* 4.15.21. I REQUIRE A FENCED YARD. My neuter surgery went well. My testes, well, they just went. Mom says I’m recuperating as if I didn’t have surgery. Remember, where there’s a will, there’s a Charlie. I’m now over 60 lbs. and I’m still growing! While I was sleeping the sleep of the dead, doc x-rayed my pelvis and chest/abdomen. Lookin’ pretty good. My ribs are healed and there are no rough edges on my pelvis which seems to indicate that my bones have knitted together nicely.

Ok, only one slight, not so pretty part. The left socket of my pelvis is crushed inward. This means that the head of the femur can no longer fit into the socket of the pelvis. Basically the femur is floating outside the socket. However, doc says I don’t really need it to go in the socket. Sounds kinda weird to me but hey, I didn’t go to vet school. My muscles, ligaments and all the soft stuff that surrounds the femur and pelvis have healed and strengthened so you’d never know that any of my body parts had been rearranged. My left leg barely turns inward. I rarely bunny hop when I run like the wind. Except of course I’m not allowed to do that during recovery…  And I don’t have a problem rough-housing with my foster brother and sister… Again not during recovery. Dang! NOTE: That being said, there may come a time when I may develop arthritis in my left hip. There may also come a time when surgery is needed on it. Any surgery would be for salvage and not repair. But then again, I may not need surgery.

Charlie’s Fur-Ever Home Wish List. I require a fenced yard. I’m not liking wood or linoleum floors so much. But since that is all we have here, I’m working on sucking it up. I would need either area rugs or a very patient human to help me get used to the slick floors (have both area rugs and mom here). I had two very scary splats on slick floors when I was first hurt. I do ok on the floors but have to go slow at first to get used to them.

Stairs. Ah stairs. I am not crazy about them. To be honest mom doesn’t know what to think. I wouldn’t go up 8 or 9 carpeted stairs but yet I would go up and down the same number of non-slick wood stairs. I don’t have to worry about stairs here cuz there’s only 2 I use to go in and out. Basically mom and I are somewhat clueless about this. The only thing we can say is that down the road, I may have severe arthritis in my hip, and stairs at that point I would not want.

I am a very active pup. I am highly intelligent. I need a job. Mom and some of the rescue folks agree that I would make a great service or search and rescue dog. I love to “bring” stuff to mom. Mom would really like it if my new human would get me involved in something like that. I think I would too cuz I’m eager to please. I love being loved on after doing something good. I love treats of course, but mom’s only been giving me good lovin’ as my rewards, which I “eat” up. I am a very quick study and I answer to gentle corrections. Mom usually makes this weird noise and I listen. Between you, me and the lamppost, I will need some real training. We’ve been waiting on some of it to give my hip time to heel. I mean heal.

Mom’s plan is that I should be ready to be adopted after April 25. Please remember that you must be an approved adopter and have a fenced yard before contacting mom. My foster mom is Sonja Nott. Her e-mail is nottsonja@gmail.com.

P.S. I LOVE them belly rubs and snuggles! Also I use the head of one of my stuffed toys as a pacifier when I go to sleep.

* 3.17.21.  I went off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of. Nah, just kiddin’. But I bet I had you going for a second didn’t I? I did however go last week to see the doc for my checkup. Drum roll please; I weighed 59.2 lbs! AND mom didn’t have to carry me in.

When Dr. D saw me she said, “He’s gotten taller!” Mom said, “Yep, he sure has!” After seeing my growth spurt Dr. D changed her mind and is now thinking my keeper size will be somewhere between 70-75 lbs. WOOHOO! She also said that I’m continuing to do great and that I’m now finished with all of my puppy shots.

Doc said she wants to wait another 4 weeks for me to be neutered because she said that I’ve been through a lot (boy, she doesn’t know the half of it) and she wants to make sure I do well with the surgery. So, taking post-surgery recovery into account, it looks like I’ll be available around mid-April.

Since I’ve got your ear so to speak, I’ve got a story or two to tell. While waiting to be called into the vet’s office, mom and I were in the parking lot sitting and hanging out of the side door of mom’s minivan. Shortly a lady pulled up next to us. She had a 9-month pit bull in the passenger seat with the window down. He was cute but a little whiny cuz he wanted to play. I just calmly sat next to mom and quietly watched. The lady wanted to know how come I was so quiet and well behaved. Think I heard mom chuckle under her breath. The lady said she wished her pup was as calm as me. Mom was sooooo proud of me!

