It’s the beginning of my sophomore year at Alabama, and this year I am living off campus, in a house with four of my close friends. It didn’t take long for any of us to realize that living in our own house this year, versus living in the dorms last year, requires a lot of new and different responsibilities.

Just a few weeks ago, one of my roommates, Kathryn, brought up the idea of getting a new puppy. My first response was, “You’re joking, right? We haven’t even started classes yet.” In all honesty, I thought it wasn’t the smartest idea to get an eight-week-old puppy at the very beginning of our sophomore year, before classes had even started. We’re only college kids, so we are only somewhat responsible, am I right? Overall, I wasn’t too thrilled about this idea, and I made that clear to my roommates, even though I have a love of cute little puppies. However, I can actually admit that I was totally in the wrong about all of this.

Shortly after I made it clear to my roommates that I didn’t want a puppy in our house, I went with Kathryn to pick up the eight-week-old puppy, aka Spieth, who is named after the pro-golfer Jordan Spieth. When we got to the breeder’s house, I remember watching all the puppies sprint to Kathryn’s car as we pulled into the driveway.

All of the puppies were beyond cute. After having baby Spieth in our house for just a few short hours, I fell in love with the adorable little puppy. Kathryn knew from the very beginning that I absolutely didn’t want him in our house, but I couldn’t lie to her at this point because I couldn’t stop playing with the new puppy.

Overall, having baby Spieth in our house has been so much fun and crazy at the same time. Annoyingly, Spieth has gone to the bathroom inside our house quite a few times, but other than that, he has been the perfect puppy. Kathryn has been taking care of her new puppy better than I thought she would - with help from the other roommates - so of course I have to give her A LOT of credit for that.

At my home in Virginia, my family has a dog and I cannot begin to describe how much I miss him, so having Spieth in our house has been a huge help, too. In the beginning, I was so against having this eight-week-old puppy in our house, but now I cannot say that I am still against having Spieth in our house. I absolutely adore him.

The point that I am trying to make is that if one of your roommates is thinking about getting a new puppy, whether or not you want one in your house, it will all work out in the end. Now I can actually say that getting a dog while in college is a smart idea because it teaches you responsibility as well as gives you a best friend.

Welcome home, Spieth!