It all started on Apr. 28 when my mom and I saw the cutest Shih Tzu (he had a little bandit-looking stripe on his face and had little brown polka dots all over his body) on the dog purchasing website, Gooddog.com. The next day, my dad suggested we look into getting a bigger dog. Soon after, we saw an eight week-old Golden Retriever who would be later named Bruno.

After we took him home, he changed my life forever. Every day when I wake up, I’m welcomed by those adorable eyes that make me so happy. After a long day of school, I’m always excited to come home from school to see his captivating eyes looking at me and his little dance when he’s especially excited.

Even when I am doing the most mundane of tasks, he is always eager to follow me in doing the tasks. His favorite part of it all is when I give him a little Cheez-It or whatever food I’m eating at the time.

Moreover, I think one of his favorite times, which I dread, is when I do homework. The main reason is because this is the one opportunity where he can drag me away from my homework to play with him. Even though this can be a nuisance sometimes, it forces me out of my little work bubble and reminds me of what’s important in life. However, I think the real reason why he does this is because he can’t stand the fact that I’m not looking at him. After all, he’s an attention hog.

Sometimes, when I’m relaxing in my bed, he starts to whine outside my door to let him inside. So, I often let him in. Whenever he comes into my room, he always does the same thing: grab the closest clothing item, and then jump onto my bed. More often than not, he will grab a sock from my floor. Because he loves socks so much, I began to roll my socks so that it kind of gives him a fun game–he loves to just try and separate my socks and he’s gotten quite good at it. However, if he grabs a shirt or some pants, he usually jumps into my bed and then chews on it for a little bit. When he’s bored of that, he begins to dig in my bed and roll around in it, often messing up my bed.

However, whenever I’m especially low in life, he’s always there to cheer me up. I love him so much, and I’m so grateful that I get to see him grow up. Thank you so much for always being there for me, Bruno.