My letter to Charlette's owner

Hi There - I just tried to write you a big long email re: why we'd make a great new family for Charlette, and the email got returned because craigslist only allows a measly 150 kb. I thought about it, and I decided to just post the email to my blog so you could read it directly.

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Hi there;

I have to admit, your ad was nearly the first one I checked, so maybe this is serendipitous... I took one look at Charlette, and thought, 'OMG! THAT's the dog we've been looking for'.

First, I'm a dog rescuer and fosterer, so it sounds like we have something in common. I've had dogs all my life, I've rescued, fostered and placed twelve dogs in the last 17 years, including the three we kept over the years. I just lost my "old man" Jake in January of this year, so my husband and I had started talking about finding another big dog. Jake was a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix who weighed 80 pounds in his heyday, and the most wonderful guy. I've always loved German Shepherd crosses, as they have so many great traits and they tend to have great, easy-going personalities. Charlette sounds like she's got that same wonderful attitude - and 'gargantuan-bouncy-puppy' does not intimidate anyone in my house. :) Everyone in my family has always owned big dogs, and the two dogs we have now, both under 15 pounds, are something of an oddity for us.

Our other two dogs are also rescues - my "old lady", a very old Chihuahua/Corgi mix named Zazu who's now blind and deaf and maybe a little bit senile :), who's lived with us the entire 15 years of our marriage, and our newest addition, a young spaniel-esque teenager named Sophie who tries to get Zazu to play with her but would REALLY love somebody closer to her age to expend some energy with. I wanted to introduce a new dog to our pack as young as possible, and fairly soon, so that Sophie would have a friend and a pack mate to help her when it's time for Zazu to go to the Rainbow Bridge. I've always tried to have two dogs at a time, as I feel like the dogs are just so much happier with some doggie company. No matter how hard we try, we humans don't speak the same language, and sometimes a girl just needs another girl, ya know?

We own a single-wide mobile home with a decent yard in north San Jose, right next to the Milpitas border, and we have a lot of family nearby that own dogs, so Charlette would get to meet and play with Holly the Gargantuan Rottweiller Puppy on an almost weekly basis in Morgan Hill (and Holly's mom and dad will certainly appreciate Charlette coming to play, as Holly is rather lonely right now - her only companion is another Sophie, Sophie the Rottweiler, who is far too old to play and just grouches at her all the time. Holly is another sweet soul who's too big for her own good, and also 9 months old).

Our dogs have ALWAYS been inside dogs, and we don't even turn the dogs out in the backyard unless they ask. They stay in the house when we have to go anywhere, and we have family that will dog sit if we have to go on vacation and we can't take the dogs, which won't happen often as my favorite type of vacation is camping. Our family also does not believe in leaving dogs outside ever.

Sophie the Spaniel-esque gets a daily walk, but Zazu's been too old for more than a walk around the block for some time now. I'd love to do more hiking, and so would Sophie, but before now, I haven't had much time.

Here's the other thing that makes this a very serendipitous situation - I just got laid off :) Ok, so that doesn't sound quite so good.... But let me explain. I would never dream of bringing a new dog into my pack, let alone a puppy, unless I was going to be there 24 hours a day to help him or her adjust to life in our family. My husband works from home, and I'm going to be present a lot more. I work in web design, so I'm not anticipating finding a job any time before 6 months (not that I'm really looking that hard right now, as I'm enjoying being a mom to our 8-yr-old daughter) and yes, in case you were wondering, we have excellent finances and no bills, no credit cards, no car payments, not even a mortgage, so money is not going to be an issue at all. We've been seeing a nearby vet, but I'm thinking of switching back to the BRILLIANT vet we used to see when we lived in Fremont, at Mission Adobe. Those guys were freakin' wonderful, and I haven't found anybody I like half so much where we live now.

I know it's tough to think of giving up your girl, but it reflects nothing but good on you that you're looking at your situation and recognizing that it may not be the best for Charlette. I'd love to get together and talk about whether our family might be a good fit for her.

I'm sending a second email with some pictures of Jake and Zazu, along with my nieces and nephews - just because I'm a sucker for cute dogs and kids and I operate under the occasionally mistaken belief that others are too...

My name is Ericka Hiatt, my cell phone number is (sorry, edited out for the sake of my personal sanity. Email me at tygrhaus@yahoo.com, and I'll send you my cell#). I can even provide references as to my level of experience and ability to care for and train Charlette, if you'd like to talk to some of my friends and family.

Thanks for considering us!

:) Ericka