Ticket 2 Ride

Charlie the mixed breed dog, has grown into a very distinct personality. Living with two cats and two people, Charlie is not the alpha in the house, but he is the straw that stirs the family. I never pictured that in retirement I’d become a dog Uber.

Charlie may be the most complicated and difficult to understand living creature I’ve ever known. He is at times predictable and other times baffling. My wife started saying, “You are trying to reason with a dog.” Guilty. Thankfully, she says that without rolling her eyes.

At seventeen months, Charlie is full size and about 85 pounds of muscle and long legs. He loves to run, he’s fast and agile, so fetch is his favorite game. Tug is a close second and we often combine these games, when it’s his idea.

Charlie’s running styles have always fascinated me. In his early months, he wasn’t very graceful as he was awkwardly growing into his lean body and large paws. Unless he is running full-out (gallop) in the backyard doing his zoomies, trots and canters most of the time. His trotting is funny, he always looks like he’s late for an appointment. His cantering is playful and relaxed, usually with a ball in his mouth ready to play tug.

He’s not a puppy, but not a mature dog – he acts like a teenager-dog. He’s full of independence, until he demands your attention, which may consist of playing with him or just being in the backyard while he does his own thing and ignores you. In the past couple of months, Charlie has taken to standing behind a bush along the fence line, where he is hidden, but can watch the yard, and us. I don’t know what this hiding represents. His safe place? He enjoys a fenced-in yard where no one can even see in. He loves being outside and it’s a game to get him to come inside. He will sit in the middle of the yard for hours, occasionally patrolling the fence line when he hears a noise. He’s not a barker, just around strangers.

Charlie is a lover, he loves to hug and kiss, and play. We put him through behavior training that taught us how to manage some of his behavior. He can be reactive at times, and that makes for some challenges.

Charlie is in the midst of dog adolescence, something new to me. Like when I was a teenager, moody and challenging, Charlie has a whole different personality he can shift into, where he’s stubborn, ignores commands spends more time alone. I’m reminded that he’s a work-in-progress. I am a work-in-progress as a dog parent.

Charlie sleeps in our bed, which certainly crowds us a bit as he’s grown and that legs get longer. For the first part of the night, he curls up in a ball at the foot of the bed. As the night progresses, Charlie unfolds like a Swiss Army knife. He’s all over the place.

His most challenging position is when he lays across the bed between my wife and I. When he lays parallel to us, no problem. Perpendicular Charlie likes to touch both of us, usually laying his head across someone’s legs. Before he unfolds into perpendicular position, he constantly moves around, scooting himself up against someone, pushing them a little each time. Ending up on the edge of the bed during the night is a nightly occurrence.

One night as I teetered on the edge, I turned and ended up on the hardwood floor, but not before hitting my head on the nightstand. I might start wearing a helmet to bed.

Life with Charlie can be unpredictable and head-scratching, but more often it is fun, loving and heartwarming. He does funny things, with his big personality and as he grows into his life. He usually has me wrapped around his finger. He knows how to get what he wants by looking at me with his soulful eyes, laying head on my feet, rest his body on my chest, put his paw on my shoulder or lick my face.

Geometry is defined as the relationship and properties of space including the relative position of figures…Charlie is a lesson in canine geometry.