Charlie's Love Story
There was no way we could have brought Charlie home if it wasn’t for the help of Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund. Charlie provides so much comfort and joy in our family that we would have never been able to replace. We are so grateful we get to continue to witness and be a part of all his lovable quirks and antics. Thank you, Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund, for saving our family. You will forever be one of the biggest blessings that our family has ever received.
A Letter from Charlie's Mom...
We got our sweet boy Charlie nine months ago. The kids and I had headed out to hike at Aullwood with friends one Sunday afternoon. Imagine my shock (and yes, initial annoyance) when we came home to find a random dog getting a bath in the backyard! My husband explained that he had seen on Facebook that Charlie needed a new home and he knew in his heart that Charlie would be the perfect friend for him and our six and four year old boys.
We already had an almost 11 year old Puggle named Trouble, but at her age, she just lays around a lot. Charlie was just what the boys needed to burn off some energy! You should see him in the mornings. He hates not being the center of attention so when the boys are eating breakfast and finishing homework, he’s busy bringing in things from elsewhere in the house, trying to get us to chase him to take them away. Then of course there’s his signature “frog dog soldier crawl” when he splays his back legs and scoots on his belly. That cracks us all up.
But then there’s his tender side too. He goes in and checks on the boys every morning to help them start their days. My husband says he’s his “rock”. Charlie sticks close to him and helps him calm his nerves after stressful days at work. He says it’s like night and day now that Charlie’s around!
Recently, Charlie was outside hanging in the yard with our whole courtyard of kids when unbeknownst to us he went into anaphylactic shock –probably from eating a bee. He’s always chasing, and then inevitability eating, bugs!
We didn’t even know there was a problem until a couple of hours after Charlie had been stung. When dogs go into shock their faces don’t always swell up. Charlie vomited multiple times outside and I thought it was just from him eating a bug that didn’t agree with him. After letting him calm down we realized something was horribly wrong when he felt cold to the touch and wouldn’t drink chicken broth or eat a piece of pepperoni.
My husband rushed him to the ER where we were told Charlie needed to be hospitalized. No way could we have afforded to have him treated, as we are a single income military family, but without it, he would die. My husband said he felt so helpless. He said it was the worst feeling in the world to lose his beloved family member over money.
There was no way we could have brought Charlie home if it wasn’t for the help of Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund. Charlie provides so much comfort and joy in our family that we would have never been able to replace. We are so grateful we get to continue to witness and be a part of all his lovable quirks and antics. Thank you, Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund, for saving our family. You will forever be one of the biggest blessings that our family has ever received.
