A few weeks back I was at a drop-in center for homeless youth and I observed the following between a homeless youth and his dog.

“Nina, sit.” Dog sat.

“Nina, down.” She flattened to her belly.

“Nina, crawl.” She scooted forward a few feet on her belly.

“Nina, shake.” Nina popped up and shook Sam’s hand with her left paw.

“Nina, other paw shake.” Right hand shake.

“Good girl, Nina!!”

I turned to my student Amanda who owns three dogs and said, “My dog could never do that.”

“None of mine can,” was her emphatic reply.

In my experience, dogs owned by homeless youth are among the most well-loved and by far the best behaved I have ever known. I find it sad that many people harass youth about their pets, saying things like “How dare you own a dog if you are homeless. You can’t possibly care for that poor animal.”

The reality of homeless youth and their pets is something most people fail to understand. Pets of any kind provide these youth with a sense of belonging in a world that ignores or despises them. Dogs, in particular, help protect these youth from the many predators on the streets who try to victimize youth who have no safe place to go at night.

Read more at Huffington Post.