I’ve been seriously considering adopting a dog for some time now. A month or so back I even did… for a day. I brought home a dog who was “great with cats”, we bonded on the hour drive home and I was so happy. I thought she was the one. She even had her toenails painted! I introduced her to the cats after we had spent some time together outside. She was nicely sniffing them and they were sniffing back. Everything and everyone was cool, calm and collected then out of the blue she tried to attack, not play. She just freaked out. I may not know very much about dogs but I do know the difference between play mode and attack mode. My stomach dropped, the look on this dogs face just made me sick. Luckily she was still on her leash. The decision was immediate, she had to go back to her foster mom. Of course, her foster mom wasn’t happy but neither was I. I didn’t want to give up on the dog so quickly. I felt really guilty but my gut told me it wasn’t a good situation. My four cats will always be the apple of my eye and my absolute top priority. I would never do anything to put them in danger and having this dog (even under intense supervision) would likely be bad news. I could never be comfortable with her again. My dreams of having a dog went to the back burner for a while.

After I spent the fourth of July weekend at my parents I fell even deeper in love with Crum, their Great Dane. Crum’s favorite person is definitely me (Sorry Mom, you know it!) He followed me around all weekend, we had such great bonding time. It made those doggy dreams come back full force. I see Crum once a week or so depending how often I go over to my parents and they’ve had him for a little over a year. If he’s this attached, that great of a companion and doesn’t even spend that much time with me, I can’t even imagine how incredible it would to have a dog of my own. So I started browsing PetFinder again. This time no adult dogs.

I didn’t want a puppy. I know they can be a pain in the butt and honestly, I didn’t want to have to train one. But for my cat’s safety and my peace of mind, a puppy was the only way to go. An animal with a clean slate, no previous problems with any other animals. One who could be raised beside my cats whose personalities it would come to understand before he got too big. I bookmarked and emailed a bunch of shelters with pups I wanted to visit. One of the last little guys I found said that from 12-5pm you could just come up and meet him. You don’t have to ask me twice to go meet some puppies!

It was love at first sight. I scanned over all the other dogs there but I kept coming back to this same one. He was all curled up and snoozing with one of his siblings. After a quick snuggle session my mind was made up. I was his.

Aside from that everything has been so great. He’s a dream! Not only is he absolutely precious, he’s so smart. He’s learning so quickly. Each day is getting a little easier and a little easier. Puppy mom life is hectic but it’s a lot less scary then I thought it would be. When things get rough I just remind myself that I’m raising my best friend. This is the little guy that I’m going to take on adventures and spend my days exploring with as soon as he’s old enough.

The cats aren’t too sure what to think of him. If I had to make any guesses I’m going to say Leaf will be the first to warm up to him. He even tried playing with one of Klaus’s toys! I’ve also caught him sitting outside of the crate while Klaus was inside, just staring at him. Doctor Octopus is very curious and often comes over to Klaus but most of the time hisses and walks away shortly after. Professor and Squid are curious as well but haven’t yet ventured over to him. They’re keeping their distance.

All in all, the cats aren’t taking it too hard which is so great. Everything is normal other than Squid hiding when Klaus is out of his crate (which isn’t too crazy since she hides whenever company comes over. She’s very shy.) This is actually even going easier than when I brought home each cat and introduced them to each other. After each new addition they’d always fight. There’s been no fights at all.

Klaus really isn’t interested in the cats either. He’s tried playing with Leaf’s tail and a few times he’s playfully chased after Doc but most of the time he minds his own business when they’re around. I’m curious to see how things progress on this front. I look forward to them playing and cuddling but I understand that comes with time.

Klaus is a plott hound mix. He’s around two months old and came from a litter of seven pups. He has one white toenail and another that’s currently half black and half white. He doesn’t like to get his paws wet or to walk in tall grass but we’ll work on those things. He loves to eat, sniff everything and play with a toy fox that has a really loud squeaker in it. He’s afraid of other dogs barking but oddly enough, showed no fear at all when put beside my parent’s giant Great Dane. He’s doing awesome with crate training and seems to pick up things really quickly. The two commands he’s understanding the best right now are “leave it” and “down”. Sometimes when he’s in his crate and feeling lonely he makes noises that sound like a dying seal, it’s truly awful. He’s eager to please and is already walking on a leash like he’s been doing it for months. He likes crawling around under the coffee table (which is 4.5 inches high) and I’m pretty sure there’s no place he’d rather be than my lap. I’m a proud momma.

This is surely the start of a very great friendship. 
xoxo

PS. If you’d like to see more pictures of this handsome pup, I’ve been sharing photos since I got him on instagram. My page might have even turned into “pupstagram”…