I fell in love last Tuesday at the bus stop. His bright eyes sparkled as he playfully hopped over small mountains of snow near the curb. I was just dying to run my fingers through his hair — but I thought I had better ask his owner first.

It was a frisky young Husky that had entered my path to the bus stop, and I was once again reminded how much I miss having a dog. Before I came to college we had a very rambunctious Brittany Spaniel.

Even though he was about seven years old (you can do the math yourself to figure out the dog years version of that number), he still had a bit of a bladder problem. Some dogs are eternal puppies, no matter how old they get, and as most of you dog owners probably know — a young dog is a randomly peeing dog. Despite his leakage, our family still loved him.

I began wondering how the dog evolved into such a common pet, man’s best friend and all that. After pondering for a while, I discovered a lot of characteristics about dogs that I never thought about until I stopped living with one.

First of all, if you don’t have a garbage disposal in your house, a dog is the next best thing. I decided that when I buy my own dog (which will be after I move out of my current house, just in case my landlord reads the Daily), I don’t want to mess around with any of those wimpy little dogs that are smaller than the average cat and have to wear sweaters when they go for walks in the winter.

Those dogs have the tendency to throw up anything you feed them that isn’t a kibble or a bit, and I don’t want the neighbors calling my dog “Ralph.” Blech. I want a dog that I can feed anything! Our old family dog would finish off every last morsel that I didn’t want at the dinner table. This comes in handy if your mom makes liver and onions, or you’re just too full to eat that last bit of hamburger bun that is all soft and mushy from the burger grease and leftover ketchup.

Of course, a dog can be selective, too. Ours wasn’t crazy about lettuce or other vegetables, but he would eat them sometimes if we added a little salad dressing or any kind of sauce.

Besides being a living garbage disposal, dogs are great to have around for other reasons. For example, it gives you somebody to blame farts on if you are skittish about claiming them. The drawback is, when your dog actually does let one go, it’s red-alert time. Nothing can clear a room faster than an honest-to-goodness, don’t-ever-feed-him-the-left-over-beans-again dogfart.

Dogs are excellent exercise partners. All we had to do was whisper the word walk and our Brittany would practically do laps around the dining room table until somebody got his leash. A dog as a running or walking partner not only draws other people to you, but can also scare people away from you if your dog is scary-looking.

For people who like to exercise at night, a big dog might be an ideal friend to bring along — as long as he or she doesn’t bite your best friend on the leg by accident, or be too busy scratching a flea if a dangerous perpetrator attacks you.

If you have children, utilize your dog as a learning tool. If your dog has puppies, discuss the miracle of birth with them (and then later, the miracle of the classified ad, and how quickly you can sell them so you don’t have five puppies to stop from chewing up your best pair of leather pumps instead of only one). In later years, if your pooch dies you will have a chance to talk about death with your kids. Although it’s difficult for us to talk about such morbid topics, sometimes it’s easier to address the issue when an example is waiting to be buried in your backyard.

Last but not least, a dog will protect you from unwanted strangers who get within a 100-meter radius of your house, especially if that person is dressed like the Culligan Man. Our dog always seemed to think that the root of all evil lived in the guy who came to soften our water once a month. We tried to tell him that the Culligan Man wasn’t a burglar, but we never seemed to get that idea through.

Dogs may be wonderful friends to have, but we must accept that they’re never going to be the kind of friend you would ask for help on your homework. I guess we have to spread out the talents in the world; some creatures can eat anything and willingly go on walks three times a day, while humans have to settle for having a real life (but the better bladder control situation makes up for it).

Joanne Roepke is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Aurora.