The advantages of getting a small dog.

This is One Thing, a column with tips on how to live. Related From Slate You’re Routinely Throwing Out an Extremely Useful Organizational Item There are a number of other practicalities to having a small dog, as I’ve learned as an adult. Social media loves debating whether dogs belong at bars and cafes, and whether they even want to be there at all, but I feel pretty confident that Gus, who fits perfectly on my lap, is thrilled to spend a couple of hours sitting with me at one of our favorite spots while I read my book and he watches the world go by. Gus is small, not tiny, so he definitely doesn’t fit in a purse, but he is snug as a bug in a big tote bag per requirements for transporting dogs on the subway. One of the best things about having a small dog, I think, as someone in her 30s with a scary amount of baby fever and an equally scary inability to care for a child at this point in her life, is that Gus is the same size and weight as a 6-to-7-month-old human baby—peak baby, arguably.