Charlie IV
Chapter 2
Rick was trying to drive home. Meaning trying to drive without a puppy in his lap that didn't just want in his lap; he wanted to climb him. Every time he picked him up with one hand and moved him across the bench seat to sit in on the passenger side, the puppy never stayed longer than 5 seconds and he was up and walking across to get back in Rick's lap.
"Okay fine, just stay right there and don't climb me." Rick let him stay in his lap and when he didn't sit still Rick used a hand to try and get him to either sit or lay down.
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Rick pulled into his space since they made it home in one piece with a puppy in his lap. "Here we are, your new home. Let's go see." Rick picked him up and got out of his truck.
"This is the yard. Sorry it's all rock but it works for me. But you're probably hungry and thirsty." Rick picked him back up, unlocked his door and took him inside, and put him down. "And this is home. You have a bed, water, just as soon as I fill it." Rick filled one of the bowls with water and put it down.
"Puppy food." Rick picked up the other bowl and went where he stored the big bag of food. He had to find scissors to open it first and then scooped out some food and took it back to him. He watched him drinking, put down food, and watched him start crunching away.
"I was right you were hungry and thirsty," Rick told himself.
"Uh oh, I think I know that look. I need a poop bag." Rick opened the cabinet and picked up the puppy just as he was getting ready to do something and took him outside. "I forgot the liver treats." Rick watched the puppy arch his back and poop. "I'll remember next time I promise." Rick picked up the poop, pulled his bag inside out, and tied it off to seal in the stink.
"Mr. Rodgers." One of the boys rode by on his bike. For once he wasn't coming to get him for his mother so he could fix something. "You got a puppy?" He hopped off his bike and let it crash to the ground. It was just a stupid bike. He had a puppy.
"Hi!" He started petting the puppy because that's what you did with a puppy. "What's his name?" He had only just met the puppy and he was in love.
"Name?" Uh, he hadn't given that much thought. They hadn't given him a name so he likely didn't have one.
Justin looked up at Rick. "Does he have hair problems?" The puppy looked a little off.
"Um…Charlie, his name is Charlie. He's a rescue," Rick said. "And the people who had him didn't treat him right."
"Really? Poor Charlie. We'll take good care of you, won't we, Charlie?" He picked him up and hugged him and kissed him and then carefully put him back down.
"JUSTIN!"
"I have to go. Bye Charlie. I'll be back tomorrow to play with you. …Bye, Mr. Rodgers." He ran to his bike, got on, and pedaled home.
"That was Justin. Looks like you're going to be really popular around here." Rick picked him up and took him back inside. He looked for one of his mini tennis balls and one of this stuffed toys to see which one Charlie liked best, if any at all.
Rick found out that Charlie would chase the tennis ball but he didn't bring it back so he couldn't throw it again. "That's okay, we can work on that. What I need is information on how to start training you to be a Therapy Dog. Maybe on my way home from work tomorrow. Hope you like being alone since I can't take you with me."
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Rick had washed up a little and stripped down after closing the drapes and had finally gone to bed. He had to get up in a few hours. Going to get Charlie had screwed up his schedule. He wasn't going to get much sleep.
Rick was trying to get to sleep but someone wasn't letting him. Rick rolled over and looked down at the puppy on the floor. "What? You have a nice big doggie bed. I should know, I bought it for you. You even have food and water." He had refilled his food bowl in case he got hungry while he slept. "Go to sleep." Rick rolled back over and a moment later his puppy informed him that he wasn't happy yet again. He sighed, rolled back over, and looked down. He saw that Charlie wasn't stopping. "This is my bed. You have a bed." Charlie informed him once more that he wasn't happy.
"Fine, fine! But only if you promise to stop doing that so I can sleep." Rick reached down, picked him up with one hand, and plopped him down on his bed. "Now go to sleep." Except what he got was having his face licked. "All right, all right, I like you too. Go to sleep." Rick moved him and watched him come right back and laid down on his arm, pinning it there with his little body.
"Good boy, go to sleep." Rick closed his eyes but a few minutes later he cracked open an eye to take another look. While he couldn't see his face Charlie wasn't moving so he took that as a good sign.
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Rick never noticed and slept through it but Charlie woke up and moved nearer to Rick's face so he could be closer. Then minutes later he woke up again and ended up almost upside down with his butt up against Rick's neck.
Rick woke up and found Charlie somehow literally lying on his neck. "How did you end up on my neck?" Rick asked him and looked at his clock. In two minutes his alarm was going to go off. At least his internal alarm clock still worked. So he waited till it went off and immediately turned it off. Then he lifted Charlie off his neck and sat up.
