My Life with Charlie… and Gus

A VERY little brother actually. He’s 14 weeks old and just 2.9 pounds! Poor guys doesn’t even have a name yet, but he will by tomorrow. We promised him that!

At this point, Charlie’s not so sure that the little guy even deserves a name, but he’ll come around.

He’s probably a chihuahua-shihtzu with some terrier mixed in as well. We rescued him a week ago, with the help of Spot, our new favorite dog place in LA. He was dropped off there in a box with a brother and sister and after they got adopted (together), he was left for us! Lucky us!

Charlie and I are adapting well to the whole working-full-time thing. Luckily for him, Elizabeth has been working from home now and then. Last week, Elizabeth was out of town for work, but Charlie spent most days with Montana and Ralphie at Eileen’s. We’re gonna look into daycare this week.

Today’s story and some fun photos:

It was a beautiful southern California day today and I wanted to take advantage of the weather by spending as much of it outside in the sun as possible. After an early morning bike ride, Charlie and I took another trip to Griffith Park.

We had planned on going to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park, which is much closer to home, but for some reason the section of Mulholland Drive near the park was closed, so I called a quick audible and we trekked over to Griffith Park. Our first stop was the dog park on the eastern edge of the park. We’d never been to that park before. There’s are separate areas for big and small dogs. The small dog area seemed a bit lame today, so we went to the big dog side. The park is much smaller than Laurel Canyon, but it’s plenty big enough for an 8.4* pound dog and today it was nice and mellow.

Typical of Charlie, after exploring a bit and smelling a few dogs, he found a shady spot underneath the table where I was sitting.

Once Charlie decided he’d had enough of the dog park – he always makes it very clear when he’s had enough of the park by barking at me – we went for a little hike on the trails. We hit the same trail from a few weeks ago. Today, we only “hiked” a small section of it.

(this look from him always makes me think he’s smiling)

After all that time in the car and the exercise in the hot sun, Charlie was exhausted and slept the whole way home. And pretty much the rest of the evening since!

*Official weight from the vet last Wednesday.

You’re 4 years old today!!

We did a lot of his very favorite things today – a bunch of long walks, a short drive in the car, snuggling in bed with Elizabeth, playing “fetch” with his best friend the fox

and eating some yummy chicken breast and of course, getting extra puppy crack (a.k.a Happy Hips Chicken Jerky treats):

He didn’t get a special cake (a mix of his favorite stuff: cereal, peanut butter and maybe even some turkey) like he did on his first birthday, but I think he still had as much fun!

The New Hire Questionnaire at my new job asked:

“11. What else would you like everyone to know about you?”

My answer:

“Other than my wife, my little 8 pound dog is probably my best friend. And, no, I’m not embarrassed to admit that one bit.”

All my answers were sent around yesterday.  The best thing is that a few people have asked about Charlie and I’ve gotten to show off some pictures.

Charlie has a new cousin. Well, not so new anymore really, but new to the blog. Her name is Birdie and she is really really cute long-haired Dachshund. Loren and Charlie got her in December, so she must be almost 6 months old by now.

Boy does she ever have puppy energy. I mean she never ever sits still. And that drives grumpy “old” Charlie crazy. Sometimes Charlie will play with Birdie:

But mostly he just growls at her and even bares his teeth! It’s been like that since the first time they met – she’s psyched to play, he’s having none of it. Tonight Charlie (dog) and I went over to visit Loren and Charlie (person) for dinner and he wasn’t in the mood. She was so excited that she jumped off the couch and nearly landed on her head when we walked in. On the other hand, he wouldn’t let her close to him. She tried her best all night to get him to play. I wonder what it is.

So far, so good, with the whole full-time-job thing. I actually don’t mind going into work! Charlie’s been OK – more than OK, actually – particularly because Elizabeth was able to work from home yesterday and today. Tomorrow, though, we’ll both be at work all day, we’ll see how that feels for him. I do miss hanging with my little guy. Taking him out for regular walks and our daily trip to the dog park were nice distractions and got me off my ass and away from my desk.

