William and I visited Italy together while we were in high school. When we got our first puppy we named the boxer dog after a Roman emperor. Caesar was our first boxer and he was calm and austere. When we got our second boxer, naturally we wanted to name him after another emperor. We thought Claudius and Caligula were too long to be yelling: Caligula SIT!

So we settled on Nero. Now Nero is a bit crazy, and those that have been in his royal presence understand he is his own brand of crazy. We realized we named him after an emperor that was a bit nuts himself (he would burn people to light his garden at night). Now that our Nero dog has grown up a bit (and calmed down) he enjoys the finer things in life like the couch and a well made bed he can snuggle in. Like most boxer dogs he is loyal and friendly, and clocking in at 80 pounds he is gentle with smaller dogs, and lays on the floor to play with them.

If you want to follow Nero, you can friend him on Facebook and hang out with his other 1,240 close friends.

Also, a thanks to West Elm for making these washable pillow covers. When you have a dog this big, and he loves luxury, I need washable in my life.