This year I celebrated eleven years with Squid, eight years with Professor, and now, five years with Klaus. On July 20th, 2013, I adopted a very tiny puppy from a shelter I had driven past a million times before. I went ‘just to look’ but ended up bringing home the cutest brindle baby ever. I don’t think I really knew what I was getting into by adopting a dog. They’re so much work but he’s definitely worth it. I’m sure glad this big smelly mutt is in my life. Klaus brings me immeasurable happiness. He can be a real rascal but gosh darn it, he’s a good friend.

Klaus is a huge baby. I have never met a dog who loved to snuggle more than this guy. He’s never happier than when he’s curled up between Jeff and I on the couch. He will lay in any position, no matter how uncomfortable it has looks, as long as it means that he can be near us. Every single night he starts of at the foot of the bed but manages to sneak his way up between us in the middle of the night. I basically never sleep all the way through the night because I wake up cold – someone is a major cover hog. I can whisper yell “Klaus, move! Go puppy!” a thousand times and he’ll wake up just enough to let me know he’s too lazy to move. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I actually miss it while we’re on vacation.

His other happy place? Mud puddles! Seeing him run and play at my parent’s house makes me want to leave the city and buy a huge piece of property with a pond just for him to enjoy. Seeing how much he enjoys cooling off his belly in the squishy mud is just the best. Even if it hasn’t rained in a while, he’ll always manage to find that one puddle left to get filthy in!

Klaus is a toy fanatic. He haaaas to get one every time he gets excited. If you hype him up with “who’s a good pup!?”, he’ll grab a toy for you. He’ll also bring you one if you say “bring me a snake!” No matter where he’s relaxing, he’s usually gathered himself a small pile of them to lay near. He’s not greedy though, he greets Jeff when he gets home from work every single day with a toy, a demonstration of how noisy that toy is, and lots of kisses.

My current favorite thing he does? Make nests. Klaus takes such care in arranging his blanket into the perfect little nest every evening. He’ll just work on it forever, turning in circles, pawing, biting ever so gently to make it the coziest spot. He has a couple blankets of his own throughout the house but every so often thinks he should try to use my nice couch blankets. Just yesterday he pulled one of my blankets that was folded up beside the couch over to the middle of the living room and started nesting. It’s just so sweet to see him work so hard on something even if it does mean I have to wash it afterward.

a few of my favorite Klaus posts;

▴ the little things – Professor + Klaus are finally friends!
▴ the critters – an update on how the animals are adjusting to life in the ‘new’ apartment.
▴ what we wore: no bones about it – matching skeleton costumes with my pup!
▴ puppy love – health scare = a good reason to gush about how much I love him.
▴ the little things – Klaus + his best friend, Ellie May!
▴ fashion Klaus – just a tweet about my favorite fashionable dog.
▴ my mud puppy – guess who finally likes the water!!
▴ Klaus’s pup-iversary – three years together.
▴ Klaus at the beach – my favorite pup + my favorite place.

Also, I really just love this photo of the sunlight grump gang.

Klaus and his favorite person.

Here’s to many more years with you, you big smelly puppy!
xoxo