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UPDATE 3 June, 2004BackHello all. We are getting close to six months with the boys in the household. It seems like we have had them much longer. They are so much a part of the family. Charlie is a definite mommy and daddy's boy. He is the most active talker of the two. The other day I was spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. He sat on one of the rugs behind me. After some time, he gave a little growl. I turned and said, "Char-lee!" He so much wanted my attention but he did look a little guilty! SpitFire is a mama's boy. He gravitates to anyone with a toy or food, but he always returns to his mother! He just loves his toys. We say, "where's your toy?" He then hunts one and brings it to us to play. If he wants to play and we aren't paying attention, he nudges us with the toy. Charlie is fond of just a couple of toys. The same ones our ferret, Tigger, is attracted to. The two play toy hide and seek with each other. Unfortunately for Charlie, Tigger is a much better toy hider than he is! So often times we have to go on the hunt for a toy for him. The boys have learned great respect for Tigger. Charlie never plays with Tigger, but occassionally SpitFire will. Tigger has taken over the little dog bed. It is so comfy and similar to the one he has in James' office. The boys don't mind, because they never get in the bed and much prefer the sofa. It is so cute to see the three of them in the kitchen in the morning waiting for their food, all three of them anxious for the first tidbit of the day. Tigger gets his "treat" first before the boys get their a.m. meal. They wait behind him because when he moves, they head over to lick his dish clean! One morning Tigger didn't get up early, so I fed Charlie & SpitFire. When Tigger got up, the boys had finished eating, I put Tigger's treat down and left the kitchen. SpitFire & Charlie followed me into the livingroom. As soon as SpitFire saw me heading away into the back of the house, he turned and headed back to the kitchen. I snuck back in to see what was happening. He was nudging Tigger in the back to try to get him to move away from his dish! The stinker. Of course Tigger didn't move and when I said, "SpitFire!," he hightailed it to my side.
Charlie doesn't enjoy being outside much. He does his business, might run around a few minutes, then he heads for the backdoor to be let back into the house. You can tell he hasn't had much experience with grass, because he seems to hate the texture! SpitFire loves to go outside! He wants to chase every bird, squirrel, or rabbit he sees. I keep telling him he's not a bird dog, but he doesn't care. He enjoys going on walks. Charlie tries not to go on walks. The other day my daughter and I took them for a walk around the block. SpitFire was gung-ho! Charlie didn't want to go further than the next door neighbors house, so my daughter carried him around the block! They are a little car challenged. Charlie does not want to go in the car. SpitFire's not so sure about car travel either, but is much more settled in the car. They had a vet visit recently and were deemed healthy, although SpitFire has put on a little weight and the vet cautioned to watch him. He does sneak in and eat Tigger's food occassionally, plus my two children are suckers for those lovely begging dog faces! So we have given strict rules of no sharing! By the way, the guys are loved and we are so glad we got them. Charlie still has an occassional accident, but luckily he goes on a blanket or towels, so it's easily cleaned. In the winter we often had to keep him in a belly band, because he HATED the snow. Luckily for him and us, the weather is much better, although he's not so thrilled with rain or wet grass either.