On another note, on Sunday, we went for a family hike in Runyon Canyon Park. For those of you not from LA, Runyon Canyon is a very popular little hike right off Hollywood Blvd. The main hiking loop is about three miles long. From the start you either go counter-clockwise up a steep dirt trail with lots of uneven height steps and then down a mostly paved “road” or you go clockwise, up the mostly-paved road and down the dirt trail. It’s very dog friendly, but we questioned whether or not it would be too strenuous for Charlie. In December 2007, he did do the Cowles Mountain hike in San Diego with my parents and I (picture below from the top) so he should be able to do this one too, right?

We did bring him (what would a “family” hike be without one member of the family) and I am happy to report that he killed it. We went up the dirt trail. Some of the steps were taller than Charlie but he managed to jump up nearly all of them. He missed one and had a little fall, but that didn’t stop him from trying again and making it! Stupid me forgot the camera, but next time I’ll bring it for proof.

So this is it. December 31, 2009. The last no-work-workday for me for at least a little while. It’s been a nice 10 month run since moving to LA in March. Not working at all and then working from home was a great way for me – or actually, all three of us – to get used to living in LA. Charlie and I spent a lot of quality time together. He’s great and easy company.

It will be nice (really more than just “nice”) to be working full-time again. We can certainly use the money, and I’ll feel good with the structure and feeling like I’m being productive.

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been going into the office most days for the last few weeks. Today, I went in for the morning but was able to leave to spend the afternoon running some final 2009 errands and hanging with my guy.

We jumped in the car – as always, Charlie was more than happy to be my passenger for a ride!

Driving past Fred Segal, where they all know Charlie pretty well by now (from Elizabeth’s visits to the cafe for coffee… mostly):

The “best” part of our time together today was our visit to the dog park. We’ll still take our morning and evening walks, but the afternoon visits to the park definitely won’t be happening very often. After checking out the new smells, we went into the small dog area where Charlie played with some new friends, then, after a little disagreement with another dog, ended up in detention with me on the bench.

Finally, we went back into the larger area for a bit more running.

And right now, he’s curled up in a nice tight ball on my lap. Just where he’s found himself for countless hours over the last 10 months.

It’s a bittersweet feeling to finish one phase of my life and start a new one. Things will be different, but Charlie and I will still have our time together. And I plan on recording that time here.

Happy New Year to all!

I’m a biased parent, but hear me out. Charlie’s damn smart. He’s smart like an teenager (though in dog years he’s older than that). What I mean is he’s smart enough to understand most of what we ask him to do and smart enough to do what will get him what he wants, but also smart enough to know when “not understanding” is the most “Charlie-beneficial” move.

When Charlie was a puppy we did some training classes with him. And he even “graduated”.

In the training Charlie should have learned a bunch of commands – sit, down, stay, leave it, come, wait and probably a few others that even I can’t remember. We used positive reinforcement to train him. Do what I commanded – either verbally or with hand signals – and he’d get a treat. Not do it, no treat.

As it turns out, we had the most fun with and the quickest response from Charlie to “sit”. He got it pretty much right away and it makes him look so damn cute. We used it a lot – and he got a lot of treats from sitting. He was pretty good with “down” and sometimes would respond to “come”. “Leave it” mostly works, but I think that’s more because the tone of my voice for that command scares him. On the other hand “stay” and “wait” were lost causes from the start.

Getting back to “sit” and how smart he is, Charlie is now so conditioned that he sits without being commanded to do so. And when he sits, he expects a treat. And, damn us, most of the time we indulge him. So in the picture above, he’s just sitting in the kitchen, waiting. He usually gives it a little while to see if by sitting it will remind us that we actually asked him to sit so that we could give him a treat.

I think we need a new command.