I'm sure you've heard the phrase "a dog is a man's best friend," but I bet you've never heard someone, especially an 18 year old, say that they are their dog's number one fan, but I am! My parents fell in love with my current dog when looking for a new addition for our family seven years ago.

Meet Smokey. He is a 7 year old, long-haired German Shepherd dog. The breeder said that because he is a long hair, he is not deemed perfect enough to be shown in dog shows but he is PERFECT! Although he has mellowed out in his 'old' age he's still a puppy and has never outgrown his clumsiness. Whenever one of us gets down on the floor, he is quick to circle before plopping down right on top of us. Despite being almost 100 pounds, he thinks he is a lap dog, and has no clue that in reality, he's huge. I am always on the ground, rolling around with him, and chasing him throughout the house.

Smokey is constantly tripping over his big feet, and sliding across the wood floors because his fur peeps between his toes, and he is always choking on his ridiculously long tongue. One of his ears, as you can see, stands up and the other stays down, which flops when he comes trotting across the yard. As soon as I hear him coming, I whip my phone out so I can take pictures of him. Although Smokey doesn't like the water, he is constantly circling the pool and standing on the edge, just waiting for a kiss from me when I'm in it. I am always the one to pop up and catch a quick kiss to his nose before he is running off to get his toy.

Whenever I am having a bad day, I know I can cuddle him and instantly feel better. I can always rely on him to wake me up in the morning...nose first before the wet kiss! He's the best model because he poses completely still for me whenever I want to take a picture. I'm like a proud mom when it comes to Smokey: always cuddling and kissing and taking a picture every other second.

I have 2,263 photos on my iPhone and about 80% of them are pictures of Smokey.

He is my favorite boy in the whole world and will be until the end of time.