Charlie

Charlie had a sense of humor that brought joy to everyone who knew him. One time I was dropping him off for boarding at Dog Days in Berthoud. He was a stellar graduate of their training program, held by Laurie Buffington. On this day we arrived just when the puppy class was ending and Laurie saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate to the class how a well-trained dog (that was usually Charlie) performs. Once he was out of the car, Laurie commanded Charlie to “SIT.” That would have probably worked, but the problem was that all of the cute little puppy-students were standing in a nice row with their parents who were all looking forward to an excellent performance. Charlie however, had other ideas. You see, opposite the barn is a hill that hides the spring-fed pond that Charlie knows and loves more than attention, treats or praise. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he surveyed the situation; there was an audience, his trainer, his mother, or a sparkling pond. In a flash he turned in the other direction and made a mad-dash over the hill – he disappeared. What Charlie (and I) didn’t know was that since it was late spring, the pond was nothing but mud, not that that mattered. In the meantime, I was horrified that all of those hours of home-training had come to this moment of exposure! As I turned to Laurie to try to explain how this could have happened, the class (and Laurie) erupted into wild bursts of laughter. I turned to see Charlie, who stood at the top of the hill with his tail wagging delightedly, but all you could see was his big white teeth behind his cheerful smile. He was completely covered, from the tip of his swishing tail to the end of his shiny nose in black, oozy sludge and he couldn’t have been happier! Charlie was born in 1998 and died in our arms on 1/11/11. “Charlie, your spirit fills our hearts and we will always love you. It’s your time to swim with the angels!”