Our college years are spent learning about ourselves. We are continuously growing up and deciding what we want to do with our lives. We have jobs, classes, responsibilities and an unimaginable amount of stress. As college students, we are stuck in limbo; too young to be considered a grown adult, but too old to get the slack teenagers get. Adulting is hard, and sometimes it all becomes too much to handle at once. We have our friends and family to help us get through the bad times, and we have them again to celebrate the good times. However, no matter the situation, we can always count on our dogs to be there for us.

For many college students, college is the time when we feel like we are ready to take on the responsibility of becoming a dog owner. Sure, most of us have had our fair share of experiences with the family dog, but nothing compares to having our own. College seems to be the time when most young adults welcome a furry friend into their life. It makes sense; college is stressful, and it can also be lonely if you are away from home. So why not get a dog? Dogs bring joy into our lives and provide us with companionship. They become a part of our family and the greatest anyone of us could ever have. They make us laugh, teach us how to be patient and sometimes they even push us into making new friends. Seriously, sometimes our dogs are our saviors.

I like to tell myself that I saved my puppy’s life by adopting him and giving him a home. However, if we want to be honest, it’s more like my puppy saved my life. These past three months, he’s filled my life with joy, laughter and adventure. He helps take away the stress that comes from school just by being his goofy self. I’ve met new people thanks to all those times he’s decided to run off while we’re out on one of our walks. Every day, he is right there happy to see me.

There’s no doubt that seeing how happy he gets when I get home from class makes me feel loved and relaxed. Writing papers and doing homework suddenly became easier because now I have a puppy I can play with when I feel like I need a break. When I’m sad, he cuddles up next to me and makes me feel better. I may have given him a home, but he has changed my life by giving me unconditional love

As college students, we often forget to appreciate our furry babies. We fail to recognize how much of our happiness is because of them. Sure we have our friends and family, but they have their fair share of problems. Our dogs, however, live their whole lives trying to make us happy. From their puppy days all the way to their senior days, our dogs live their entire lives finding new ways to make us smile. They devote their lives to loving and protecting us. Don’t let your dogs go on being unappreciated. Take some time out of your day to take them on a nice long walk or treat them with some new toys. Make sure they know they’re loved because they won’t be around to make us smile forever.