People laugh when I tell them my dog is my best friend, but it's not a joke. I'm not exactly sure why anyone would prefer the presence of a human over a four legged friend, after all they are nick named 'man's best friend' for a reason. Although not everyone is as lucky as I am to be able to live with five dogs, yes five, but I think anyone who has spent at least 30 seconds around a dog can agree that they are in fact, a million times better than humans in every aspect. Not convinced? Let me elaborate.
1. They always welcome you with love.
It doesn't matter what kind of day you had, when you open the door you will hear a symphony of excited barks, an array of wagging tails, unlimited doggy kisses, and you might even get tackled (completely out of love) by your horse-sized German Shepherd that thinks she is as big as your Shih Tzu. Even if you were only gone for five minutes, you will still receive the same ecstatic greeting as if you have been gone for months. Because nothing is more exciting than when their human comes home.
2. They are never too busy for you.
You know how when you and your friends try to get together and between everyone's busy work, school, and activity schedule you have re-scheduled the same plans 10 times until you just give up? You never have to worry about that with a dog because their schedule is completely open to whatever their human wants to do. Going for a ride? They will race you to the car. Watching a movie? They will cuddle up next to you and watch. Taking a shower? They will lay on the shower mat and wait for you to get out. You never have to worry about your dog blowing you off like your human friends would.
3. They always clean up your mess.
If you have dogs this sight is probably all too familiar when you are trying to cook, eat, or even touch food. People that live in dog-less households have to get out a vacuum, paper towels, and cleaner if the spill food on the ground. In dog friendly house holds there is a good chance the dog will inhale the falling food before it even hits the ground. Even if they were a second too late to catch the food, they will lick the floor until they are 200 percent sure that they didn't leave a single crumb behind; and they will do it before you even have a chance to get the words "no don't eat that" out of your mouth.
4. They calm you down.
Not only is it scientifically proven that dogs lower human's blood pressure, but some dogs are even employed to do it. Therapy dogs or "comfort dogs" are dogs that are trained to calm people down in a time of crisis. They were there to comfort people after tragedies such as the Boston bombing and the Orlando shooting. They can also be specially trained to help calm down people who have illness’s such as PTSD, anxiety and depression. Even if you are just having a bad day, a dog’s unconditional love and sloppy kisses should be enough to make any one feel better.
5. They are good listeners.
If you ever need to get something off your chest your dog will give you its undivided, judgment-free attention whenever you need it. You won’t even have to listen to their problems or their uncalled for opinion, because they don't have any!
6. They will never judge you.
Thinking about eating your 10th cookie or 5th slice of pizza? Go ahead they don’t care as long as you spare a bite of crust. Drinking a whole bottle of wine at noon? You're not drinking alone if the dog is with you. Singing and dancing like an idiot around your room? They will be an attentive audience. You can always be yourself around your dog, they don’t know any better than to love you for who you are.
7. They’re smarter (and cuter) than your baby.
Dogs have the intelligence of a toddler, being able to understand about 200 words and hand signals. They can tell you that they need to go outside while your baby will just go right where it’s sitting. You don’t have to plan out when you need to feed them again because they will just eat when they’re ready. You don’t need to hire a baby sitter as you can (usually) trust them home alone. They don’t cry when every time they need something; and let’s face it, there are some ugly babies in the world. Puppies though, there is no such thing as an ugly puppy. In fact, puppies are the cutest things you will ever lay your eyes on. I’m not entirely sure why people have babies when they could just have puppies.
8. They protect you.
Your dog will protect you from the big bad mail man, the squirrel in your yard, and from the noise they thought they heard at 2 a.m. that doesn’t exist. Dogs are so loyal and will do anything, even risking their life to protect their humans.
9. They’re an excuse to go home.
“Sorry I can’t my dogs been crated all day” is the perfect excuse to get out of doing whatever human activity you don’t want to do. Do you really want to go to a party with a bunch of obnoxious people when you could go home, relax and watch a movie with your dog and eat a whole pizza by yourself? I didn’t think so.
10. They aren’t people.
If there is anything I have learned about people in my 19 years on Earth it is that they suck. I have encountered very few people that I enjoy being around. Dogs though, I have enjoyed being around 100 percent of dogs that I have met. Dogs don’t give you their unwelcome opinion, they don’t preach to you about how you’re not going to church enough or that you need to study more. They don’t tell you not to get the tattoo or piercing that you want, they don’t tell you that your shirt isn’t flattering or your new hair color doesn’t work for you. They don’t yell at you for not doing your job right or tell you that you’re not smart enough to do something. They don’t shut down your opinion or comment something extremely stupid on your Facebook. Plain and simple, they don’t do any of the obnoxious things that humans do, because they’re dogs and they’re so much better than that.
If you still don't think dogs are better than humans then you need to get up, go to a shelter, and pet some puppies until your mind is in the right place. And remember, you can't buy love but you can rescue it. Always chose adoption over buying a pet from a pet store. If you are looking to adopt a dog you can look here.
P.S. This was my view while writing this article.