Charlie

Charlie was our first dog. He was an Australian Shepherd, given to my daughters Jenni and Sammi, as a surprise Christmas present in 1998. They had been campaigning for a dog for months. Being a cat person, I resisted as much as I could. But, I thought I'd give it a try when they insisted they would do "all the work."

I contacted a breeder in Thurmont, Maryland. She had puppies that were born a short time ago - October 17th to be exact :-)  I asked her to hold one that would be a good family dog and went up to see him about a month later. When I got there, there was another puppy peeking out from the back of the cage. He had the cutest face. I asked the breeder, "What about that one?" She replied, "Oh, that's the runt of the litter."  My response was immediate, "Can I hold him?" That was it!! Love at first hold! I had to wait until he was at least 8 weeks old to bring him home.

So on Christmas Eve I drove up to Thurmont and brought Charlie home. I took him over to Grandma and Grandpa's to get a bath and to spend the night. They brought him over to our house bright & early the next morning. When they got there (about 7am), I put a little santa hat on him and handed him to the girls. I'll never forget the looks on their faces that morning!  Pure delight.

Charlie was considered black with white markings and tan points. His dad, Hot Shot Rebel (Freckles), was a blue merle. Just Do It Sage, his mom, was a red merle. He was a purebred Australian Shepherd and was registered with the AKC.

Charlie was a graduate of Deepwood's Puppy Kindergarten. Much to our surprise, he graduated first in his class!