Click this adorable puppy to watch him grow before your eyes.

On August 31, 2007, we adopted this little guy.

For a full year after that, Tony looked at me every day with a look that said, “Why did you do this to me?” I assured him that he only had to wait a year. After a year, the puppy magically wakes up one day, and he’s a dog. He can let you know when he needs to go outside, you can turn your back on him without fearing that he’ll rip the couch apart, and you can leave him alone for longer than an hour at a time.

Best of all, I told Tony, there will be times when you’re sick or you’ve had a bad day, and he’ll somehow just know. And in those moments, there are few things more comforting in the world than feeling his head in your lap or his presence at your side, and you’ll know the purest kind of loyalty and the most unconditional form of love.

The good news is I was right. The bad news is that this particular dog grew into such an amazing companion that we know he’s set an impossible standard for any other dog we ever adopt. I’m 99% certain that we used up all of our good dog karma on Howie with all of his sweetness and obedience and not an ounce of destructive tendencies. Someday we’ll get another dog, and it will be the exact opposite, and we’ll have NO IDEA what to do.

But for now, we’re both glad I turned out to be right about this one. Otherwise, I don’t think Howie would have lived to see two years old.