The Gnarly Charlie

We adopted Charlie (formerly Berkley) in February. He was so quiet and shy at the adoption facility, but as sweet as can be with his big floppy feet and huge ears. My husband and I fell in love with him at APR. I had a doberman growing up as a kid and knew they are excellent dogs, but never knew exactly how excellent Charlie was when we met him. We took him home, and instantly he found the sofa, of course! For about the first two weeks, I was extremely concerned because his 'nub' would never be straight out. I thought it was similar to Shamu's situation because of Charlie being indoors. But, as he realized that this is his forever home his nub pokes out and wags frantically. He became more comfortable with us, and soon learned to play hide and seek. I never had seen a dog that became more excited at a game of hide and seek. Everytime we come home, he does what we call his excited dance/run. He runs in circles and really fast and enjoys being encouraged by us chanting "go g
o go!" He loves being the center of attention. We love taking him to the park! We know because of him being in a foster home and being at a shelter, he gets along with other dogs really well. In fact, he loves dogs of all sizes, the smaller the better. He is beyond a social butterfly at the park. He greets every single human along with every dog. He loves small children and enjoys giving anyone, especially those at his height, kisses on the face. His training that he received before we adopted him has been a blessing. He lets us know that he has to go to the bathroom by pacing around the door or standing at the door. He willingly goes in his crate when we leave for work, even though he is slightly enticed with his treat that he gets. We also didn't know we would be getting a free alarm clock! He wakes us up every morning when he needs to go out, and if we do not hear him yawn loudly like an old man, he jumps on the bed and hovers like a vulture until we are awake. He loves w
atching movies with us or helping us in the garden dig up we!
eds (may
be we can train him to mow the lawn!). Since he has been with us, we have taught him to sit, shake, and lay down. We are working on the stay command and 'off'. He is really good about plush toys, but it took us about a handful to figure out which one he won't tear off the ears, tails, or arms of (basically the fuzzy ambiguous bone toy at Petsmart). Bathtime with Charlie is always an adventure. At first, he acts like a kid who refuses to take a bath and tries to run away or pull away from us. Then he just stands there when he gets used to the fact that he is being washed and acts like an angry teenager. When we are done washing him he gets really excited like he won the lottery and runs and jumps everywhere. He loves getting dried off and will sit still without any pressure. We are so grateful that we found such a wonderful companion we know will be fine when we have kids, and will welcome a puppy friend (once he is over this shoe stealing age). Thank you APR for helping us f
ind the right pet for us and the right home for Charlie.

PS- He may be a doberman, but we feel like he is part vulture, kangaroo (for his jumping), raptor (for when he is mouthing us playfully), cat (when he thinks he is small enough to sit on our lap), dolphin (because he noses us a ton) and human (because he thinks he should pick up a tennis ball with his paws instead of his mouth).