January 13th, 2008, is the day my family’s life changed and especially my mom’s. At first you could say it was not for the better, but that quickly changed. This is the day our cute, little, and most importantly, troublesome, yellow lab puppy, Charlotte, came home.

We picked Charlotte up in Humboldt around noon on January 13th. My mom, who was not a big fan of dogs at the time, was not very pleased to bring my three excited siblings and me to pick up a dog that she didn’t want, but she brought us anyway. We brought a bunch of blankets for the adorable and tiny puppy since it was so cold out. She smelt horrible and was all dirty from the kennel she was in but we were pumped to finally have the puppy we dreamed of. Charlotte slept the whole thirty minute drive home from Humboldt covered in blankets and lying so calmly in my lap. Little did we know this image of the innocent puppy wouldn’t last.

When we first got home we strapped on Charlotte’s new collar and leash and took her outside to the bathroom by a few large rocks. We said we would train her to go to the bathroom there all the time but that didn’t last. Shivering, we brought her inside to give her a bath. She was not a huge fan of the bathtub and attempted to jump out multiple times. Charlotte practically gave me a bath from all the water she splashed around. When we finally let her out of the bathroom, she ran like a madman around the house. We tried keeping her off the carpet but she insisted on going on the soft area and we gave in. As little as she was, she could fit under any chair and table. She even got stuck under our china cabinet and our barstools. We knew this was going to be a few stressful years of her puppy stage.

Charlotte was growing up so fast and she seemed to get more and more hyper. She started losing baby teeth and was chewing up the whole house. Expensive shoes seemed to be her favorite along with phones and remotes. Going to the bathroom outside was another struggle of Charlotte’s. Chasing after dogs and people around the neighbor hood seemed to be great fun to her too. She even escaped from her kennel while we were at church and we found her asleep on our couch when we got home. This made my mom extremely upset. She was just fed up with Charlotte and all of her annoying puppy behavior. Our whole family would argue and argue about whether to keep Charlotte or give her up. My mom finally gave into us and said we could keep her if she went to puppy school. And that’s when the tide turned.

Puppy school was Charlotte’s kind of thing: tons of people and dogs to play with. That’s not exactly how it worked though. She had to behave. All six members of our family had to go to puppy school with Charlotte so we could all learn to train her. She learned to sit, lay down, heel, and much more. She started off as one of the worst puppies in the class and at the end was awarded with most improved. She was becoming the dog we loved.

Charlotte got older which meant now she got lazier. She would sleep for hours and would hate to go on a run. She also seemed to bond more and more with my dog hating mom. They would be home together all day and seemed to be getting along really well. They soon became the best of friends. My mom made a 360 from the beginning and couldn’t get enough of Charlotte. She even gave Charlotte her own seat in our car. They go to the Dariette a lot too for the dog ice cream treat. Every once in a while she’ll get sleep on my parents bed. Charlotte is pretty close to a human these days: she is never on a leash and just roams the neighbor hood, she sleeps on a bed or couch every night, and even gets a few table scraps. She’s probably the most spoiled dog alive.

Even though my mom and Charlotte and their differences and at times we couldn’t stand her, we all ended up loving her to death and don’t know what we would do without her. She taught all of our family that you can’t just bond with someone right away. You have to be patient and slowly get to know them because they can be a whole new person once you really get to know them.