Our Baby Boy Charlie

Over a year ago I opened up a blank Pages document and titled it, "Charlie is Getting Older." The reason that I started typing this was because until that day I had never thought of our hound dog Charlie as anything but a puppy who only caused headaches and frustration. I started writing that document because back then Charlie did start to display some signs of becoming a senior dog. Charlie usually ran up the steps like a stampeding bull, but I remember that day he could not make it up the basement steps and I actually had to carry him to the top. I believe that Brian had to do the same thing another day that week.


In the following few days Charlie returned to his old self and began to act crazy again. Brian and I got Charlie when he was only two months old and my God he has been a terror. He has chewed countless valuable items, eaten many pizzas and any other food he could get his teeth on and he has made more than one person cry. Don't get me wrong Charlie caused all kinds of havoc, but he had a great big heart. Any time we had guests Charlie would be the first to greet them and he would usually have to be restrained so he didn't tongue kiss our guests! Charlie also loved to meet new people and other dogs. I remember once we took him to a walk around the lake in Florida and we had to leave because he was so excited and happy to see other dogs and people that he was pulling on his leash so hard he started choking and people were looking at us like we were abusing him! Charlie use to love going to the dog parks in Arizona. He would run and run leading a pack of dogs and once he was looking back at the other dogs while running and ran straight into the back of some lady's legs sending her flying into the air and onto her back.



Charlie was a very demanding dog. I always say that dogs usually love to do what they can to please their owners. Not Charlie, Charlie wanted to know what you could do for him. If you had a blanket he wanted it, if you had a valuable possession he would chew it and his dinner needed to be promptly served at 5:00PM and he would start letting you know this starting at around 3:30. Charlie would also take advantage of any newcomer who did not know that he required constant supervision. While working in the backyard Charlie would watch Brian and I for a while until he caught an opportunity where we weren't looking at him and he would take off to rummage through the neighborhood trash to see if there was any food. Our friend Kellie came to let Charlie out while Brian and I were in school for a long day and I left her fresh chocolate chip cookies on the counter. Charlie remembered those cookies were there and as soon as she let him out he ran directly for those cookies and helped himself to a few.

Once Charlie made Brian's mom Carol cry because she was babysitting a group of children and trying to garden. The stress of the children combined with Charlie digging up and giving Carol back the plants she had just planted not once, but twice. Charlie was sure not to leave Brian's dad Ronnie out of his generosity by leaving the gift of fresh poop in his shoe.


Brian and I got Charlie after we had been together for about a month. I actually told the gentleman who was selling them that we were interested in the female dog he had. Well we got stuck in traffic and in that time the man sold the female. I was so upset I told Brian that I did not even want to see ANY of the dogs! The man opened the door and as soon as I saw one of the chubby pups run across the floor I changed my tune. There were two dogs one was playing on the floor and the other was playing with the man's children. I asked the man if those were all of the dogs and he said in a disgusted voice, "there is one more...." I told the man that I could not make my decision until we had seen every dog. He rolled his eyes and went into the room for about 5 minutes. In that time he had to crawl under the bed and dig this pup out that did not want to be bothered. The man held the dog out to us and he let out a big grunt to which my response was, "that's the one!"


Oh Charlie was an absolute terror he ate trees, PDAS, phones, glasses, remotes, entire loaves of bread. Charlie loved his little sister Sofia and then his baby sister Lucy. He always acted like he was not interested in either of them, but when they would snuggle with him he didn't mind. We had to put Charlie to sleep on July 16th, 2010. His aging body could not keep up with his young spirit. Charlie began to lose control of his back legs because of a bulging or degenerative disc in his back which was cutting off the message from his brain to be able to control his legs. I can say now that this was the right thing to do for Charlie, but it did not make it any easier.



What I would have give for one of those moments of frustration when Charlie would destroy something. When we took him to the vet to see what was wrong with him I got a glimmer of hope when he tried to rummage through their trash to find something to eat. Charlie's condition quickly got worse and he would cry in pain a lot. Since I had never gone through this before and Brian had I did not know what to expect and I actually became angry at any discussion of putting Charlie to sleep. I did not want to hear it and I prayed that Charlie's youth would return the next day. Charlie would wake us up in the middle of the night crying in pain and Brian pleaded with me to think of what is best for Charlie, I just wanted to hold onto him thinking that maybe tomorrow would be better.




The vet did not have an open appointment to see Charlie for a few days so we had to wait. It was awful. It was awful knowing that there was a set time and day for the last time you would get to pet and see your dog. I had a day off of work and just spent time with Charlie as did Brian. A few times alone I would just sit on the floor and sob and Charlie would muster up strength and come over to me and look at me lick my cheek and then go lay down again. Sofia and Lucy would come running over any time Brian and I would cry to console us. I am not sure if they understood what was happening, but they knew that we were upset and they wanted to help. The strict rules that we had for Charlie disappeared and he got what he wanted. He got to lay on the couch with a heating pad and blanket, he got scrambled eggs and hot dogs for breakfast and we held him and told him how much we loved him.


I am typing this because I did not know what to expect. If you have ever taken a dog to be put to sleep it happens very, very fast. The vet explained to us what was going to happen. Brian, Nicole and I went and comforted Charlie. Brian and I snuggled with Charlie and told him we loved him and cried. I told Charlie that at first I did not even want him, but now I can not even imagine not having him. The vet came in and after she was done we were comforted when she said, "he is not sick anymore." It did not make it any easier and we all miss Charlie a lot. They gave us a nice heart with Charlie's paw print on it and his name and the date. Brian and I both pulled the bracelets our niece Olivia made us off and wrapped them around Charlie's arms and told him that his daddies love him. We also gave him his favorite blanket and buried him at Brian's dad's house. Brian told me that he was sad, but he wanted to turn his sadness into affection for our other two dogs.



It has been two weeks since Charlie left us and it still hurts. I typed this because in those days leading up to it I did not know what to think. I felt incredible guilt and I told Brian that I was not sure it was the right thing to do. I would read pages on websites and this one actually helped me feel better. The comments section was where I read that other people had and were going through the same thing and for them it hurt a lot too. Brian was my strength through this ordeal. Now I know that we did the right thing. It was selfish to try and hold onto Charlie while he was suffering and if you have a dog in that is in pain and can not be treated than it is best to do what is right for the dog, not for yourself. Brian wanted to remember Charlie as a vibrant dog that caused terror and had a big heart. There was an out pour of condolences from friends and family and that helped a lot too. People shared poems like The Rainbow Bridge
it all helped.



Charlie would have been 9 years old next month. I tell Brian almost ever day, "I miss Charlie..." and Brian says back, "I do too." I have since tried to turn my sadness into energy for the other dogs. Sofia, Lucy and I have been walking almost every day and we have even gone hiking. While walking with our girls I talk to them telling them how good they are and I even ask them if they miss Charlie. At first I would get tears in my eyes thinking about how much Charlie would love to be there walking beside us, but I just keep on walking and tell myself, he is.