Charlie's Story

May 29, 2015 - continued

9pm – Charlie lives at our house!! Yes SHE does.

It’s been a whirlwhind of a day, let me tell you. At 2:30 we visited Penny in her foster home and promptly fell in love. Before we got there I told myself that I needed to see a couple of things from this dog if she really was going to be my Charlie. She had to be friendly to us right away and she needed to give us kisses like Shifu always used to.  If these things didn’t happen, she wasn’t our Charlie.

We walked in and she was brought out. Right away she ran over to us and rolled over on her back to let us pet her. She stayed with us during our entire visit, alternating between T and me and she gave us so many kisses. She would come when we called her and eventually just curled up in my lap giving me the occasional kiss on the chin. 

We looked at each other and we just knew. She looks like a cross between Bear, Jasper and Shifu. She’s about Shifu’s size, just a little longer like maybe she has some dachshund in her in addition to Chihuahua. She’s adorable and mellow and friendly and sweet and playful. When we got ready to leave she ran to the front door, all excited, as if she expected to go with us.

We drove straight from her house to the animal rescue office, about 30 minutes away. Once there we filled out the contract and adopted our little sweetheart. Normally you have to wait a few days so that they can do a house check but since we had previously adopted from another rescue group in the area they waived that step and we were told that we could go get her whenever we wanted.

Of course we wanted to get her right away so I called the foster family and made arrangements to come out at 7 tonight. I think they were a little stunned that it all happened so quickly but they were kind enough to understand that we were anxious to take her home.

Because it was only 4 at that time, we celebrated our new addition with dinner at a new Mexican place we’d discovered 2 days ago when we parked in front of it. 16 years living in this area and we’d somehow missed this great place. While having dinner we talked about Charlie and also about Shifu. Getting a new dog after losing a beloved one is always a little bittersweet. There’s a part of you that feels like you’re betraying the former dog in some way. We had to remind ourselves that we weren’t replacing Shifu in any way and that it was really a tribute to how much we loved him that we wanted to experience that again.

While at dinner I texted Marley’s foster mom to let her know that we wouldn’t be keeping our appointment for the next day because we just completed an adoption.  I’ll always be grateful that Marley’s picture prompted me to fill out the online application to ask to meet him and Penny.

And so at 7pm we went to the foster house and were greeted by a very happy little doggie who seemed genuinely happy to see us again. She was sitting on the couch with the daughter (who she slept with every night) and she jumped down off the couch as soon as we walked into the room and ran over to us with her tail wagging a mile a minute. When she saw the leash in our hands she ran to the door just like she had earlier this afternoon. Of course saying goodbye to her family was a little hard on her and she was rather subdued when we carried her out to the car but she perked up on the drive home and seemed curious about what was happening to her.

And now, a couple of hours later she’s sleeping next to me on the couch and seems quite comfortable in her new home. Charlie has explored the back yard, jumped on both of our couches, eaten a few human snacks (from her daddy, he’s going to spoil her) and enjoyed many cuddle sessions and back scratches.

She really does look a lot like Shifu so in many ways it seems like life has come back to normal but I will keep reminding myself that she’s Charlie and not Shifu. She deserves the chance to be her own little person rather than just a substitute. Right now we’re noticing all sorts of behaviors that remind us of Shifu but in time I’m sure we will discover her own unique personality.

We’ve got a whole lovely weekend ahead of us to get used to each other and have adventures. Tomorrow I imagine we’ll end up at the beach at some point. Shifu and Jasper never liked the ocean much although Jasper enjoyed playing fetch on the sand. I wonder if Charlie will be different and love the water. I can’t wait to find out. 

I’m so happy that we found our Charlie!