Well, as you might have gathered from the picture… there is now a Charlie Faulk.
We went to the breeder’s house last night, only to discover that they weren’t typical breeders — no yard and house full of pens and dogs. The “parent dogs” were/are pets, and their litter of eleven (yes, ELEVEN) pups were all in the house. The breeder had the wisdom to send the pups out two at a time for us to see, and Emma proceeded to pet and hug every single one of them while Ana watched from a cautious distance. When the breeder sent out the biggest of the bunch, who was calmer than the rest and a lot lighter in color, I asked Ana which one was Charlie, and she pointed to him. (And for those who are curious, she came up with the name Charlie because of Charlie Brown and not because of the movie “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” After she picked the name, though, we showed her the movie, which might be why she picked the dog that will eventually grow up to look just like the Charlie in that movie.)
We took a quick trip to Petsmart for a collar that fit and a few other extras. (We thought the puppies were ten weeks old, and Wes estimated that they’d be BC’s size at that age. The puppies are actually just eight weeks old, and Charlie is probably twice as big as BC. But good guess, Wes!) Ana spent the entire shopping trip talking as loudly as possible about Charlie, and Emma spent the entire shopping trip chanting, “Want to PET Charlie!” Big fans already!
Once we got home, Charlie met BC… and quickly submitted to her. He must have figured (and rightly so) that life would be better for him if he just conceded all rights to being Alpha dog early on. (BC is still guarding the puppy chow with more exuberance than we should allow and is playing it super cool by blatantly following him around then ignoring him when he tries to play with her. Because that’s just her style.) He seemed overwhelmed by the backyard at first but was running around it in no time at all. Ana and Emma spent a couple of hours running around with him, giving him toys, and generally exhausting him before we put him to bed in his gigantic kennel, where he fell asleep after only fifteen minutes of whining.
He already seems to know his name, has figured out exactly where to do his business in the backyard (far away from where the girls play!), and is constantly underfoot. And while I think that last one is just a puppy trait that will fade away when he feels more at home here, I can’t say that I mind having an adorable, fuzzy puppy cuddling up to me all the time. He’s so cute right now that I can’t imagine EVER minding the constant cuddling. (Though I might change my mind when he reaches his full size. As Ana said last night, “But I thought Charlie was gonna be BIG!” Oh, just you wait, Anabear…)
Better go and take Charlie for another walk around the backyard while Ana and Emma are napping…
Jenn Faulk 
And why do these keep posting as gigantic paragraphs?! I keep trying to put spaces in there, but it posts and squishes it all together. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? 😦
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My first dog's name was Charlie (after All Dogs Go to Heaven) and I absolutely love German Shepard's! Our beloved Carlo was our first (and at the moment the only) dog in Botswana and so I'll always love German's because he was a fantastic dog! Great family dogs! It looks like Charlie is going to fit in quite nicely into your family! I can't wait to see what he looks like as he grows! (Okay, so now I am totally wanting to get a dog when we get back to Botswana! :))
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