Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Liam is channelling Charlie


We got Charlie from the Human Society in Toronto in 1995. He was full grown and about one and half years old. He was house broken and knew a few simple commands. He was friendly, loyal, protective and really just an overall amazing dog. Unfortunately he developed a kidney problem and died in 2003 when Liam was only 9 months old. I think they would have been great friends. They both share a love of running, all things outdoors, lounging on the couch and spooning in bed. After Liam was born we finally had to get a queen size bed as there was no longer room for all 4 of us, plus the occasional cat.


It is their love for running that made me think that Charlie was communing with Liam this week.


When we lived in Toronto we would take Charlie to the local school yard for "doggie time". Dogs of all sizes and their people would come for some off-leash time. Charlies best buddy was a long haired miniature Datsun, who came up to Charlie's ankles. But boy howdy could the little guy run! Charlie would antagonize him just enough to get him riled up and then would take off, looking over his shoulder to make sure that the chase was on. One day during a game of chase, Charlie was looking over his shoulder while he ran and didn't see the football goal post looming towards him. He ran head first into it and fell like a 90 pound bag of bricks. I thought for sure that he had snapped is neck, but he was a tough guy. He jumped up, shook it off, stared at the post with a look of "where the hell did you come from?" and took off for some more play.


This week Liam and I were playing tag at the park. (bet you can guess where this is going, can't you?) We were having a fabulous time, laughing and giggling and getting a pretty good work out. He had tagged me and I was chasing him at full speed. He was looking over his shoulder and me when WHAM! Face first into the post of the monkey bars. He went down like a 40 pound bag of bricks. He didn't jump up and keep going though. We sat on the bench for a cuddle while the large red welt was appearing on his cheek.


The worst part? I burst out laughing as soon as it happened, thinking back to Charlie and seeing the parallels between my two "boys".


2 comments:

Aunt Becky said...

I laugh, not unkindly, because Ben ran headfirst into a fence post during kindergarten. Well, technically right BEFORE kindergarten graduation.

He looked beaten on that stage that year. Poor kid.

Anonymous said...

Aww. I'm glad he's okay! Cute comparison though. Dogs are a lot like children. :-)