Happy birthday Char Char!

Today is Charlie’s 1st birthday!!!

Poor guy… for his birthday he got… neutered. 😆

He’s doing really well though! To be honest it doesn’t seem like he even notices that he had surgery.

He was real loppy and out of it that first night (anesthesia…) and was a little quiet on Friday. But by yesterday he bounced back full energy and seems like his normal self again.

I should say- so long as he has his cone off, he acts normal. If we put the cone on, he gets a little depressed acting (though he started adjusting to it after a while).

His “surgical suit” arrived early Saturday morning. It seems to work very well! I was paranoid though that he would either bite at it or lick it (the fabric isn’t that thick), so I also ordered some reusable (thicker) doggie diapers to put on over it. With the double protection, there’s no way he can get at the site.

He is soooooooooo much happier in the surgical suit!! The only really hard part is that he is supposed to be on “activity precautions”- no jumping, no running, etc.

So, we’ve been keeping him on a leash in the house. This is just sort of… annoying. Sometimes he’s fine and will just lay down and chill. But other times he gets antsy, like, ok, what is going on and why am I chained up in the house!!

I had been so relieved lately that we’re past that whole puppy stage where we had to have gates up and keep eyes on him constantly, and now we’re sort of back to that again. Temporarily, thank goodness.

I had him on his shorter regular leash (above) at first, but then ended up Gerry rigging up his longer outdoor leash in the kitchen. This is much better as it allows him more range of movement but he still can’t reach the stairs or any of the couches.

Here is Charlie “relaxing”:

I honestly am not sure what people do if they get their younger puppy neutered/spayed? I mean, Charlie is already 1 and full grown. (I have heard it’s best to delay neutering until the dog is full grown/ fully developed.) He is a lot calmer overall than he was even a few months ago. And for the most part he’s just pretty chill. But some breeds are SUPER hyperactive or are really high energy! How on earth do you restrain their activity for 10-14 days?! Even Charlie is going a little stir crazy and clearly wants to go out for a walk, play, run around, etc.

We’ve been getting a lot of accusing stares. Hehe.

Sleeping has been a little iffy. The first night we put him in his crate with his cone (which is tricky- technically his cone fits in there but it’s tight and he often bumps it up against the walls which then startles him). He was exhausted though and slept the whole night. The second night (Friday) he also slept in crate and was fine at first, but then woke up at 3:30 and then proceeded to whine continuously for 3 hours non-stop. (We took him out to go potty, give water, etc and he was fine.) He just didn’t want to be in the crate, basically. I didn’t give in though, as I didn’t want him to think he could just whine to get out, so we just listened to him whine the rest of the night. So I was exhausted yesterday.

Last night we put the surgical suit + diaper on and attached a (very short) leash to our headboard and let him sleep in bed between us. (No risk of being able to jump off or get tangled up in leash.) He slept like a baby the whole night, not a peep! Phew. Much better. I think this is what we’ll do until he’s off precautions. He’s used to sleeping in our bed, but he normally sleeps at the foot of our bed and at some point typically jumps down and goes and sleeps on the floor somewhere or in the master bathroom.

Anyway! It’s all going fine, though I’m not sure what people do if they either a) have a dog that isn’t at all crate trained (I’m fine with the surgical suit + leash combo when we’re home, but I wouldn’t leave him unattended like that…We will do cone + crate when we’re gone until off precautions) or b) both work outside the home! I am home so much which is very helpful.

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In honor of his birthday, here are a few pics from when we got him!!

He has also developed a great number of nicknames, primarily “Char Char”, but also “Pupperoni”, “Pupperini”, “Charlie Bear”, “Momma’s Boy” (i.e. “where’s momma’s boy!?”) and “precious pup” (ie “Who’s my precious pup?!”).

Ok, writing these out these all sound completely ridiculous LOL, but I swear they all seem totally normal when I say them. 🤣🤣

I can’t believe he’s 1 already!! I won’t say it has been an easy year (well, since we got him in September- obviously we didn’t get him the day he was born!).

There is a big learning curve that comes with puppy ownership, at least for me, and I definitely think that Charlie contributed to a lot of stress and overwhelm for me this year. BUT I love him to death and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I feel like we won the puppy lottery because he is just the BEST DOG EVER. An absolute sweetheart without an aggressive bone in his body who also has never had a single accident in the house since the day we got him! His only “downfall” is that he is overly friendly with new people or other dogs and tries to jump/wiggle/tail wag all over them in overexcitement. Working on that. But I feel like in the grand scheme of things, that’s not the worst problem to have!

Love you Char Char!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for Charlie. 🙂