The Basset Life

I'm back!

I'd like to formally apologize to anyone waiting for me to post - I know I left this with quite a cliffhanger almost 2 months ago - Were Curtis and I reunited?? Did we survive 12 weeks of separation? Where in the world are we??? Well, I have some good news for you: I am officially back to blog about what's been going on and some great adventures over the past few months. 

However, today is a special day, so instead of catching you up on the exciting happenings of our life, I'm writing about something much more important... 

It's our 1 year anniversary of becoming parents!!!

That's right, a year ago today, we decided we simply couldn't live without that little basset hound puppy we fell in love with just 2 days earlier, so right after church we went right to buy her and bring her home. And maybe regretted it a little. But there was nothing to do about that, because she had our hearts and we were committed to being her mommy and daddy!

Here are some pictures from her 1 year photo shoot (because I invested in a nice camera so that I could perfectly capture my beautiful child).

Charlotte is triple the size of when we bought her, yet still half the size of what we thought she'd grow into. (Which we are thankful for!) She still doesn't do the basset/hound dog bay or make much noise at all, only barks when she's playing with her friends.

Charlotte HATES drama. It seems to follow her everywhere. She sees a dog walking far in the distance, and she needs to stop all she's doing and watch it. She can't move toward or away from it until she knows if it's bigger or smaller than she is. Once she's determined that it's smaller and she can totally take it in a fight, she proceeds to pull us toward the dog so she can formally introduce herself. If it happens to be bigger, the only safe reaction is to growl with her tail between her legs and hair on her back raised. However, if the dog is walking away without even properly greeting her, she must go after it and demand an introduction. See, she hates drama. And yet, she loves it.

Charlotte has become quite the hunter over the summer. She particularly likes already dead things, but can also be interested in chasing other wild creatures. She started out by hunting flies exclusively, but has really broadened her horizons this summer by chasing birds, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and deer. She has yet to be successful in her hunting live things, but sometimes it's all about the chase.

If there was any one contest that Charlotte is perfectly cut out for, it'd be a hotdog eating contest. She's proven to us that we can make up for a long car ride simply by buying her a happy meal hotdog. This is a snippet of a real conversation had during a long vacation at a Sonic:

Curtis: (ordering)...And lastly, we'll have a happy meal hotdog, just plain.

Friendly Sonic Employee: Would you like fries or tots with that?

C: Uhhh... tots

FSE: And what kind of drink would you like?

C: Um...well this isn't exactly for a kid...it's for a dog.

FSE: *laughs*

They bring out her hotdog, Curtis cuts it up for her to try to slow her down and make sure she doesn't choke, but it is all in vain because 15 seconds later it is gone and she's back in the front seat begging for our tots.

So to get back to my point, I think Charlotte would excel at a hotdog eating contest. She did not get that from me.

Charlotte had the BEST SUMMER EVER playing with my family and all their pets! She even overcame her dislike of the cat and they became best friends. (I'm pretty sure all this means we need another pet for her to play with, but Curtis disagrees. But it's for the best - Charlotte has our whole hearts and we could never love another pet as much as we love this child.)

The time when Charlie cares about eating her own food: When there is another dog around who wants to eat it.

The time when Charlie has no interest in her own food: Any other time.

Charlotte will still do anything for a belly rub. However, she has suddenly within the last month grown selective about the people she wants belly rubs from. We haven't been able to figure it out yet, but we think it has to do with people wearing huge backpacks, sunglasses, or that have facial hair. Maybe. She's consistently inconsistent. 

Since Charlie is unable to speak for herself, we must do all of the speaking for her.  This is mostly the role of myself; although Curtis does some talking too.  Unfortunately, Charlotte is rather sassy and I must voice her sass to the world (Curtis).  Additionally, Charlie always has an opinion on situations, meaning that I have spent probably half of the year speaking for my dog. In response, Curtis has spent half of the year talking back to my Charlie voice.

Charlotte continues to love the same things we love doing - hiking and road trips. However, we have found one thing that she doesn't handle so well - sleeping in a tent. She'll gladly jump in to check it out but immediately jump right back out. If I'm able to zip up the tent fast enough with her inside, she'll throw herself against the walls trying to get out. 

In the past year, Charlotte has hiked over 150 miles with us. The longest hike she's done has been over 14 miles, and the highest elevation she's reached is 13,234 feet above sea level. I love how excited she gets to take on a new trail with us, and how cuddly she is afterwards!

We love you Charlotte, and we couldn't imagine life without you! Here's to many more happy years together!

PS - I will be back soon with stories of so many adventures, so come back soon! ;)