It sounded like a good idea at the time… A cute puppy to add to our family. What harm could there be?
For starters, we had two wonderful fur babies. Buddy Barker, our yard defender and squirrel patrol. And Otis, twenty pounds of feline fluff.
But we’d missed out on their puppy and kitten phases. We’d adopted them from pet rescues, so they were both a bit older when they came to live with us.
One day while doing a search for puppies who needed homes, I came across a litter of puppies all named after characters from the Peanuts: Linus, Lucy, Sally, Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy. I was immediately drawn to this one little pup nicknamed, Linus. He was the runt and had to be put into a separate room with his sisters because his brothers bullied him a little.
At eight weeks old we brought Linus home wrapped in a blue blanket, and changed his name to Charlie. Upon his arrival, mayhem quickly ensued! Charlie cried during the night to be let out. Goodbye sleep! Other nights we let him sleep with us. Goodbye sleep! And no matter how many chew toys we got for him, he preferred the pillows on the couch. There were also a few shoes that didn’t survive.
Here we are exhausted, including Charlie, after some puppy mayhem! Adults not pictured.
Having a puppy was a lot more work than I remembered! But it was also super inspiring. I started doing little cartoon sketches of Charlie, Otis, and Buddy doing funny things, usually instigated by Charlie. But I changed their names to Peanut, Butter, and Crackers, and embellished a bit, just for fun.
Puppy Problems is a story about the chaos that happens when a puppy comes to live at your house. But it’s also a story about sharing, friendship, and acceptance.