this guy

Everything happens for a reason.

As if we didn't have enough fur, fluff and tummies to feed in our household we welcomed a new one in back in October.

We'd talked about getting a puppy. It would be good for the girls, Sandi and Minnie. Sandi is getting on in the years, at 11 and Minnie will need a companion when the time comes that Sandi is no longer with us. And well, heck we live in a bigger house now and have tons of room in our hearts.

I'd always said, after our first "baby" being a wonderful Golden Retriever, Jack, that we'd end up with at least one more Golden sharing our lives with us.

That being said I was swayed temporarily by some canines of smaller proportions, mainly Shichons. They're a cross between Shih-tzus and Bichon Frise and might I say absolutely adorable! Big B wasn't thrilled with the idea and well, I've always had an affinity for Goldens.

One day back in September I happened to be perusing an online yard sale page on Facebook and there they were, these cute little bundles of golden fluff, piss and vinegar! I was hooked. Originally, I picked one. I knew I wanted a male and preferred darker Goldens. We'd looked at some that were the color of sugar cookies years ago, but Jack was dark. He was almost as dark as Irish Setters. In fact, many times people would mistake him for them.

I contacted the breeder and set up to go that evening to her house to meet the pups. There were a total of 5, 2 females and 3 males, 1 male having been already spoked for. This left the one I originally picked from a cute picture the breeder had posted of the pups in plastic jack o' lantern buckets and with other props.

Big B was willing to go see them, since I'd originally reported they were located not too far south of the town just south of us. Oops. This is now something I'll never live down, since the breeder actually lives about 1.5 hours southwest of us!

Anyway, we went and saw the puppies. There he was with his siblings. He was the bigger of the two remaining males, but lighter. It didn't matter. I fell in love at first sight. After playing with him and loving on him for a bit, we made our down payment and left.

Time wouldn't go fast enough, but finally it was time to go pick him up in mid-October. We picked AW up early from school and made our way to our bundle of fuzz. We let AW pick out his name. Charlie was ours.

We brought him home and immediately introduced him to Sandi and Minnie. Minnie, being the timid dog she is wouldn't go near him. She'd skirt the permieter of any area he was in just to get around him. Sandi fell in love probably just as fast as I did.

He has been such a joy to have around since the moment we brought him home. He's brought some spunk back into Sandi's elderly existence. Minnie and he have since bonded and play for what seems like hours on end. They're like the three best friends anyone could have.

Back when I was in nursing school we had done group projects on alternative medicine modalities. My group chose pet therapy as one of ours. I can say from firsthand experience having my animals around, especially Charlie, has helped me tremendously in my recovery. Not a day goes by where I don't give thanks and just know he was meant to be a part of our family. He rounds out the count to 3 dogs, 3 cats, an aquarium of fish and 1 bearded dragon!