tabby,. It wasn’t orange but had a little
orange mark on it’s forehead. I took
that as a good omen. Then, I looked at
my husband who was lovingly looking
down at his foot, where this cute little
ball of black fur was sitting and looking
up at him. My daughter had just given
birth to twin girls, so I took that as
another good omen and off we went
with not one but two kittens. Tigger
and Rip Squeak are now nine years old.
They are house cats so they have had
the run of the place for a long time.
But, ten years without a dog when
you’re a dog lover is just enough
already. Although I think I would have
been happy to go about my business
without man’s best friend under foot,
I also knew that Larry had been overly
patient and that it was time. I thought
it might be fun to surprise him with
a new puppy but I have never had a
puppy so I had no clue where to start.
Our son, Peter, had a new yellow lab so
I asked him to help. As we discussed
the prospect, he mentioned that maybe
I would enjoy having a golden retriever
for a number of reasons, all of which
sounded good to me. Together we went
on the search for a puppy.
We found Charlie, an English Golden
Retriever, at a breeder in Grass Valley.
I remember how apprehensive I was
on the way to pick him up. I had read
a couple of books about the breed and
the stages of puppyhood by that time,
so knew just enough to be sufficiently
worried. Mostly I was worried that this
huge commitment we were taking on
might prove to be a nightmare for me.
Remember, I’m a cat person and had
never experienced life with a puppy.
And, it seemed that every time I would
mention that we were getting a puppy,
people would give me that “oh, no” or
“are you like crazy” look. Some of the
stories they shared were not pretty.
But on a very rainy day in October,
we walked up to the home of the
breeder we had selected and we met
Charlie. Immediately that movie line
“you had me at hello” rang in my head. It
was love at first sight. Never, other than
seeing my amazing grandchildren for the
first time, have I ever been so smitten
so fast. The four-hour ride home only
cemented the immediate attachment. He
was so soft and cuddly and just seemed
to bury himself in my lap, trustingly.
The days that followed were filled
with wonder. I remember thinking, this
isn’t so bad, what was all the craziness
about? Charlie was really a good little
guy. After a couple weeks, we even had
him letting us know when he had to
go potty — not to say there weren’t a
few mishaps. We would have to get
up at least once during the night to
accommodate his puppy bladder but
we managed to arrange our schedule
so Larry would cover late nights and I
would cover the early mornings. Who
needs sleep anyway?
I think the hardest part of having a
puppy is the chewing. His baby teeth
were lethal and he wanted to chew
everything. We managed to contain
some of this activity and since we work
at home, we were able to spend brief
spans of time throughout the day super-
vising the little guy. Left to his own
devices, he would chew up just about
anything he could get his teeth on and
destroy any plant he could pull out.
Oh, and the yellow spots on the grass. I
was told by my lovely husband and our
son that male dogs didn’t leave yellow
spots when they went potty. That is so
not true! I really got some great advice,
however, from Gregg Bozzo, owner of
GB Landscaping Services and a friend,
when he replaced half our back lawn.
He said he didn’t understand why people
think a dog needs the whole backyard
for his/her bathroom. What a revelation!
So now, Charlie goes potty in the side
yard and our backyard grass doesn’t have
yellow spots.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY/AUGUST 2017
But I digress. As he grew; so did his
energy level. It was time for little Charlie
to get some formal training. So Larry
signed little Charlie up for training at
Operation Freedom Paws in San Martin.
Larry is so proud of the way Charlie has
taken to commands. I’m waiting for him
to get the one where he actually comes
when I call him instead of grabbing the
nearest thing he can find and running
as fast as he can away from me. Also, it
would be nice if he would not jump on
guests. He just gets so excited — what’s
that about? I gotta admit, though, I get
a kick out of it when Larry reprimands
him and he comes running over to me.
Smart puppy!
As I write this we are dealing with the
dreaded neutering saga. Poor Charlie has
to wear the CONE of shame, so he won’t
lick himself. He looks so sad and it pains
me to see him so unhappy. I’m anxious
for the darn thing to heal so he can be
his old fun loving, although not as
masculine, self.
Charlie is now ten months old, 70
pounds and a joy to have under foot.
He’s found his voice and uses it when he
hears someone coming up the sidewalk
or fireworks going off. I kinda like that
he’s protective and I’ve come to grips
with having hair everywhere and having
to vacuum constantly. I figure it’s a small
price to pay for the love of Charlie.
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