I cannot remember how the subject of Charlie being homeless for large chunks of time even came up while I was on the phone with Tiffany (a friend) three months ago. She said that they had been thinking about getting a big dog and thought a trial run with Charlie and their two small girls was just the thing to help them decide and would love to watch her when ever I was out of town.
This week was actually the first time that both Ryan and I had been gone at the same time and I decided to see if she was serious about the offer. I had reservations for the kennel just in case, but she said she would love to have Charlie over.
A plus was this time was just 4 days / 3 nights whereas other times would most definitely be longer. She has been to my house with her daughters and so she sort of knew what she was getting herself into. A while back, her oldest enjoyed that Charlies ergonomically friendly dog feeder height was just about her 'sink level' affording her water to play in, dog food to eat ... cool stuff! The fact that her mom didn't absolutely freak out (as I did) as she was popping dog crunchies into her mouth seemed to give me a warm feeling that they would all get along swimmingly!
I was a bit nervous. To say our dogs are weird is rather an understatement. Ryan has often hypothesized that being home alone with me had something to do with it. We have the 'nature vs nurture' discussion all the time and how our dogs had turned out. Our last two dogs (both boxers), both - for reasons too lengthy to go into here - have gone to live with my sister Marci - a serious, hard core dog lover. She feels responsible for our current puppy also since Charlie lived with her for 6 weeks while we were house hunting after Norway and living in a hotel. Back to being nervous: one of the boxers - I forget which (both possessing every ounce of personality Charlie has - just .... different) upon going over to a friends for her first 'stay over' walked into the master bedroom, jumped on the bed, and while looking at the astonished hostess, peed on the bed! I couldn't rule out this type of behavour happening here - thus the nervousness.
Tuesday night I decided that maybe I had better call - if not just to give her my cell number which I had forgotten to do. I wondered what I would say if things were not going well?
Got hold of Tiffany and she said things were going great! They loved Charlie and the girls had been playing bouncy ball IN THE HOUSE all day with her so she was a bit tired - my call had interrupted the outside version (much less destructive - I have played both and Charlie is not a small thing when coming down from a 5 footer jump - she is also not afraid to crash into things) and she said she was pretty sure they had worn her out as she was fading fast.
She then decided to recap the first 24 hours with Charlie. First off, Monday night, Charlie decides to sleep downstairs - for reason only Charlie could tell you. Tiffany's theory was because our bedroom is downstairs (theirs is upstairs). I had already warned her that Charlie sleeps on our bed so that was not an issue. When Charlie decided to pick a couch downstairs instead, Tiffany, being what can only be described as the 'Best Dog Sitter Ever' slept on another couch so she wouldn't be alone. I am hoping there was more to it than that - like that she was worried about that penchant my dogs have for peeing on babysitters furniture (no, I DID NOT tell her this story - do you think I am stupid?) or something more substantial and was too gracious to say. I truly hope she sleeps in her own bed tonight regardless on where Charlie decides to lay her head down for the night.
Next, she gently mentions a 'problem'. Charlies tail happens to be the exact same height as Makinzis face! Oh. My. Gosh. OWWW!! Her tail, had she been in the US when she was born would have been cropped. Norway is a cruelty free country and does no cropping, thus her tail, when wagging furiously has bruised my thigh often and I have wondered (true - I am ashamed) if they would crop it now that we are in the States? It is long and strong. I feel so sorry and hope that she has since learned to duck since Charlie is SO not going to stop wagging her tail: Fun Gracious Host! Two Little Girls! Bouncy Ball! Tons of Attention! And apparently ALL THE PIGS EARS SHE CAN EAT!!!! So tail wagging is not going to stop.
Another thing ... she mentions - Um, Charlie ate her Frisbee. Ooops. Told her how to take the Frisbee away from her when she brings it back to you. How to hold your hand out for the ball ... in either case she will want to play tug of war if you don't use these helpful tricks. But ... forgot to mention: if you leave the Frisbee with her ... she will eat it. My fault entirely. Gary buys them by the dozen from Dog.com and they are made out of Kevlar - yes the thing bullet proof vests are made out of - to extend the life of the Frisbee from her strong bite - but it will end up in pieces if given enough 'Charlie time'.
