Charlie, for those of you that don't already know, is my friend's Shih-Tzu that has been staying with us for 5 days while she goes off on some sort of corporate training something or other that is out of town. I didn't know what to expect from Charlie because I had never met her before. All I know is that I instinctually refer to Charlie as a "he" even though Charlie is a girl. This happened because the owner is Korean and really like Charlie's Angels. She was unaware of the fact that the "Charlie" in those movies is actually a man. As far as I know Charlie is exclusively a man's name. It's funny but whatever. Nadi isn't a name at all and that is my dog's name.
Charlie has been almost completely effortless to look after. She is tiny, cute, and for the most part quiet. There is normally a danger with tiny dogs being what I call "little yappers" in that they bark constantly. Thankfully my dog Nadi, and Charlie are both rather quiet pups. They bark when someone knocks on the door but that is about it. Charlie will bark at you when he wants something but this doesn't happen very often. Mostly he just wants you to play with him or he wants to get on the sofa but lacks the courage to try to do it on his own. The owner told me that Charlie can jump up on the sofa but is a bit traumatized by the process because when she was younger she failed so many times and is now scared to try.
I surprised the owner by telling her that after just a couple of days I sort of trained Charlie to jump up on the bed on his own simply by refusing to help him.
I didn't help Charlie get up there and when I sent this picture to her owner, she was very surprised. She had actually ordered doggy stairs for her own bed in her condo and well, I suppose that is fine because the only reason why Charlie decided to do this is because she doesn't really know me but has no reason to believe that I am going to pick her up. She KNOWS that her owner is going to pick her up from years of precisely that happening. It's probably better for the dog's bones to not be bounding up on something twice as tall as she is. Put it into perspective: It would be like you jumping up onto the roof of your house.
Nadi is not really a fan of Charlie or any other dog for that matter. She has lived almost all of her life not having to share her space or toys with another dog so since she is old and set in her ways this is not going to change. Thankfully Nadi is still friendly towards other dogs but mostly just walks away from them if they try to play with her or do too much sniffing. Nadi became a "chair doggy" because of this. When we are in public and there is a dog around that is too much up in her face (or butt) she will jump on a chair and then bark at them letting them know to keep their distance.
I truly believe that dogs can communicate with one another because this is almost always successful in keeping the other dog at bay.
I don't think that Charlie is as well-behaved as Nadi and this is fine. Nadi is old and has many years of experience with me and knows what I expect of her. Charlie has only known me for 5 days.
The thing about this is that in those 5 days I have grown to really like Charlie. Nadi hates cuddles and being close to a person. She is actually claustrophobic and will squirm if you try to hold her for too long. Charlie is the opposite and kind of seems to require cuddles. If you pick him up he will rest his neck on your shoulder and is very happy to just stay that way. At night Charlie lies right next to me or sometimes I wake up and he is between my legs curled up like a cute little pup. Nadi is the opposite of this. She gets as far away from me as possible at night and sleeps in her doggy bed that sits on top of my bed. Perhaps this is strange to some people but it is just the way that my dog is.
I love my grumpy old dog Nadi and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. But it has been kind of nice having another dog here for a bit and if Charlie's owner ever needs someone to look after him in the future I will gladly take that job.
Charlie will be departing this afternoon around 3pm. I'm genuinely going to miss her. Nadi wont though. She is probably going to be absolutely delighted once this much younger and more energetic version of herself gets the hell out of her space :)