photo taken August 9, 2007

I rely mainly on eye contact and the word “Hey.” I discovered very early on that Charlie responds extremely well to eye contact and I use it to transmit all sorts of information, from comfort and “you’re safe” messages when he is scared, to discipline. Charlie is magically intelligent, and at this point in our relationship, he knows the order of things; he knows what is expected of him and what behaviors are OK and which are not. He knows when he’s being naughty and always looks at me sideways to see if he can get away with it, and I give him a Look. And usually he changes his behavior based on that look.

When he ignores me, “Hey” comes into play. “Hey” is a universal term we use that means “you know you’re pushing the boundaries, little one.” When he was much younger, I bit him on the ear when I said “Hey,” and I think this action helped reinforce the power of the word. Ear-biting is a disciplinary measure that canine mothers use on their pups, and so by doing this myself while also saying “Hey,” Charlie and I were able to communicate in his language as well as mine, and the authority of the word alone became ingrained.

Charlie has always slept all night long. It kind of cracks me up. We roughhouse and play right before bed and then he goes to sleep around the same time I do, and sleeps until I wake up. When he sleeps inside, he never wakes up before me, but once I’m up he is too, and we have a sweet little lovefest to start the day. I usually leave him outside around the full moon because he does stay up all night when the moon is bright. (He’s contained so he doesn’t go on a walkabout – it’s easy to predict what would happen if someone saw him wandering through their yard under a full moon). Eli’s another story – he’s out carousing all night and comes in between 5 and 7 in the morning to lounge around the house all day and boss us around.