Charlie

Our girls love animals.  The only thing either of them asked for this year for their birthday was a dog.  We continued to tell them we just weren't "ready" for a dog.  "Maybe in a couple of years".  Turns out that a "couple of years" happened early.

This is Charlie.

He is our dog.  It happened by chance.  Our friends Michelle, Henry and Alice got Charlie in May.  He came from a program that trains dogs for search and rescue.  Charlie wasn't quite cut out for that kind of work...but he was already trained in a lot of ways.  Basic commands, sleeping in a crate, etc.  He's a lab/pointer mix about 12-18 months old.  Problem was....it turns out that Charlie just didn't gel with their cat.  So...Michelle called me thinking that we may know someone who was looking for a dog.  (Because we definitely were not.)  It clicked in my head when she asked that....if we are going to get a dog....this could be the perfect situation.  Already potty-trained, crate trained, out of the puppy chewing thing, etc.  I told her I would let her know if I thought of anyone.  I immediately asked Mark what he thought.  I think he thought I was crazy....mostly because I was the biggest hold-out on the dog thing.  We asked the girls what they thought.  Duh. I called Michelle back and asked if we could just try him out for the weekend.  

Needless to say....the weekend came and went.  Charlie is definitely part of the family.