four-legged best friend jump on you as soon as you walk through your front door? Let me answer that for you with a firm and resounding, "No." Clenching to the bottom of your $200 pair of designer jeans, drooling all over your clean hands, or even licking your blemish-free face is the ultimate sign of love and companionship. While mom, dad, sister, and brother may give a half-hearted wave from the couch during a commercial for some new and improved version of Dawn dish soap, Fido over here is making up for 5+ months of lost belly-rubs and cuddle sessions.
2. They don't hold it against you if you haven't called in a month.
Sure, would they have liked to be included during the Facetime session where you had mom and dad put the iPad in front of the TV so you could watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones? Of course, but they understand that you have important things you need to accomplish. They'll gladly sit and wait for your favorite characters to slowly be killed off. They know that when all your fictional friends are dead, they'll still be there, waiting for you to cry into their fur. And even if you don't talk to them until you come home, they'll still be waiting, bright-eyed and furry-tailed, to give you their unconditional love.
3. Bringing home dirty socks and shoes is a welcome activity in their book.
You have schemed, plotted, and ultimately scheduled wearing your clothes for the last month in such a cycle that the stench created from four weeks of unwashed clothes wouldn't be detected until you reached the only place you should NOT be judged for such an activity: home. Mom and dad might be rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at such barbarism, that they raised you better than this. Fido, on the other hand, can't control himself. Before you know it, he's sprawled out happily on the floor chewing a pair of your dirtiest gym socks. It's the best gift you could ever bring home for him (except, of course, maybe a lifetime supply of bacon).
4. The first thing out of their mouth is a “welcome-home" lick.
It's universally understood that right when school ends no one wants to be asked about their grades, their relationships, or what they plan on doing after graduation. On the inside, we're all probably screaming something along the lines of, “Ask me that again and my answer will land me a 25-to-life sentence." Luckily, our four-legged fellows can't talk (unless you count Stan from Dog with a Blog- really Disney, running out of ideas there?), so the best way they can show an interest in your life is with a long slobbery kiss to the face (hope you use Proactiv on that porcelain complexion). Hey, I would take a mountain size pimple any day over having to spend the rest of my life replaying scenes from Orange is the New Black.
5. You missed them almost as much as they've missed you.
I think the most important reason anyone looks forward to seeing their dog above ANYTHING else when they get home is because Fido over here will always miss you more than you missed them. You can miss them to the moon and back; you can miss them to the point where you might have even conidered dropping out of school in order to move back home and be with them 24/7 (guilty as charged), but no matter how much you think you've desperately longed for their butt being shoved in your face as you try to fall asleep at night, they have been laying in your foyer, staring at the front door since the moment you left five months ago.
Now that a few weeks have passed, don't take for granted the complacency you've garnished from constantly being around your furry friend. Remember what it was like to miss him, take him for a walk, feed him a couple extra treats, and don't kick him off the couch if he tries to snuggle into a nook between you and the armrest that he might be slightly too big for. You may have forgotten the feeling of loneliness you acquired over the school year, but Fido will never forget.
