Thank you,thank you,thank you for our sweet Charlie!

It's hard to believe a full year has gone by, since Charlie came to our home.As I write this email,Charlie is fast asleep beside me on the sofa while the fireplace warms the room. A typical night other than Sophie (our golden) is usually cuddled up as well. She's decided to call it a night and is currently sleeping on our bed. They had a good run today when we took them for a hike with their buddy Bear,our friends' Bernese Mountain Dog.

Charlie has been such a great dog! He has been easy to train and knows all his basic commands. The hardest one was "down" as he kept trying to give me his paw (newf joke I suspect).He finally understood the hand signal after some work,which wasn't long, as Charlie is veryyyyyy food motivated. Friends by the dozen he has made this year, four and two footed,because of his gentle personality. Even my parents joked at Christmas that if we just happened to leave him behind at their place, we could visit him often.

He LOVES being touched,brushed,stroked! The first time he went to the groomer, he didn't even wait for the table to be lowered, he just hopped up waiting patiently to be brushed.The groomer said she had never seen anything like it.

His first Christmas was special. He was able to meet some of our extended family for the first time. They loved him! Christmas dinner was a fabulous night with 19 people and 5 dogs,including Sophie and Charlie. He fit our dog crazy family like a glove and was showered with attention,which he lapped up.

The best thing is that Sophie and Charlie have become the best of friends. I spent many a summer nights this past year sitting on the deck watching them play together, which was so entertaining. Their nicknames are now frick and frack as they have become truly inseparable.

Charlie is our third dog, but our first rescue and as this has been such a positive experience for us, we have decided to adopt only rescues from now on.

Sheila,Stewart and Spencer