Leaving for college is a whirlwind. Seven trips to Target is a generous minimum and there's always too much packing left to do. However, one of the hardest parts comes with saying goodbye, especially to your four-legged friends.

This is Levi. He is my pudgy, stubby, extra lovey eleven year old yellow lab, aka my toughest 'see you soon.' He doesn't shake unless you stop petting him and he throws his paw at you, he only rolls over if his back itches, and his definition of speaking is one weak woof to let you know he's hungry. He might not be the most talented of dogs, but he's still my favorite. Leaving him at home to head back to college, whether after a weekend or the whole summer, never gets easier, either.

I've never seen a dog shed so much in my entire life, and you're guaranteed to leave my house covered in hair after he introduces himself. It's inevitable that I find dog fur in my totes full of clothes at school, and it's always a bittersweet moment when I do. It's nearly impossible to wear black around him, but when I'm gone, it's a little piece of home that I'm never mad to stumble upon.

The real question comes when you think about how you'll ever survive using the bathroom or taking a shower without their company. Levi just assumes his attendance is mandatory when I'm home at this point, but I don't ask questions. It leads me to wonder, though, if he thinks I'm never coming back or that I left him stuck with my parents when I'm not around everyday anymore.

This then sets the stage for why FaceTime calls home just to be able to see your dog are totally okay, and in fact encouraged. They might completely ignore you talking to them or get genuinely confused where your voice is coming from, but it's absolutely worth your time. Making your pets your background on all of your gadgets or scrolling through all of your previous photo shoots of your furry model are socially acceptable as well, and don't ever think it's not.

Sometimes, though, I worry that if I pet random stranger's dogs on campus that Levi is going to find out I cheated on him, or that when I say the stress-relief dogs that come during finals week are God's greatest gift he hears me and knows I'm spreading my love elsewhere.

Levi gives going home for holiday weekends a different connotation, even if he didn't miss me as much as I missed him. Because he's getting older, it's always a possibility that something could happen while I'm away at school, but that makes it all the better when I am able to come home to my slightly overweight, oompa-loompa pal.

You never really realize how much you love your pets until you have to spend a significant amount of time apart, and coping with that separation is hard when you've grown up not only around your own household of animals but those of all of your friends and family. Leaving home one thing, but leaving pets is a totally different kind of long-distance relationship that a goldfish can't compete with.

#petsindorms2k16