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Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is Charlie. The one you’ve been seeing pictures of. Also – yes I realize my beloved Pioneer Woman also has a dog named Charlie but I didn’t (consciously) realize that till right this minute.

Great minds… :p

Isn’t he adorable? Here is his story:

Bella and I were at the farmer’s market Saturday and stumbled on the Humane Society finding homes for two German Shepard puppies. All of the sudden, I realized how very much I wanted a dog. As did Bella. I called Sam right then and there but he talked me down off the ledge. Then he said, “Come home and let’s really talk this over.”

So we did. About everything, and researched, and thought about how Bella would be with one. We decided we wanted a smaller puppy, one that could grow up with Bella and be trained by us. All Saturday afternoon we drive around looking at shelters and the various animal adoptions going on. We found several dogs we liked, but they were all too old, too sick, or too big.

Heading home, we promised Bella we’d keep looking.

That night I got on Craigslist just to browse, and stumbled on a pic of the cutest dog ever. Described as a “sweet little boy, 3 months old, very playful” I hesitated (Craigslist crazies) and then showed him to Sam. Who took one look and said, “Email them.”

Back and forth we went on emails; they were moving, had a new baby, needed to find him a new home asap. We met them that night and adopted the puppy. The couple gave us bedding, a teddy bear he loved, and little toys, He had been very well taken care of but the mom said she had enough going on with a newborn.

We brought him home, and the next day got up early to play with him.

He’s Sam’s buddy – follows him all over and loves to attack his feet. Charlie is a “Cheagle” – half Chihuahua and half Beagle. He has a bark that is the combo of the two. It’s insanely cute. His face and ears are more Beagle, body more Chihuahua. He is a hunter though, his tail goes straight up and he bolts at the sign of a bird.

Bella adores him. She can’t understand yet why he doesn’t have the same level of obsession with her, but we’re getting there. She loves to play with him and is learning the meaning of “gentle honey” all over again. She wakes up in the morning early now just to love on him.



Also? They wear each other out. Double afternoon naps for them both. The cats? They hate him. HATE HIM. We have 3 cats and each one hates him more than the next. We’re just giving them lots of space and not pushing anything. They tend to sit in the corner sulking until Charlie gets close, then poof up and hiss. Or scream and run away, crashing into things trying to escape his wagging tail and happy face.

No. I do not laugh when this happens. That would be awful.

::snickers::



Charlie’s a nipper. That makes Bella upset – because she doesn’t understand that’s his way of playing. We explain that he is just excited, and she is trying to understand. We also have him enrolled in puppy classes starting tomorrow evening for 6 weeks. Sit, stay, how to walk on a leash, minimize barking, potty training, they take care of it all. Hopefully they get him to stop jumping and licking/nipping faces. Nothing worse than having someone’s dog shove their tongue down your throat while biting your chin when you visit. O_o


He’s such a joy to have. Extra work? Yep. But then, I thought this month and next would be kinda crazy anyway with two babies. It’s nice to have a little buddy during the day that wants to snuggle and play. It’s even better that Bella has a companion.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that he is totally adorable.



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Did you know that in the military, there are these little know benefits…