My dog is less confident when my partner isn't here

Reflections on a long weekend in the van with Scout... without Sean

I adopted Scout when I’d been dating Sean just over four months. He’s long been part of her life—he drove me to pick her up from the shelter, he provided midday bathroom breaks when his college schedule was more flexible than my office job, he encouraged us through our first group training class—but I don’t think she fully became his dog until we moved to Florida together in 2020.

Today? Oh, is she ever his dog.