So far I am feeling pretty good - except for Tiffany sleeping on the couch and her daughter getting whacked around - not so bad right?
So .... Tiffany says:
'Your dog sure is a bird dog'!
OK, yeah, I had written that the 1/4 Setter in her thinks she is bird dog, but the 3/4 Schnauzer in her cannot pull it off. She goes on to explain that their is a nest in their back yard and Charlie spots it. She jumps up, grabs the branch it is on in her mouth, snaps it and SLINGSHOTS THE MOTHER AND TWO BABIES OUT OF THEIR NEST! She then proceeds to chase the mother (sort of flying), leaving the stunned babies on the ground where they fell. Doesn't catch the mother because SHE IS 3/4 NON-BIRD DOG and NEVER catches the bird!
I have to admit this is an all time low for her and birdie carnage. I mean, is 'nest sling shotting' even in the 'bird dog' skill set, or just one more weird thing Charlie does? Tiffany said she put the babies back but I'm thinking about that 'handling babies guarantees their mother will reject them' or eat them or some urban legend like that might not bode well for the babies - Tiff might be feeding them until they are teens (I'm really not into the 'Nature' Discovery Channel: too much watching baby elephants die of thirst and whatnot ....). She also said something about two nests and I am serious when I say I don't dare ask her if a) Charlie did it twice to the same nest, b) there were really two nests that Charlie rousted or c) I have cotton in my ears!
When I related this to Gary was were both laughing, well ... because we are evil ... and could picture her so doing this! We realized that I even have photo evidence - we just didn't know it was the 'bird dog' in her:
This week was actually the first time that both Ryan and I had been gone at the same time and I decided to see if she was serious about the offer. I had reservations for the kennel just in case, but she said she would love to have Charlie over.
A plus was this time was just 4 days / 3 nights whereas other times would most definitely be longer. She has been to my house with her daughters and so she sort of knew what she was getting herself into. A while back, her oldest enjoyed that Charlies ergonomically friendly dog feeder height was just about her 'sink level' affording her water to play in, dog food to eat ... cool stuff! The fact that her mom didn't absolutely freak out (as I did) as she was popping dog crunchies into her mouth seemed to give me a warm feeling that they would all get along swimmingly!
I was a bit nervous. To say our dogs are weird is rather an understatement. Ryan has often hypothesized that being home alone with me had something to do with it. We have the 'nature vs nurture' discussion all the time and how our dogs had turned out. Our last two dogs (both boxers), both - for reasons too lengthy to go into here - have gone to live with my sister Marci - a serious, hard core dog lover. She feels responsible for our current puppy also since Charlie lived with her for 6 weeks while we were house hunting after Norway and living in a hotel. Back to being nervous: one of the boxers - I forget which (both possessing every ounce of personality Charlie has - just .... different) upon going over to a friends for her first 'stay over' walked into the master bedroom, jumped on the bed, and while looking at the astonished hostess, peed on the bed! I couldn't rule out this type of behavour happening here - thus the nervousness.
Tuesday night I decided that maybe I had better call - if not just to give her my cell number which I had forgotten to do. I wondered what I would say if things were not going well?
Got hold of Tiffany and she said things were going great! They loved Charlie and the girls had been playing bouncy ball IN THE HOUSE all day with her so she was a bit tired - my call had interrupted the outside version (much less destructive - I have played both and Charlie is not a small thing when coming down from a 5 footer jump - she is also not afraid to crash into things) and she said she was pretty sure they had worn her out as she was fading fast.
