the chocolate zebra: Charlie

This has happened, y'all. We have a dog. Meet Charlie.

Tye and I knew our days as non-pet-owners were numbered. The girls were pulling out the big guns in their arguments for a dog, and we had just plain run out of reasons not to do it. We had actually been visiting shelters and adoption events for a few weeks to scope out the field, and we knew we wanted to adopt from a rescue organization. Then, at the beginning of June, we saw this little girl in her cage and I knew she was coming home with us:

She's a mix of Shepherd, Doberman, and probably a few other things, but she's a sweetheart. Tatum thinks she has a new little sister and insists on carrying her around, even though Charlie is almost as big as she is now. She's about 6 months old and we don't know much about her past, other than she is housebroken and LOVES to have her tummy rubbed.

She was in perfect health when we adopted her, but had been treated for kennel cough a few weeks earlier. About a week after we brought her home, we noticed she was lethargic and having difficulty breathing. We took her to what was supposed to be her well check-up to get established with the vet and had to leave her there to be hospitalized with severe pneumonia! Sometimes kennel cough can come back as pneumonia if it's not treated thoroughly. We weren't even sure if she would make it. It was bad. And we couldn't help but see the dollar signs as the vet talked about x-rays, steroids, IVs and follow-up care. Ava, Gentry and Tatum stood in the exam room looking pleadingly at me as I discussed with Tye on the phone what we should do. Our commitment to this little dog was being seriously put to the test, and we hadn't even had her 2 weeks yet. Needless to say, we spent the big bucks to make her get better, and she's been a new dog ever since. She can tend to nip when she gets excited, but is extremely affectionate, playful and never aggressive. After I had to scold her for trying to destroy one of my mom's plants, she got offended and pouted in the corner for a while. Apparently Dobermans are sensitive like that. Awesome. We already have 3 girls who get their feelings hurt at the drop of a hat, so Charlie is a perfect fit for our family.