Introducing Charlie

It's official, don't you think?! Four animals in one house seems to constitute a personal petting zoo?? When referring to all the boys and girl, it's no longer "cat party" but now "the zoo."

So this past Saturday Miles and I went to pick out and pick up our 8- or 9-week old Golden Retriever puppy from the Kings Kastle shelter folks. I'm still feeling like this is unreal, or at least a dream come true - that our application was chosen out of 900 other applications - and that we've been given this amazing opportunity to share our life with a brand new GRD (aka the very best kind of D). Wowie!!!!!!!! Talk about fortune shining upon us!! I guess all the stars lined up in our favor. The adult GRs were rescued on Miles' birthday in March, then we got the phone call in June just as we were embarking on my birthday weekend, and then we picked the puppy named Cooper (which was the name of Miles' first family Golden growing up!).

Here is the proud and excited papa and new pup:


Here is Charlie (it just wasn't right for him to be another "Cooper") next to his brother Hunter and their mom Sheba right in front:


Here is Charlie passed out on the car ride home:


Here is Charlie napping even more when we got home:


And here he's finally waking up a little - still tired and lazy, but settling in with his new home and family:


He's only 8.5 weeks old. But what a good boy he's been - my, what manners! He quickly learned his name, as well as "sit" and "come." He's also learned where his potty ("baubles") spot is, although sometimes he goes there a bit begrudgingly still. Even so, his little bladder muscles aren't fully developed yet and he still has accidents which are easy to clean on our hardwood floor. Last night he had a #2 (rather... a #3) accident in the kitchen - definitely the grossest so far! He's also learning to spend some alone time in his crate without whining. Ignoring the whining has been one of the more difficult tasks for me and Miles, but we've been diligent & it seems to be paying off. He's such a good little boy! He's teething and chewing on everything right now, and I guess that's going to continue for a while & we can only try to redirect him when he does. When he whines, after a minute or two he makes this dramatic "harumphf" sound and flops down on the floor with all his paws sticking out - it's the cutest!!!

Last night Douglas visited Charlie several times in the kitchen. Douglas laid down inside Charlie's crate and Charlie laid in front of it, and they played the staring game for a while. They're going to be fast friends soon! Seriously, can you picture anything cuter than a Golden puppy and its smoosh face best friend??!