Carli

   I had originally sat down this evening to write a different blog post about a delicious coleslaw recipe that I made and ate this evening...but...instead I am going to write about my missing puppy. 3 and a bit months after we got married I begged and pleaded with my husband until he agreed to let us buy a puppy. I had already picked out the puppy and made an appointment to meet with the breeder before Mark agreed...but I knew he wouldn't be able to say no to me! Mark agreed to go meet the puppy but made me promise I wouldn't make him buy the puppy unless he was "on board". I agreed. About 3 minutes after we entered the breeder's house Mark was hooked and we got to take Carli home then and there! Its been a busy, crazy two years with Carli but mostly its been a lot of fun! She isn't the most behaved well trained dog...but we love her just the same. I must admit, there are times when she drives me crazy...but most days end with her snuggled up on my lap or beside me while I read a book, knit, watch t.v. or talk with Mark. 

How could we NOT fall in love with her! Look how cute she was at only 12 weeks old!

   Carli has a lot of energy. She often goes on these little "freak outs" where she runs all over the house, jumping on furniture and banging into walls. She has even, on occasion, moved the furniture in our house because of her fast landings and take offs. She also is a stellar jumper. We have some pretty cool pictures of her mid jump at around Mark's chest height! Carli is a very affectionate dog. She loves to cuddle up and sit close to you. She also HATES being ignored. Often she will take a squeaky toy and squeak it right in our faces if we aren't paying attention to her (for example: while we are watching a movie). She will do this until we finally give in and play with her. She definitely knows how to get her way! Carli is finally toilet trained - she took quite a while to figure it out. She was trained to a pee mat almost right away after coming home with us...but the concept of only peeing outside was lost on her. I have to admit, I was getting sick of coming home to a smelly pee mat by my door. This past summer she FINALLY decided that going outside was a good option! Yay! We were so relieved...especially with P on the way! Carli had a hard time when P came into our lives....but it only took her a week or two to get over it and start to adore P. Now, when I feed P Carli jumps up on the couch and snuggles right beside me and when I burped P Carli leans on my other shoulder - its kind of like having two babies sometimes! When P is playing on her playmat Carli will lie just off of the mat and lick P's feet or just stand guard. I really think the two of them will become best of buds as P grows up. It will be nice to have a more "constant" playmate for Carli!

Licking P's feet!

Already becoming best of friends!

   Anyways, the reason I am up at 1AM writing a blog post about my adorable little dog is because this evening she went missing. As Mark was barbecuing sausages for our supper Carli wandered out of the yard. Mark turned his back for just a moment and in that moment Carli disappeared. She has taken off a couple of times since we moved into the country and she always returns within a couple of minutes so we didn't get too worried at first. We waited for about 20 minutes calling her from the back door. When she didn't come running back (even at the promise of treats), I started getting worried. Mark and I took turns driving around the country roads with the headlights on looking into the ditches and along the road. We looked for her until about 11PM at which time Mark said that we might just have to face reality that we wouldn't be finding her tonight. I am so worried about her! She is just a little dog...and really, she doesn't have a lot of the normal "dog instincts" that most dogs would use to find their way home - she's never had to find her way home before tonight! I just hope that one of our very nice neighbors have let her into their house for the night so that she is safe and warm. Tomorrow morning I am going to call the Humane society to see if anyone has brought in a little bichon poodle. I am also going to make up posters to hang in the local general store and restaurant (we live in a small community) and to put in our neighbors' mail boxes. Hopefully someone knows where she is! 

   Its 1AM and I can't sleep...I just keep thinking of her out there! Instead I am keeping myself busy baking cookies and checking out my back window every five minutes in the hope that she is waiting by the back door to be let in. Hopefully she'll be back in her bed before too long. 

Please come home little Carli! 

   Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to write a happy blog about Carli being found and coming home safely. Our family doesn't feel complete without her running around and snuggling us! Also, I know I won't sleep properly until my ENTIRE family is in bed safely - I might be a tired Momma tomorrow!