Whether they are staring at you with dinner plate eyes to signal that they want to share your meal, or resting their heads on your lap when you’ve had a bad day, dogs always know how to make you smile. I don’t think that there is any greater feeling in the world than the one you get after seeing your dog's tail wagging when you get home. Who else would be so excited to see you after you’ve been gone for a few hours? Sometimes, I get afraid that my dog might actually wag his tail off at how happy he is when I walk through the door. I don’t care how uncool it will make me when I say this, but my dog is one of my best friends! He doesn’t judge me if I’m having a bad hair day or if it’s three in the afternoon and I still haven’t changed out of my pajamas. When I’m sad, he cuddles up on my lap and tries to cheer me up by licking my tears off my face. Most of all, he loves me for just being me. That little tail wag, is simply love.

I think it’s pretty amazing that humans can have such a strong friendship with an animal of a completely different species. You can’t speak each other’s language yet, you can understand and communicate with each other. It seems like dogs are speaking with us all the time. A simple wag of the tail or a lick to the face can speak volumes to show that they love you. We teach our dogs tricks but our dogs have so much more to teach us without even speaking our language.

In a world plagued with hate and judgement, we have dogs to look to because I don’t think there is any love purer than a dog’s love. They don’t judge race, or religion or sexuality. They don’t care if you’re short or how many tattoos you have or how well you do in school. A dog’s love is unconditional. We humans believe we know it all, but a dog knows only how to love.

We need to take some time and follow the lessons our dogs attempt to teach everyday. Dogs teach us how to love and they teach us how to forgive. They teach us that when you see someone you love, tell them! Even if it’s only been a few hours since you’ve seen them, love them as intensely as you can because you don’t know when you may see them again. They teach us that it is okay to have long walks so you can stop to smell and appreciate the little moments. They teach us to keep your loved ones warm when you sleep next to them. Dogs teach us how important it is to wipe (or lick) tears away and that words aren’t always necessary to cheer up a friend. Most importantly, dogs teach us how easy and simple it is to love one another.

Their loyalty, companionship, and unconditional acceptance and love is incomparable to any other standards. Humans have a lot to learn.