I'm very proud of my Charlie this week for a couple of reasons.
Saturday morning, Charlie went with me to the Peachtree Road Farmer's market . It's a very exciting place for a dog - lots of people of all ages, other dogs, good smells, the possibility of scraps of something tasty, as well as the lady with the home-baked doggie treats.
Charlie was in fine form Saturday, he was behaving very well and making friends left and right and really being very good. he sat quietly and let any number of small folks pat him - I've been very pleased with his tolerance for the attentions of children. But then, on our way out, we stopped to get a few yellow squash and some figs at the Taylor's booth and there was a little girl with glorious red curls who was watching Charlie with a mixture of fear and curiosity. I asked her if she wanted to pat him and she shrank away in fear. Just as I was thinking "What a pity for a little girl to be so fearful", her father who was standing behind me, told me that a large dog had jumped in their car when she was small and licked her all over the face while she was in the baby seat and couldn't fend him off and that she had been scared ever since.
Well, I sat down on the curbing and asked the little girl, whose name was Susannah, if she would pat Charlie if I held him tight so that he would not lick her, that it would be up to her to touch him. And darned if my little fellow didn't snuggle up to me and sit patiently while this little girl got her courage up to pat him. Not once or twice, but a dozen times. She even got the nerve up to look at his face and ask me why his eyes had black rims and why his lips were black. And then she went over to the dog treat lady, picked out a treat and put the treat on the ground right in front of my boy. And he didn't snarf it or gulp or grab, he picked it up and carried it.
Then later, at Marleen's, he was out on the back patio and he was patiently letting the two Norwich pups and Jack's son chew on him, chase him and generally harass him, without any impatience with the pups. Nancy seemed to realize that he was no danger to the pups as she made no effort to get between them and him.
All in all, my dear boy did very well and behaved like the dog I've been hoping he would become. Good boy, Charlie.
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