However, now Charlie was awake also. "NO! Puppy pee pads." Rick quickly picked him up and put him on the floor on a puppy pee pad. But he wasn't fast enough and puppy pee went everywhere including the pee pad.
"Puppy pee pad. See, you go pee pee on the pad. Now I have a mess to clean up." Rick groaned. His morning wasn't working out all that well.
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Rick took a shower. He came out and almost stepped on puppy poop that was on the puppy pee pad. "GOOD BOY! …Where are you?" He didn't immediately see him and given that there wasn't far to go, disappearing wasn't easy to do.
Rick could hear crunching of the puppy food. "Eating." Since Charlie was eating that allowed Rick to get dressed for work, brush his teeth, shave, and then use the toilet instead of the puppy pee pad.
Rick sat down and began writing checks to pay his bills and applied stamps after he found them which took a little searching. "Found them! This was my idea of putting them were I could find them easily?" It hadn't been that easy so whatever he was thinking must have been stupid.
"Let's take you outside even though you've already done everything." Rick picked up Charlie and took him outside and put him down. He mostly let him go where he wanted to go. "And I still have to clean up the mess you made." Rick hung his head.
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Charlie hadn't done anything outside. Rick had cleaned up and put down new puppy pee pad for him, refilled his food bowl, and gave him fresh water.
"I have to go to work, Charlie. You have food, water, bed, a tennis ball and toy, and pee pads. So be a good boy and I'll be home as fast as I can." Rick picked him up to look at him and gave him kisses. "You really are cute. I need a vet for you too. I have my papers on you but I was told to take you to a vet." Rick put him back down.
"You be a good boy." Rick got up and escaped his trailer as fast as he could so Charlie couldn't get out. He locked the door and ran to his bus stop so he could get to work. That was the best part about this place. Just hop on the bus, get off near work, and walk a little. He only drove when it was raining. It saved on gas and exposed him to less potential damage to his truck from bad drivers.
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Rick ran for home and unlocked the door. He saw a sleeping Charlie actually in his doggie bed. "That's a good start." A quick look showed that his water bowl was empty and so was his food bowl. That had Rick carefully stepping inside and looking down his trailer; Charlie had been busy. There was poop and wet spots nearly everywhere and from here it looked like all on pee pads. Though given how many he had down it was hard to miss them.
Rick was busy picking up used pee pads and putting down new ones when suddenly he had someone jumping all over him. "HI, CHARLIE!" Rick got down on all fours and stuck his face into Charlie's who proceeded to lick it.
"Let's get you outside." Rick picked Charlie up, took him outside, and put him down. He could go anywhere he wanted and he proceeded to do just that.
"Mr. Rodgers!" He had been spotted and wondered that someone wanted this time. "Where's Charlie?" Justin dumped his bike and let it crash and ran toward Rick.
"CHARLIE!" Justin saw him and got down on all fours to play with him. "Mom said he cried almost all day. Everyone in the place knows you have a puppy now."
"He did? I'm sorry. He was probably lonely. I was at work and couldn't help it. Tell your mother I'm sorry," Rick said and watched Charlie bouncing all over the place playing with Justin.
"That's what Mom said." Justin then barked to see if Charlie would bark back but he didn't.
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Rick was sitting there with a glass of Coke and watching Justin and Andre, another kid in the area, playing with Charlie. They had a tennis ball that he would chase but not bring back so one of the kids ran and got it so they could toss it again and watch Charlie chase it.
Rick watched up till Charlie stopped and peed. That had him up out of his chair. "Good boy, Charlie!" Rick was ready and gave him a liver treat since he was a good boy.
"JUSTIN!"They all heard his name being yelled so that had him hopping on his bike. "See you tomorrow, Charlie." He rode off while Andre ran home since he was betting he was next.
"Let's eat, Charlie." Rick picked him up, brought him inside, and put him down. Then he filled the puppy's two bowls and opened his cupboard to see what he had to work with. "How about spaghetti with Ragu sauce?" Rick asked Charlie who was presently eating his puppy food.
Rick turned down the heat on the sauce and since Charlie was done eating and drinking he was betting he needed to do his business. "All right, go potty. Go potty. …Potty." Rick tried to get him to listen.
Whether he was listening or not, he did poop which earned him a good boy and a liver treat and then back inside so Rick could eat while watching TV.
However, Rick didn't get to play with him as Charlie was sleeping in his doggie bed. He was one pooped out puppy.
"Two more days and you go to the vet to get looked over and maybe a shot."
