Charlotte’s Web[page]

Charlie – 4 months and 1 week old

Today marks 2 months of having Charlotte in our home, our routine, our laundry, our food, our recycling, and our hearts. She’s impressed us with her strength and annoyed us with her stubbornness. She’s tested every limit and broke every boundary that we set up. She’s been a terror in our home, yet continues to win back our hearts with her head tilted to one side and her big puppy eyes. This puppy has us wrapped around her little paws.

Today, I just wanted to share a few things about Charlotte that I want to remember forever. I’m sure that someday, she’ll be the perfectly trained loving dog, and I’ll look back and laugh at the struggles that used to seem so difficult. And so, here is what life with Charlie is like at 4 months!

The way that she uses her front paws makes me think that with a bit of training and maybe a little physical therapy, she could one day use them as hands. She’s lacking opposable thumbs of course, but when it comes to tug of war, trying to get something that I have, or attacking insects, she really seems to be quite coordinated.

When I sneeze, she stops whatever she’s doing and stares at me, gravely concerned.

There comes a time in the day when she will suddenly go to her water bowl and drink a ton of water, then start burping and hiccuping like crazy.

Charlie’s adventure in Sedona ended up with her almost being the same shade as Sedona’s famous red dirt

She is a groaner – when I get her out of her kennel in the morning, she is the most excited to see me that she’ll be all day. Her tail wags so fast it might fall off if it goes any faster. She rolls over and moans until I give her a good belly rub. Then, when we go outside, if she sees anyone she’ll get so excited, hurry over to them, pee a little, then roll over and groan as they gush about how adorable she is. (Well, most of them do…those who don’t obviously have problems.)

Our friends have also said that she is one of the most “vocal” dogs they’ve ever seen. Thankfully not because she barks a lot – she moans and groans and whines and makes other funny noises to get her point across.

Charlie’s first nap in our bed, the day after hiking 12 miles

On 11/9/14, the day we’d had her for 7 weeks exactly, she took her first nap in our bed with us.

If she can get into the bathroom, she likes to pull the rug out and into the front room to take naps on.

I am not asleep because my arm is asleep (due to both of them lying on it), Charlie is snoring, and her breath smells. 🙂

On 11/16/14, we gave in and let Charlie sleep with us. Life will never be the same. 😉 But it’s not really that bad – she sleeps all night and doesn’t do anything to try to wake us up! She just moves around a bit. Oh, and she snores.

Charlie found a “comfy” position for her nap during a long drive

Charlie does so well with traveling – our longest trip has been maybe 4 hours. She can be a terror minutes before we drive, but something about being in a moving vehicle makes her calm down and she becomes very pleasant to be around. Her favorite spot in the car is on Curtis’ lap. Even though he’s driving.

She’s not much of a snuggler currently, much to my disappointment. The only way for us to be all cozy together is if she’s asleep, or if I pick her up and stand next to her kennel. I used to do this as a threat: I would sweep her off her feet, march over there and be ready to put her in…but then she calms down and lays her head on my shoulder, and she always gets away with it. Now, if I want to cuddle with her, I’ll use this to my advantage and only make her think she’s getting out of it. Wow, dog psychology is so complicated. What have I become?!

Yesterday, there were guys right outside our back porch chopping down parts of a tree with a chain saw. Charlotte was terrified of the noise, and started doing this very high-speed pacing in circles around the futon. We eventually got her to settle down on our bed, where we all ended up taking a family nap time. 🙂

Charlie makes a friend in Sedona

She’s starting to be less shy around other dogs…sorta. She gets nervous when they are approaching her and she’ll stick her tail between her legs and try to “hide”…but as soon as they start walking away, all she wants to do is chase them. Right now, there’s only one dog that she is completely comfortable around and enjoys playing with. His name is Chuggie, he’s a Chihuahua-Pug mix.

There isn’t much that Charlie won’t do for a peanut butter cookie. She also likes deli turkey, ham, apple peels, and key lime pie. Oh, and anything else we happen to drop in the kitchen.

So far, Charlie has gone on 4 different hiking trips with us, 1 vacation, and one other night away from home. She’s gotten to meet most of our friends down here, both Curtis’ mom and my mom, and Curtis’ older sister. I’m really excited for her to meet the rest of our families – I think she’ll love them all, and she shouldn’t have too much trouble with winning them over!

Charlie on Miller Peak after hiking almost 8 miles!