Top Dog

Today is a very special day in the Schirel household. It's Charlie's "Birthday." Although we don't know exactly how old our little pooch is, we decided April 5th is his birthday because that's the day that we adopted him two years ago. We think he's just about 3 years old, but we don't really know for sure. He certainly still acts like a puppy! For all who don't know, we got Charlie from a rescue group called Adopt-A-Pet, Inc. They rescue dogs mostly from kill shelters throughout the state and put all the dogs in foster homes until they find forever homes. It's a really great organization and we owe them quite a lot for bringing Charlie into our lives. If you're looking to get a dog (and I'm a big proponent of rescuing a homeless pet vs. buying one from a breeder) check out their web site at the link above.

Charlie was rescued from a high-kill shelter in Southern Illinois. They didn't know his whole background except that he was abandoned, brought to the shelter and then rescued by Adopt-a-Pet. The rescue group had named him "Coco Puff" and we changed it to Charlie pretty much the instant we got him home. I could not imagine why anyone would abandon Charlie--he is such a great dog. And I cannot imagine our lives now without him. He is seriously the most loving, loyal and adorable dog and we feel totally lucky to have him.

We got Charlie a special bone thing to celebrate, and Charlie's girlfriend's owner (our neighbor) brought us some cake tonight. (Even though we don't think she knew it was his birthday, it was good timing!)



Special birthday bone



Charlie Zoe bonding time