She then decided to recap the first 24 hours with Charlie. First off, Monday night, Charlie decides to sleep downstairs - for reason only Charlie could tell you. Tiffany's theory was because our bedroom is downstairs (theirs is upstairs). I had already warned her that Charlie sleeps on our bed so that was not an issue. When Charlie decided to pick a couch downstairs instead, Tiffany, being what can only be described as the 'Best Dog Sitter Ever' slept on another couch so she wouldn't be alone. I am hoping there was more to it than that - like that she was worried about that penchant my dogs have for peeing on babysitters furniture (no, I DID NOT tell her this story - do you think I am stupid?) or something more substantial and was too gracious to say. I truly hope she sleeps in her own bed tonight regardless on where Charlie decides to lay her head down for the night.
Next, she gently mentions a 'problem'. Charlies tail happens to be the exact same height as Makinzis face! Oh. My. Gosh. OWWW!! Her tail, had she been in the US when she was born would have been cropped. Norway is a cruelty free country and does no cropping, thus her tail, when wagging furiously has bruised my thigh often and I have wondered (true - I am ashamed) if they would crop it now that we are in the States? It is long and strong. I feel so sorry and hope that she has since learned to duck since Charlie is SO not going to stop wagging her tail: Fun Gracious Host! Two Little Girls! Bouncy Ball! Tons of Attention! And apparently ALL THE PIGS EARS SHE CAN EAT!!!! So tail wagging is not going to stop.
Another thing ... she mentions - Um, Charlie ate her Frisbee. Ooops. Told her how to take the Frisbee away from her when she brings it back to you. How to hold your hand out for the ball ... in either case she will want to play tug of war if you don't use these helpful tricks. But ... forgot to mention: if you leave the Frisbee with her ... she will eat it. My fault entirely. Gary buys them by the dozen from Dog.com and they are made out of Kevlar - yes the thing bullet proof vests are made out of - to extend the life of the Frisbee from her strong bite - but it will end up in pieces if given enough 'Charlie time'.
So far I am feeling pretty good - except for Tiffany sleeping on the couch and her daughter getting whacked around - not so bad right?
So .... Tiffany says:
'Your dog sure is a bird dog'!
OK, yeah, I had written that the 1/4 Setter in her thinks she is bird dog, but the 3/4 Schnauzer in her cannot pull it off. She goes on to explain that their is a nest in their back yard and Charlie spots it. She jumps up, grabs the branch it is on in her mouth, snaps it and SLINGSHOTS THE MOTHER AND TWO BABIES OUT OF THEIR NEST! She then proceeds to chase the mother (sort of flying), leaving the stunned babies on the ground where they fell. Doesn't catch the mother because SHE IS 3/4 NON-BIRD DOG and NEVER catches the bird!
I have to admit this is an all time low for her and birdie carnage. I mean, is 'nest sling shotting' even in the 'bird dog' skill set, or just one more weird thing Charlie does? Tiffany said she put the babies back but I'm thinking about that 'handling babies guarantees their mother will reject them' or eat them or some urban legend like that might not bode well for the babies - Tiff might be feeding them until they are teens (I'm really not into the 'Nature' Discovery Channel: too much watching baby elephants die of thirst and whatnot ....). She also said something about two nests and I am serious when I say I don't dare ask her if a) Charlie did it twice to the same nest, b) there were really two nests that Charlie rousted or c) I have cotton in my ears!
When I related this to Gary was were both laughing, well ... because we are evil ... and could picture her so doing this! We realized that I even have photo evidence - we just didn't know it was the 'bird dog' in her:
Who knew that getting a Frisbee out of a tree and 'deflocking' a nest would use the same exact moves!This all in my Tuesday night conversation with Tiffany. The really impressive part about this whole scenario (aside from the fact that the entire family is totally loving Charlie or are exceptionally good liars)?
I called her back today!!!
2 comments:
Charlie sounds hilarious and Tiff sounds like a lifesaver! Good match!
What funny stories - I can just see Charlie flinging the birds into the sky. Maybe you could hire him out to anxious parent birds who want Junior out of the nest and flying RIGHT NOW!
Post a Comment