Charlie can run!

I think we love him, maybe, sorta

So the poop issues were solved by morning walks! Yeah for that! and yesterday Jenna turned to me in the kitchen as she was encouraging Chuck to hop up the back steps and said "I think I am starting to love him". It led to a nice discussion about he is just a doofy old man who just wants a few pats and to play ball for five minutes a day.

Unfortunately the old man decided to wander to the garage and stick his head into the bag of cat food a few minutes after that conversation. Since he followed up on that with lots of stinky "mmm, that cat food was yummy" farts we may be back to square one in the Learning to Love Chuck game.

POOP

So far all of our Charlie issues are about poop. The poo in the garage was not a one-time incident. I cleaned up some poo again last night and Jenna discovered a pile I must have missed this morning.

I am mostly blaming myself - I haven't been taking him for a morning walk. I abhor getting up in the morning so it is a bit of a challenge for me but since he doesn't seem to go in the backyard in the morning a walk it will be. Dragging my sleepy, lazy ass out of bed has to be easier that cleaning up dog poo in the house, right?

This morning the crabby old lady down the street who jealously guards the sanctity of her strip of crab grass between the sidewalk the street chewed us out again. This is the fourth time, the first three times Harley was just sniffing around. This time I forgot where we were (two dogs are harder to keep track of than one - and it was MORNING) and Harley was actually taking a dump. I think the lady about had a stroke. After this mornings encounter I don't think we will be inviting each other over for BBQs!

Revelations

So I have learned two new things about Charlie. One good, one not so good.

Good news first - Charlie is only 12! Russell must have told me wrong or I misunderstood but I read through his vet records and his birth date is listed as 2/1995. That gives me hope that he will be around a bit longer. He has pretty advanced arthritis though, I think I will take him into the vet to see what kind of treatment options we have and get him eating a better food and some glucosimine supplements.

Bad news - and you will be glad that there is no picture with this post. Charlie has the runs ... Why do I have pets? And no I didn't find out on a walk, or by picking poo up in the back yard - he managed to get into the garage today and dig up a hanging planter box (which like most of my pots had dead plants in it). As I was thinking about how to clean that up I noticed some nastiness all over the stuff sack that has sleeping bags in it waiting to be put away since our last trip. And then I saw nastiness somewhere else, and he managed to tip the broom over and poo all over that also. It was quite a clean-up job. I am really hoping that the sleeping bag I used to love survives this little challenge.

UGH!! BLECH!!!

Everybody sit for a cookie!

Charlie knows the sit for a cookie routine, and Harley knows the routine. The neighbors dog, Luna, who I am watching for the weekend was a bit confused by it.

Waiting for Charlie

In about four hours a large, deaf, old dog is going to join our household. In a supreme example of how much of a softy I really am we are taking in a FOURTEEN year old lab. I am still not sure we are making the right decision for us but I know we are making the right decision for Charlie.

My fear is that I am going to fall in love with him and he will break my heart, but that didn't seem reason enough for us to say no. I have spent the morning tidying the house and loving on Harley. Wouldn't want the new dog to see how messy we really are!

I thought a blog would be a nice way to chronicle the challenges and experiences of adopting a senior dog. I don't really expect him to be with us for very long but I do expect that he will make a large impact on our lives.