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Rick had gone to bed early since he had to get up really early in the morning for work and had left Charlie in his doggie bed. But that didn't last long. He rolled over and looked down at Charlie. "Really? Are we going to do this every night? …Fine, come on up here but if you pee in my bed you're in big trouble, little boy." Rick picked him up, plopped him down on his bed, and watched as Charlie walked straight for his face and started licking.
"I like you too but I don't taste that good." Rick got him to stop. "Now go to sleep."
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Two days later Rick was home just long enough to clean up the used puppy pee pads, put him in his truck, and drive him to the vet.
"He was a rescue. Some woman had 50 dogs and they took them from her and arrested her. This little guy had fleas, ticks, and worms. They said they gave him something for the worms and dipped him in something to kill the fleas and ticks. Paperwork." Rick handed over what he had been given.
"It looks like your little guy is about 12 weeks old, I would guess. I'll take a sample and check for worms. Now let's have a listen to you." She used her stethoscope to listen to his heart and lungs. "Everything sounds good." She looked at his teeth, moved his legs and felt him up, and he just stood there for all of it. "Aren't you a good boy." She ruffled him up a little then stuck a thermometer up his butt and read it.
Then she began looking at his hair and skin. "All this will get better over time. Let's see if I can get a sample for testing." This time she stuck a cotton tip on a long stick up his butt and again he just stood there. "You really are a good puppy." She petted him. "Be right back."
She came back eventually. "No worms. Now for your DHPP shot. This won't hurt a bit." In about a second it was all over. "I need him back in four weeks for another booster shot. That one will be another DHPP and rabies."
"You have a nice healthy little puppy." She petted him again.
"The plan is to try and train him to be a Therapy Dog. Do you think he's suitable for that?" Rick asked her.
"He did really well here. I do have an ATD pamphlet I can give you. Alliance of Therapy Dogs. They're the single largest Therapy Dog training in the States. They're based in Cheyenne, Wyoming but they have people everywhere. Probably in LA proper. I'll get it and give it to you at check-out. You're good to go. You're such a good boy." She petted him again and left.
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Rick was home and Charlie had had a long day already and was sleeping on his bed while Rick got out the pamphlet he was given. "Let's see what this thing has to say." He opened it and started reading.
Start with basic dog training, Socialization and the element of trust are, arguably, the most important characteristics a therapy dog must possess. It is important to expose your puppy to new people as often as possible, keeping the interactions pleasant and unthreatening. The focus should on pleasant encounters with unfamiliar persons, well-behaved children, as well as people wearing uniforms, hats, and glasses.
As your puppy is being introduced to new people and places, be prepared to expect the unexpected as one negative experience can have a life-long impact on a puppy. It is also important not to overwhelm the puppy with socialization experiences, so stop while you and your puppy are still having a good time. It is much better to have short, frequent and positive experiences.
Another good way to develop the puppy's trust is to discover the things that you and the puppy like to do together. It is important to allow the puppy to experience different things – go on walks, take hikes in the woods, play in the park, or visit the beach. For experiences that make the puppy apprehensive, take steps to improve the situation or shorten its duration. Puppies will come to trust that you consistently make decisions in their best interest. This trust is the cornerstone of the teamwork needed for every successful therapy dog team.
It is also important that the family is involved in therapeutic dog training. By having different people taking part in the socialization process, the puppy is continuously taken out of its comfort zone, letting the puppy know that he might experience something new regardless of who he's with.
Some of the most important characteristics of your puppy's attitude include:
Social Attraction. How well the puppy connects to people and whether it is confident or dependent on others.
Restraint. Is the puppy more dominant or submissive? How well can it be handled in difficult situations such as vet exams?
Retrieving. Will the puppy bring you something on command?
Touch Sensitivity. A puppy's sensitivity to being handled can help determine the type of training the puppy will need.
Sound Sensitivity. Is your puppy sensitive to loud noises? Clap your hands. Does the puppy look at you and approach? This is also a rudimentary test for deafness.
Sight Sensitivity. Make eye contact; does the puppy engage in eye contact? This is a good indicator of the confidence of the puppy. However, be concerned about a puppy who will not look at you. This could indicate a temperament or vision problem.
Stability. Is the puppy easily startled when confronted with a strange object?
Structure. How physically well-formed and proportioned is the puppy? A puppy with a solid build will generally be healthier than one that has concerns with bone alignment.
"Well Charlie, it looks like you're going to get to know the neighbors really well. Take you to a strip mall maybe. Oh, I know, take you to the beach. People love puppies. Who can resist those puppy dog eyes? Might need to wait till you're a little older for any of those first though." Rick looked down at his sleeping puppy. He needed to get him up and outside before he went to bed. Charlie needed to get used to the idea of doing his business outside.