Living in a new place can come with many changes and challenges. One of those for me was no longer getting to live with my dog, Turkish. My family got him when he was about 4 months old (I was in 6th grade at the time). He's a Yorkshire terrier (currently nine years old) and is the best dog anyone could ever have. I love everything about him, even when he is bad and rips up the bathroom trash. I couldn't ever imagine living without him until the sad time came when I moved out of my parent's house.

I am an only child and obviously don't know what it's like to have a sibling, but I consider my dog my brother. I have to give him constant attention, take care of him, give him food, play with him, literally everything you would do with a sibling. It's weird to be living somewhere where I never ever have someone scratching on my door wanting to come inside. As much as I miss living with him, it is sometimes nice to not have all that extra responsibility. The biggest change is obviously just not having a dog around anymore. You don't have to worry about leaving your food around, having to constantly take them outside, or playing with them multiple times during the day. There's nothing worse than being in a moment when you forget you don't have your dog around anymore and end up missing them immediately.

My favorite thing about having Turkish around was that he was my best friend. He was always there for me and could always read how I was feeling, whether I was sad, moody, angry, happy, silly, etc. Every time I cried he would come sit in my lap and lick the tears off my cheeks; he always did something to make me feel better. Now that I don't live with him, I don't have that comfort around, sometimes making a sad situation even sadder. I didn't think about how much I would actually miss him once I moved out; it's been three months and hasn't gotten any easier.

I see my dog at least once a week, but I'm starting to realize that it's not enough for me or for him. When I do come home to visit, he's so excited but knows that I will leave again. I miss getting to snuggle in bed with him literally so much, especially during the winter because it's so cold. I also miss just having someone around to talk to all the time. Even though he is a dog and can't talk, we both can talk to each other and know what the other is thinking or saying. When all of my roommates are out of the apartment, I always wish that Turkish was there so I wouldn't feel completely alone.

Not living with your dog anymore or any pet for that matter is a hard adjustment and I hope to get used to it soon. I currently am living in an apartment until the fall of 2020, so after that, I will make it my mission to find an apartment that does allow pets so I can live with my best buddy. Having companionship with someone who has been around for your whole life or at least half of it is really important; it makes you feel not alone. So, for now, I visit my dog as much as I can and count down the days until I can live with him one day.