"So Happy Together"

Why we call him Charlie *B*




His original name was Bingo, but because of his abuse we wanted to give him a fresh start..he never responded to his old name anyway. He perked right up when we started calling him Charlie *B*. We chose the name Charlie because he just looked like one of those characters in the painting "Dogs Playing Poker". He just reminded us of a poker visor wearin', stogey hangin from his mouth kind of dog.


The *B* stands for Bandit. After Bandit passed away we decided that all his brothers would each inherit a portion of the names of those who passed before them.

...and now for Charlie *B*'s Story...

Charlie *B* was a shelter dog. About 3 wks. after Bandit passed away we went to pick up his ashes at the animal hospital and started talking to this lady there about dogs and how we had so much love to give, we were so lonely and were seriously considering looking at shelters for a new furbaby to adopt. We told her we had been researching the beagle breed as well as a few others. She gave us the name of a woman who runs a beagle rescue, Linda Forrest from

SOS Beagle Rescue, Inc.
SOS...stands for "Save Our Snoopies"

So we called her and filled out all the necessary papers for adoption and two days later she called us to say that a local shelter in our area had a beagle brought in, she had not met with him so she couldn't tell me anything about him except to say that the previous owners thought he was too playful for them, they had two small children, he was crate trained and housebroken.

Well I immediately called the shelter to see what time they closed, it was already late in the day, they said they were closing right then, so all night I thought about this little guy and even dreamt about him, we finally got to see him the next day, July 3, 1996. The shelter was two houses down from the animal hospital that had given us Bandit's ashes. The shelter said that no one was allowed to see this little beagle because he was too afraid and would not come out of his kennel. He had been there two weeks already and they were not sure if he would ever be ready for adoption. I told them I was referred by Linda and they checked and then they let us look at him, he came up to the gate and walked away again, very scared, very skinny.



We waited at the gate and softly talked to him, he came back and let us talk to him. He started to wag his little tail and the shelter people said well I'll be d*mned, they let us take him outside, we played with him and he was just so cute. We had a problem with the adoption because our landlord was on vacation and there was no way to prove that we were allowed to have pets, even though we had just lost Bandit. It didn't matter, they needed proof. Our rental aggreement didn't have anything in it about allowing for a dog so we couldn't take him home that day.

Their policy was that he had to be neutered before he could go home, we decided to pick the animal hospital that had cremated Bandit. We didn't want to go back to our old vet...some negative feelings there and we also wanted to start fresh. Well it was a long holiday weekend and the vet's office was not opened. To make an already long story a little shorter, we didn't get him officially until 1 week later.

It took that long for our landlord to get back from vacation and the vet appt. to be made. So we visited with our little beagle from opening till closing every day till he came home. It was so hard having to put him back in the kennel each night and walk away. He was such a loving little boy we couldn't understand why anyone would have not wanted him. The shelter people told us that he had been abused and that's where all his fear came from. When we finally got to bring him home, July 9, 1996, one day before his 10 mth. birthday, we found out just how much fear he had. From overhead fans, flags waving, anything at all moving, he's was literally scared of everything. If we waved to someone he thought we were going to hit him, it was just so sad.

He has scars on him, around his face mostly, he has a trachea problem whereas he can never be walked by a choker collar, he had very large back legs, from lunging on his rope that he was tied to out back, he had never been crate trained or housebroken, he had never even been in a house before coming to live with us. He had lived his first 10 months outside, in a very harsh cold winter with lots of snow. The shelter people couldn't get over how much he had changed in just that one week that we had gone to visit with him.



Well it's been almost 2 years now since we first met that scared little puppy, he is housebroken,(for the most part-;o),and most of his fears are gone. He is loving and sweet and we thank God each and every day for him. He has brought such joy into our lives and we thank Bandit for that, we like to think he had something to do with bringing us all together. That hospital that had cremated Bandit is where Charlie *B* goes for all his vet visits. They know us well there, poor Charlie *B* was there so much in the beginning. So...that's my story of how Charlie *B* was rescued. We like to think of it as a success story, if you just put in a little time and effort you can get back such a wonderful little companion.


...since then the shelter where we adopted him from has changed managers and workers alike. They have told me that the previous workers there were abusing the animals and euthanizing them at an alarming rate even though some of them had potential homes to go to. They told me Charlie most likely wouldn't have lasted another day or two had we not come along...


This song is dedicated to you, my Sweet-Cheeks, do you remember me singing it to you when we would come to visit you at the shelter?...


HAPPY TOGETHER

…the Turtles

Imagine me and you I do
I think about you day and night
It's only right
To think about the girl you love
And hold her tight
So happy together
If I should call you up invest a dime
And you say you belong to me
And ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be
So very fine
So happy together
I can see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
I can see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We're happy together
So happy together
Happy together
So happy together
So happy together




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This page last updated~December 11, 2005
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