Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch my brother’s German Shepherd, Marco, at my place. At least this weekend I planned out my time accordingly to juggle what is basically a teenager on four legs.

Now, next to actual children, this is as close as I will come to sitting, and it’s honestly pretty easy once you get used to it! I started doing this for my brother back in November 2018. It’s only been a couple of times I’ve had Marco since then, but I’ve found myself actually learning things from a furry thing on four legs—and as a cat person I never thought I would say that. The weird part? I actually look forward to when I get him now.

1. Find time.

This dog doesn’t take no for an answer. When I had him over the weekend and I had one more midterm to kill, he started barking at me to take him out in the last 20 or so minutes I still had. I was able to use the motivation of not wanting doggie doo-doo on my home office floor to finish it in time!

2. You’re never too old to play.

If I were anybody else I would have no trouble taking him around a few blocks, but considering I have the arm strength of a pencil? A couple hours of playtime and he hardly knows the difference by the end of it! I made sure he had with him this sort of fishing rod stick that has a tassel dangling way off the end he loves to play with. The more I used that in my playtime with him, the more I swear I was starting to get an arm workout. By the end of our playtime sessions not only was he tired, as I was, but also I found out that I was less stressed even after all the reading I had just been doing prior to the playtime. They definitely made for some much needed extra study breaks by the time I was wrapping up my midterms week.

3. Take me out to pee and poop, don’t step on my tail, and we’re pretty much best friends.

It’s really hard to focus on your studying when you have an eight-month-old puppy next to you sitting on their hindquarters, panting warm doggy breath into your forearm and looking at you with this crazy happy face. Eventually, I realized him making that face at me was the norm and just let him sit and stare at me when he wasn’t napping. Literally all they care about is being able to do their business and having somebody to play with.