The emails read like online dating profiles—with a tail-wagging twist: 

“He loves long walks and running in circles in the backyard.”

“She enjoys being held 24/7 and sitting on her hind legs when she wants food.”

“He loves to eat rocks and socks and to lie on top of me at all times.”

“Her favorite hobbies include barking through the window at strangers with a ball in her mouth.”

These were just a few of the doggy descriptions included in the nearly 60 submissions we received for inRegister’s “Dog Days of Summer” contest, now in its fourth year. With all that’s gone on in the world lately, it’s clear that our canine companions are a bright light in the midst of a whole lot of chaos. And our readers can’t help but spread the love for their furry friends, making this one of the most popular features each year—right up there with last month’s Weddings issue. 

I have to confess that I didn’t quite understand all the good things a dog could bring to a person’s life until a lovable labradoodle named Louis came my way two and a half years ago. As a child, my family had dogs, but they lived outside in the yard and I just didn’t get attached the way my sister and brothers did. They seemed a little smelly, a little jumpy. I was known to stand on a sofa when visiting a friend with an overexcited Chihuahua. Later, a Great Dane peed on me during one of my earliest inRegister house photo shoots. The charm escaped me.

But everything changed when that ball of fluff came to live with us. Countless walks around the neighborhood and cuddles on the couch later, he is the part of our family we didn’t know we were missing. And now I know exactly what our readers mean when they write things like “I want to get mad about the amount of hair he sheds, but then I look at that cute face.” Or “This little dog has changed our lives for the better.” 

These pups have traveled around the country with their owners, sat beside them during cancer treatments and other health challenges, and befriended veterans. And just like my Louis, they’re always, always happy to see their humans after being apart.

Find more of these four-legged friends in this article and on our Instagram stories; follow @inregister for all the furry fun. Let the dog days of summer begin!