I have a dorky Saint Bernard named Emma. I’ve had her since 2014 when my mom got her to “replace” another dog of mine who had passed away. It was up to me to train her and I was responsible for her. I brought her to school on a couple of occasions and everyone loved her. She was a super fluffy and adorable puppy. But, as she got older, all of those people lost interest in her. Occasionally, I get someone who is astonished at her size and, really, how often is it that you see a Saint Bernard walking down the street?

The novelty seemed to wear off when she got older and my neighbor’s got used to seeing her and she got too big to carry into school (I needed to make sure she wouldn’t pee on the carpet -- she likes to confuse grass and carpet). But, the novelty never wore off for me. Every day, she does so many silly little things that I love and when I look at her, I am in awe because I love her so much. She is the love of my life.

She does this thing where she puts her head up on the edge of my bed just because she wants to. I love her company, but when she climbs into my twin bed there isn’t enough room for me.

She is careless with her tongue and just lets it flop out to the side when she pants. Our other dogs have always readjusted, but she is such a goof that it doesn’t bother her.

She is kind and when I get myself super worked up and I find myself sobbing, she comes over. I know that it is probably just because she hears me making some weird sounds, but I like to think that it’s because she thinks that there is something wrong with me.

My bed is her bed and whenever I step out just to go to the bathroom she hops up and I can guarantee she is spending a ton of time on my bed when I am out all day. She knows that when I crawl into bed, she can too. And this is probably my fault because I snuggled with her a lot as a puppy, but she isn't doing anything wrong so why try to make her stop?

When I don’t know what she wants, I ask her if she wants “out,” “water” or “dinner,” and I can tell what she wants based on her response. If she just tilts her head, then she knows I’m getting close; if she immediately stands up and gets excited, I’ve hit my target and I know exactly what to get up and take care of.

I could write about this endlessly, but she is the one that I love the most. She is absolutely gorgeous and she is absolutely fantastic. She is my girl and she is the love of my life. I love her unconditionally. She always chooses me over my mom or my sister. She follows me and we work well together; we’ve gotten to a point where she just knows what is expected of her before I even tell her. She will miss me and cry when I go back to college. She isn’t perfectly well-behaved like my dog Maggie was, and she doesn’t like to snuggle as much as Clare did, but there is a connection that is second to none. And it is an intense connection.