he was living next door just on the other side of the fence, but tall enough so i could reach over and pet him. he had to be the softest dog ever. so i petted him and talked to him for a few days. i knew i loved big ole hounds after sean found boss (a great dane/hound mix) in tahoe and he came to live with us and go everywhere we did. he's still the best dog ever.so finally the neighbor appears at the fence one day and says, you know i'm fostering him right? well, that was all it took. i knew in my heart in that moment that he would come live on the other side of the fence soon. for a few days i hid my excitement so as not to upset my boyfriend and his current dog. but then aubrey indicated what an awesome dog he thought the brown dog in arva's yard was. so i wrote a note and left it on her front door that we wanted him. then i endured the numerous non-stop phone calls and personality of the very pushy dog rescue lady (who only wants to find good homes for pets i know), filled out the applications, and opened the fence gate and invited him over. actually we did a test run a few days earlier to see how our pups played together and they got along famously from the first moment.
they are both brown and white, but in opposite places and he's tall and she's short, he's a boy and she's a girl, so they are sort of negatives of each other.
after a few days, we reached the 'what do we name him?' stage, i wont even say what silly name the rescue folks had given him. it was clear he needed to be named for his color, reddish-brown, the color of tea in the south flanked with freckled white legs. for a few days i mulled over boring brown derivatives and then switched tactics to naming him based on his personality. he was so laid back and easy going, and just lumbered around like your best friend in summers after school was out, who was always up for anything and everybody wanted him along b/c he was so easy to get along with. charlie or eddie or henry came to mind. so we thought, yeah charlie, its fun to walk out in the yard and say hey charlie, come on in. but the first time we tried it, he was interested in a squirrel or something so we had to call him a couple of times and like all parents who call out both your names when they really mean it and want you to come, we found ourselves saying charlie, charlie brown! yeah, charlie brown, that's it. so his name is charlie brown and it really suits him. yesterday he tolerated all the toddlers in the park hugging on him and of course, they loved his name. its one month ago today that he came to live with us and we are the lucky ones. you're the best charlie brown!
addendum: at one years old and change, we cant leave old shoes lying about, but if we do at least we get to say good grief charlie brown.
