Charlie and the Christmas Toy

Merry Christmas!

To everypup, kitty, hamsterrier and human, we wish you all the best for your holidays! May your every Christmas wish come true!!
    - Charlie

Charlie: 52 Humans: 4

It's wonderful to have cards from so many friends all over the world! So wonderful, that the humans aren't even jealous. Well, not too much!!

Thanks from Charlie to all you doggies AND kitties AND ESPECIALLY hamsterriers. You've made this a very special Christmas!



p.s. Thanks to Charlie & Opy's SHD/SHM for the great idea about how to display these wonderful cards!

Christmas Wishes

Charlie's been talking to Pouncer, and she reports that three things that Charlie wants for Christmas are:

1) Mom to play with him however he wants, whenever he wants
2) To eat people food with the people
3) For Gabbie to come over and play every day

Three things Charlie does NOT want for Christmas:
1) A new babygate
2) To be left at home alone
3) To hear the word "No!" for a whole year

What do you want and not want for Christmas?

Sock monster

Charlie has this thing about socks. Noooo... he doesn't chew them. Noooo... he doesn't lick them. Nooo... he doesn't carry them around the house. Nooo... it's different from that.

Putting socks on activates him!

Humans attempting to put socks on anywhere in his sight must guard their feet and beware, because it turns Charlie into a sock-biting fiend! And sock-biting easily escalates to foot-biting, followed by all-out roughhousing.

Charlie's been like this ever since he was a puppy. And now at two, while it's getting to be almost possible to put socks on around him... sometimes... it's never easy.

Maybe he sees it as a great wrestling match (human vs. sock) in which he wants to participate -- on the sock's side. Or, maybe he sees the sock as a monster trying to attack and wants to help the human side.

I don't know. All I know is it's darn hard to put socks on around this house!

Playtime!

On rainy Portland days, it's too muddy for Gabbie to come play with Charlie in the back yard and too wet to play outside generally, so we play ball indoors.

Out for a walk

Sunshade? Freda? Opy? Is that you? Hmmmm... guess not.






Ahah! Lefty!!




Gotta sit at corners and wait for the cars to go by before we can cross.




Make sure no one's sneakin' up on us...





And now back to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

Vegetabull-terrier...?

... or Golden Retriever? You decide.

Thanksgiving -- gone but not forgotten...

The big day's over, but the turkey leftovers are still going strong, much to Charlie's satisfaction!

Wow, that was fast!

That Comet, BLU, and Lacey are really on top of things! I already got a holiday card today, and it was from them!

The envelope wasn't very yellow, though, so it must have been licked by BLU - - the old-fashioned way.

Thanks, guys!

Rain, rain go away...

It's been too rainy in Portland for Gabbie to come over to play, so Charlie's been relegated to playing ball and "chase Charlie" with the humans.

Needless to say, we're all hoping for a nice long break in the weather soon!

My Boy Charlie - Now Showing on DWB-TV!

The nice folks at Dogs With Blogs have been putting together DWB-TV, a set of all-dog-all-the-time channels featuring videos of many of our blog favorites such as Big Charlie, Sunshade, Bogart, et al.

And our Charlie is now among them! We've posted five of our favorite episodes of My Boy Charlie for your viewing pleasure.

(Click on the button to go to Charlie's channel)
Hope you enjoy them!

Happy Howl-O-Ween!

Hey, where is everyone?

Charlie the Gardener

Gardening, with Charlie in the yard, is always an iffy proposition. He loves being outdoors, but he's just so inquisitive, playful, and mouth-/food- oriented that everything I cut or dig seems to want to end up in his stomach.

And this has always been true. As a puppy, he would mill around where I was working, and he would snatch dirt clods or cut branches or seed pods and run off with them.

Magnolia seedpod in mouth
As an adult, Charlie still exhibits all his puppy characteristics, plus a tendency to want to help... If I'm digging, Charlie feels he should dig. If I cut branches, he pulls off more with his teeth. Heck, I've got him pulling weeds out of the lawn now! And the amazing thing is - he knows what's a plantain weed and what isn't!!

Helping plant tulips
Now if I can just convince him not to eat everything, I think we'll be a great team!

Battle Tactics

It's a hoot watching Charlie play with his friend Gabbie. Their play-fighting tactics are very much like humans. And, while they each have their preferred techniques, they learn from each other and adapt.

Invitation

Ear Chewing

Going for the Throat

The Body Slam

Baiting the Hook

Face Chewing

The Pin

Play Ball

Now We Are Two!

Today Charlie is two years old! Almost two years ago, Aunt Karen in Indiana found him (and his sister Sophie) and told us about him. Almost two years ago, we flew to Indiana to pick him up. Almost two years ago, we began learning what it means to be ruled by Charlie!


Two years ago, we were in California, and Charlie had to sit on a lap to help with his blog.







Now we live in Oregon, and the lap is no longer an option. Charlie directs from the floor.



Happy Birthday, Big Guy!! We can't imagine life without you!

p.s. Happy Birthday, Sophie, too!

A Rose by Any Other Name

Call him anything you want:

Charlie...

Chuck...

Chucker...

Chuck Chuck...

Charlie Horse...

Cha-chan...

Big Guy...

Little Dog...

That Good Dog We've Heard About...

...just don't call him "late for dinner"!

Hurrah for Catfood!

Slurp slurp.





Just a little to the left...





Ahhhhhh....

Crazy Dog

Charlie has always had an overdrive gear. It starts with "the zoomies," and then quickly escalates into "pogo stick to lick mom's face," followed by "nip mom's clothing," and culminating in all-out play biting. With mom, of course.

At such times Charlie seems beyond listening, beyond caring about consequences. He lives to play and play hard! I expect it's about extreme excess energy and needing someplace for it to go.

We tried to train him as a puppy to "sit" and "down" at such times and then diverted his attention with treats and legal toys.

And to an extent that works with adult Charlie. But it requires patience, discipline, and a toy within reach. When the "down" finally does get through, you can't pet his head or expect to just walk away unscathed. You are a target. The only options are to scratch his chest and stomach until he calms or to throw a ball and make an escape when he goes after it.

As he's gotten older this has manifested less. And since he started playing with Gabby, we've experienced hardly any episodes. But when she's not around for a few days... look out! Trouble on the hoof!!