Ok, here’s another story. I have to say mom wasn’t exactly proud of me but I sure cracked her up. Picture this: Mom had to leave the sunroom to get dressed. She was back in a minute cuz she forgot something. Mom stopped about 5 feet from the sunroom door. There I am laying on my mat chewing a pair of mom’s reading glasses. I knew she was there so I stopped chewing. I looked at mom for 2 seconds. Then I whipped my head to the right tossing the glasses about 4 feet away. Then I turned my head back to mom and gave her my best innocent look. She was dying!

I’ll have some more Charlie stories later along with my wish list for my new home. Foster mom has been easy to train so I need to know that my forever family is too. There are a few new pics and videos for you to look at so you can see me in action.

If you think you may be interested in adopting me, let my mom know. She is making a list of those interested and will be contacting them first in the order their interest was received when I am ready for my new home. Please remember you must be an approved adopter before contacting mom. My foster mom is Sonja Nott. Her e-mail is nottsonja@gmail.com.

* 2.25.21 WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A CHARLIE! And I have come a long way baby! When Mom got me three weeks ago, I only weighed 31 lbs. NOW I WEIGH 51.5 lbs! That being said, there is some good and some bad with my success. The good, really good news, is that I’m putting on some much needed weight. The bad news is that Mom said that no matter how scared I am going into the vet’s office, she was no longer going to carry me in. She said it was because I weigh too much! Can you imagine!?! If you look at my new pics you can see what a transformation has occurred within a three-week time period! Mom is very proud of me!

Against my better judgement I visited the vet yesterday and here’s the scoop. The doc said I was filling out very nicely and that I looked very good. She even complemented me on my new shiny coat. I’m doing so well, that I have graduated from being feed four times a day to twice a day. I’m getting a daily total of 6 cups a day of puppy food. The doc said I’m gonna be on the smaller end of the GSD spectrum size-wise when I’m full grown, probably around 65lbs. Which is nothing to sneeze at. But it is also a good thing for my rearranged body parts.

The doc said I need another 3-5 weeks recovering and building up my body parts before I can “go on the market.” I’m still enduring the conservative care management with restricted activities. Ok, what the doc doesn’t know won’t hurt her. But Mom is watching me like a hawk and doesn’t let me get carried away with my foster brother and sister. I can also be neutered around the same time. As for the surgery on my fractured pelvis, doc said if I continue as I have been, she doubts that I will need surgery anytime soon. HOWEVER, there may be a need for it later on at some point in time. Whether or not I have the surgery, the doc says I will develop arthritis, which may or may not be severe, in my hips when I’m older.

Since I’ve been healing so nicely, I can now roll onto my back for belly rubs! Oh my how I love those belly rubs!! But then again I LOVE attention and when I am being loved on. I just eat it up. I’d probably get on Mom’s lap if she let me. Darn.

Well that’s about all the news that’s fit to print for now. I’ll continue to update my bio so stay tuned. For the most part I’ve been having fun so check out my new pics and video. There’d probably be more, but Mom’s not very good with the camera. Geesh.

* 2.10.21  Ta-DAH! My name is Charlie, although some think my name should be Trooper for all that I have been through. I’m either 9 months old or 1 year old depending on who you ask. For some reason I ended up as a stray; can  you imagine!?! While straying, one of my adventures became a misadventure when I was struck by a car. OUCH! Don’t mind telling you it wasn’t a pretty sight since it rearranged several of my body parts. I have a broken pelvis, two broken ribs, and a mean road rash. Oh, and the other ugly is that I weighed ONLY 31 lbs.! Well I think that is pretty rude. So did VGSR and my foster mom.

Everyone I’ve met fawns over me and believe you me I love all the attention. They all say how sweet I am; I am. How gentle and friendly I am; I am. Even my mom’s two former VGSR pups think I am. Mom’s 100 lb.+ GSD Buddy, is my trainer. He goes out with me all the time and stays with me when I have to do my business. He is very gentle with me. Except for the time when he was laying down and I put my paw on his butt to try and turn him over. Didn’t do that again. Although he was nice to me when I stuck my head in his food bowl to help him eat his dinner. Now, if I had tried that with Mika, mom’s other GSD, I probably would no longer have a nose. Other than that she likes me fine. Really.

As you can probably guess, I do need quite a bit of R&R; rest and repairs. So I’m not on the market yet. Mom thinks it’ll be a slow process since I need to get back up to fighting weight and make sure all my body parts have healed nicely. Oh, and then of course there’s the snip, snip thing. Mom will be updating my progress over the next month or so please stay tuned.. I also require Charlie's adopter to have a fenced yard.

For those who are interested, and I know MANY of you will be, you MUST go through the adoption process and become an approved adopter BEFORE being considered. The adoption process and application is at https://vgsr.rescuegroups.org/forms/form?formid=5185.