Happy 11th Birthday Charlie!

Today is Charlie's 11th birthday. I can't believe it. That I've been allowed to have his unbelievable, unconditional love being given to me for 10 years and 8 1/2 months. That this living thing has been my property to do with what I like, and I've chosen to love him, keep him as close to me as possible, nurture whatever positive characteristics his personality could flower into - and in return my face has never been lacking for dog slobber, my clothes have never been free of white fur - even though he's almost all black, and I've never been alone for one second of one day. I am the luckiest girl in the world because of him.


He is a truest definition of what a "pet dog" is. He has kept me warm, brought me friends, gave me a community of other dog owners so I wasn't alone, he gave me family because he had biological littermates who's owners I've come to know, he's given me something to fuss over, he's given me hobbies, but most of all - he's given me love - and he's given me something to love, in a world that sometimes is very hard to find anything to love in (especially when you're not a cat person!)

Every day is a gift, and I hope we don't waste it.

Happy birthday to Charlie's 10 other brothers and sister's too - one of his brothers (Philip, aka Brody died - so the count is now down to 10 siblings).

We also discovered a new littermate this year - Sarah - who came in through the Dartmouth SPCA, which was super - I wrote about her here - http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/2009/08/look-what-we-saw-at-point-pleasant-park.html - so happy birthday to Sarah too!

Some posts from previous years about Charlie's birthdays -

Charlie's birthday in 2007

Some of my favourite photos of Charlie from 2007

Charlie's birthday in 2005