Last week he was starving. This week Charlie will eat anything, food wise that is, and I mean everything. He always has a bowl of crunchies to munch on, and gets his dog food once in the morning and once at night and then the sweet nutritional stuff he loves so much that I can coat his pills with it and he just sucks them right down. That's known as his sweetie time and he practically vibrates with excitement as he watched me squoosh the stuff onto my finger. On top of the sensible dog themed food we have also discovered that he will eat, in no particular order, veggie chips, green pepper, carrots, grapes, bananas, gummy bears, cat food (duh, what dog wouldn't sell his soul for cat food) tuna (human not cat), cookies, crackers, lettuce and probably a dozen other things that I can't think of at this time.
Unlike Rocco who would suck the food in, seemingly swallow it whole and wait for more, our Charlie is a gourmand. He takes the food ever so gently from your fingers and chews it thoroughly, swallows and then asks for more. And when he has had enough, he still takes the food from you, as to not insult you by refusing and then buries it someplace, for later.
Now this is where I have become convinced that Charlie is channeling Rocco and Ollie. Ollie buried his food. Usually not outside. Instead he would tuck it in my shoe or purse or tuck it under the pig dog bed he loved or even ever so carefully cover it with something. Charlie took a cookie then spent the longest time burying it in a napkin. Another thing that was an Ollie and Rocco thing was their safe place, which was that big pillow. If you were playing a game with Ollie and he took whatever it was you were playing with onto the pillow with him, it was safe and you could not have it. Rocco did it to, to an extent, but his was, if Ollie was on the pillow, Ply time was over and you could not snatch anything from him. This was something they made up.
So last night I said I was going to bed and suddenly Charlie grabs me by the pant leg and drags me over to the pillow only letting go once he had be safely on the pillow. I tried to leave again and back to the pillow I was pulled, so I gave up and sat and that was when Charlie began bringing me all of his toys so we could play. I can only guess that he was saving me for later.
I've mentioned Charlie on the desk, that was a Rocco thing but Charlie has figured how to climb back down and not jump to the floor. Charlie checks on me whenever he comes in the house, searching me down and letting me know he's in, exactly how Rocco did it.
When Rocco used to be ready for bed and stretched out on the big bed and I was staying up too late on the computer I would get these side ways glances from him and then he would sign, these big put upon sighs and if that didn't convince me to turn out the light, he would pull a blanket up over his head. Charlie is starting with those looks but not yet the sighs though I do expect them any time now.
Charlie is growing. I can almost see it happening. His legs are getting longer, his feet bigger but he is still a puppy.
I think he thought he died and went to heaven when he discovered all there was to discover in our back yard. In face, I think our back yard is what dogs have in their heaven. There is the bamboo and the piles of brush and the pool, toys, critters and fence. Charlie spent an hour and a half in the yard this morning before I could convince him that it was too hot to sit outside, because I must sit outside that's part of Charlie's world. He occasionally checks to make sure I'm still there.
This morning he watered all of the usually spots, checked out the bamboo, ran around the pool, grabbed a toy off Rocco's grave then had an argument with a ball that would not stay still as he tried to grab it. The ball fought backa nd the two of them went tumbling down a small decline we have in the yard. But Charlie won and told me, the ball and the world in general that he had won. He dropped the ball, bounced through the grass where he tussled with a stick, a leaf and ran back to see if that ball dared to move, it hadn't. He tackled the old basket ball but give it up as a lost cause because for now, at least, the ball is bigger than Charlie.
I will always miss those dogs that went before Charlie but this little imp is certainly help to heal a very broken heart. He has a vet appointment next week for his rabies shots etc and I bet the vet et al will not believe their eyes when Charlie struts on in.
I don't know what I did right to deserve Charlie but I hope I keep doing it.
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