“My little dog- a heartbeat at my feet.” I still remember this quote from celebrity day in third grade, where my class dressed up as celebrities and made a speech about them. My dog-fanatic classmate Claire had dressed up as Pulitzer Prize winner Edith Wharton. But it wasn’t because she liked reading, but because she loved dogs and Edith Wharton’s quote about dogs. Of course, back then I didn’t really understand the significance of her quote. In fact, the quote just stayed in my memory because it was funny that Claire was the only one who did not dress up as an athlete or a pop star. After I got my dog, however, my stance on the quote and pets overall has changed. If you have a dog or have a friend with one, I’m sure you understand the jovial feeling you get when you open the door and see the dog wiggling its tail while jumping on two feet. When I see my dog Lily do that, she makes me happy enough to wiggle my tail too despite my daily realization that I don’t have one. But living with a dog has helped me realize that they are not just furry toys. My dog has helped teach me about life and responsibility, and has definitely proven right the colloquialism “Dogs are man’s best friend.”

Even though I have trouble remembering my childhood, I clearly remember the week I got my dog Lily. I was an only child in fourth grade and like many other kids I wanted to adopt a dog. However, I knew my chances were slim because my mom always complained about the mess and the fur. Unknowingly to me however, my mother started to look for a dog online because she knew being an only child could often be lonely. Sometimes my mom would invite me to her laptop to look at cute photos of puppies on sale, but I didn’t really think that she would consider getting one for me. One day my mom told me and my dad that she found dogs that she truly liked. It was triplet set of Toy Poodles that had been born in the neighboring city of Coquitlam. They were cute, but I soon returned to my Wii and forgot all about it. The next day, I went to my school Queen Mary Elementary but nothing interesting happened. My scary teacher Ms. Stokes had not yelled at anyone that day, which was the topic of conversation between my friends as we all walked to our parents after school. However, I did not get to finish the talk as my mom said we should probably hurry home. During our car ride home, my mom suddenly popped the question “If you had a female dog what would you name it?” I was surprised that my mom brought this up all of a sudden but I just went with it and started thinking. While I was thinking, my mom started suggesting vegetable names such as celery and carrot. These names didn’t really appeal to me for a dog, so my thoughts shifted from vegetables to plants, and I thought of a lily flower. The fact that Harry Potter’s mom was named Lily also had a factor because I had recently watched the third movie where Professor Lupin and Snape had mentioned the name multiple times. Anyways, I really liked the name and told my mom. I remember she asked me if that was my final choice, so I said yes and she gave me a positive opinion.

After the car ride, I remember we were about to open the door when my mom said “We got you a dog today so try to find it!” I remember the adrenaline rushing through my body as I ran all over the three-bedroom apartment suite. But I could not find the dog. I went from room to room with no systematic strategy and spent minutes checking the small suite. Soon I grew a little skeptical, so I found my dad in the living room who told me to look under the tables. So I rushed and checked the three tables I knew we had: the dining table, the desktop table, and my studying table. But I still couldn’t find the dog, so I went back to my dad thinking that I got pranked by my parents. However, I had failed to realize I had missed one table. It was a traditional Korean table called a “sang,” which is only four feet in length lies very low to the ground so that people can eat while sitting on the floor. It also didn’t help that the “sang” was made of wood the same color as the floor, as I didn’t even see that we had taken it out of the closet that day. Anyways, my dad told me not to lift the “sang” because the puppy was sleeping peacefully in the dark. Sadly, my childish self couldn’t resist the temptation. I lifted the “sang” up fast and high and I accidently startled the young puppy - which had already been scared to leave her mother after 8 months in a giant car with strangers. As I lifted the poor puppy and held her in my hands, I felt her heart pumping abnormally hard which made me feel guilty. It had only been a few seconds since I had met my new best friend, but she had already taught me a lesson about my ill-mannered and childish behavior.  I will never forgive myself for scaring that small puppy small just because I didn’t have enough patience to let gently lift the “sang.”

After I started feeling bad for waking her up, I lifted her for the first time and it was a magical moment for me. I still have a photo of that moment, where I’m wearing jeans and a green button down shirt while holding an adorable puppy in his arms. I also remember that day as the first time my dog and I started our “thing,” where I carry her around wherever I go so that she doesn’t have to ever walk. I used to think that she liked it because she was lazy like me and didn’t want to walk, but nowadays I’m starting to think that she’s just pretending to be lazy because she likes being in contact with human skin. Also during this first week with my dog, I learned patience and sacrificing my needs for others. As I said before, my dog loves to be in contact with people so she often sits on my lap to take a nap. Because of this, I learned to be able to uncomfortably wait out the itchy spots on my thighs that I could not scratch without taking my dog off me. I also learned to restrain myself from getting the TV remote or other minor needs so that I didn’t have to wake my dog up from my lap. Finally, I also learned the responsibilities of having to take a walk for my dog whenever she needed to go even if I was busy because I knew that not being able to go to the bathroom is much worse than having to stop playing video games for five minutes. Even though it was difficult getting accustomed to taking care of someone other than myself, I enjoyed watching my dog grow from a shy puppy to a playful member of the family.

Yet, despite everything I learned about responsibilities and etc., I think the most important change my dog brought upon me was helping me have a better relationship with my parents by making me feel like a parent. For example, I used to think that my parents were lying when they said they wanted me to have the last slice of pizza even though I already ate the most. However, I started to understand that they were telling the truth as I felt better when my dog was comfortable in my lap, rather than when I was comfortable myself. Also, when my dog would persistently bother me to play with her when I couldn’t, I could see how I annoyed my parents when I asked them to play with me even though they had work to do as well. On the day I received my dog, I may have received a tool that helped me mature faster, but I also received my best friend. All my human friends, no matter who, have at least disagreed with me once. Even my parents don’t understand my problems sometimes. But a dog will always sit quietly and agree with you whether you’re happy, sad, right, or wrong. I cannot remember enough all the times I would cry in my closet on sad days and my dog would be right next to me. Ripping up the tissues I blew my nose on and making me laugh, Lily has been the best companion I could ever ask for. Sometimes Lily makes me feel like the pet in the relationship as I clean after everything she does, but it has definitely been worth it to have her with me.