This week Ellen bought him a Christmas collar with little, really quiet bells. What did Charley do? He hid under Ellen’s desk at our Berkshires bed and breakfast. It took all of us awhile to figure out that this little Fearless Fosdick aka Curious George is afraid of his collar!

Charley just loves his little stuffed “eggs.” He has turtle eggs that were hiding inside a turtle that is now in shreds. Charley is really hard on toys. He also has dinosaur eggs although the dinosaur is no more. And for Christmas, I know he’s getting a fish with fish eggs. That fish won’t be swimming for long. And I think that Charley is getting his holidays wrong. Just yesterday he hid a few eggs under bushes in the garden. Hey, Charley, wake up! It’s not Easter!

He went to the movies for the first time with Ellen. Forget the story, but the moral is: If you don’t want to share your popcorn, don’t take Charley to the movies!

And then there was Santa Claus. Most young ones sit on Santa’s lap and face the camera, either smiling or crying. Not our Charley. He jumps on Santa’s lap and gives him a big kiss and nearly took off Santa’s beard.

Yes, Charley gets all of the laughs, but I still don’t think he’s funny. Ridiculous? Maybe. But not funny at all.

Happy Charley Days!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here I Saw Charley Kissing Santa Claus in the Berkshires!.

I loved my first plane ride. I curled up under Ellen’s seat and slept all the way to France. First escalator? A piece of cake!

I walked my little paws off! Wow, the City of Lights is enormous, especially considering that I am used to Lenox, MA, with a population under 5,000. And I made new friends, including Ellen’s son Eric, a musician who lives in Paris. Eric wasn’t really a dog person, but we hit it off right away. Cute works every time!

Where did we go? Everywhere! Our apartment was on the Left Bank, around the corner from Notre Dame, and dated from the 16th century. I really liked trying to catch the cats. Being so close, we just had to visit Notre Dame. Awesome!

We crossed Pont Neuf to get to The Louvre. I really liked the fountains, but Ellen wouldn’t let me swim in them. The lines were endless — it was a school holiday — but we discovered that anyone with a disability (remember Ellen’s hearing problems) goes to the head of the line, and entrance is free. We liked that a lot, especially considering that neither of us are great at lines.

The cafes, bistros, and restaurants were all excellent, but Ellen particularly liked a little hole-in-the-wall that had two long tables crowded into a room only slightly larger than our powder room and served only foie gras and oysters. I liked the patisseries best, especially ones that had macaron (not really at all like our macaroons) crumbs on the floor.

My godmother Lynnette arrived, and we spent lots of time in Foodie Heaven, aka Bon Marche. They even have a caviar bar! You don’t find that at Stop and Shop or Guido’s!

We walked everywhere, not an easy feat considering that it was during the two-week school holiday, but while the food traffic was something I have never experienced (after all, I live in Lenox, population barely 5,000!), it sure beat the gridlock on the street. We discovered the Batobus, a water taxi that picks up and drops off people at all of the Paris “must-sees.” What a great idea!

My friends Yvonne and Ian arrived, and the next morning we left Paris and took the train to Nimes. But that’s a story for another day. I can’t wait for our next adventure, but I am happy to be back home at our Lenox MA bed and breakfast!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Travels with Charley: from Lenox MA to Paris.

Is there room for Mrs. Hedgehog?

Thank you, Quinn, for letting me use your space as I moved to Birchwood Inn earlier this year and Quinn has been very good to me.

My bags are packed; I’m ready to go! I’ve had all of my shots. My paperwork is completed. I’ve packed my favorite turtle “egg,” Woofgang Pup pizza, and my soft soccer ball because… I am going with Ellen to Paris to see my “Uncle” Eric and then to the south of France with six of the Eight Broads in the Kitchen!

I have lots of questions before we leave:

Can I hold it from Boston to the nearest patch of grass in Paris? I certainly hope so!

Will I mind my service dog manners? Well, there may be a lapse or five.

Will I like the French dog biscuits? Mais oui!

Will I come home barking with a Parisian accent? Bien sur!

Will I be able to blog from the iPad? To be determined.

Stay tuned for the further adventures of Travels with Charley.

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Charley, the Dog, Travels to France: The Prologue.

Quinn and Charley are becoming good friends.

Thank you everyone for asking how I am enjoying retirement, how Charley is doing, and how we are getting along. At the risk of sounding like Sally Field, I just have to say, “You love me! You really love me!”

At first I thought retirement was overrated. So boring. Charley would go out with Ellen, and I would sit on my bed in the kitchen and wait for them to return. But now friends come and take me for long walks in Kennedy Park near our Berkshires B&B, and I am going out with Ellen for walks, rides in the car, and visits to my friends at Glad Rags and the post office.

Charley is great and enthusiastic about hearing sounds and alerting Ellen. And Charley doesn’t need a trapeze to fly through the air! He loves to fling his toys and then run and catch them, except when he flings the toys a little over exuberantly and they land in the sink.

He loves to play ball. I go out to watch him, but when I’ve had enough, I take the ball away from Charley and hide it. How else is the little terror has to learn who is numero uno at our Berkshires bed and breakfast?

He loves people and trips with Ellen. She reports that he is really very well-behaved in public. We just have to work on extending this to the private sector.

I have discovered that not only is Charley Ellen’s hearing dog but he’s mine, too! When Charley hears the stove time, the alarm clock, etc., he flings himself at Ellen (I just used to tap her lightly on the arm), takes her to the sound and gets a treat. Now I follow him and I get treats, too! This just may work out.

PS – How do you like Charley’s “natural” new hair styling?

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here The Start of a Beautiful Friendship.

New Kid on the Block!

Quinn of our B&B in Berkshires says, “I would like to introduce my new brother C. Charley PAII. Charley, Ellen’s new hearing dog, is a Bichon mix and a bundle of energy. He makes me dizzy with his antics!”

“Charley has arrived on the heels of our sad loss of Piper, whose kidneys failed at 14 1/2, and Charley is working hard to soften the blow.”

“Charley is a shelter dog found on the street in a greatly neglected condition. But Brian, NEADS (National Association for Assistive Dog Training Services) trainer par excellence, had faith in this little ball of fluff. Soon Charley was in the MA prison program, where professional trainers like Brian work with minimum security prisoners to train service dogs. A warm and welcoming couple took Charley home on weekends to give him different experiences. Charley then went to NEADS training center to be trained for Ellen, just as I was 13 years ago.”

“Ellen and Charley have just returned to our inn in Berkshires from 7 days of intense training. Charley nails the sounds he alerts Ellen to — stove timer, alarm clock, door bell, smoke detector — perfectly and with such enthusiasm he nearly knocks Ellen over. He is not so great yet at obedience, but then he is a shelter dog and one who learned how to survive when he was on the street. They both bonded at first sight.”

“All is okay as Charley and I learn to live with each other, as long as he realizes that I am Alpha Dog and doesn’t try to play with Mrs. Hedgehog.”

Charley is settling in well at our Lenox MA Bed and Breakfast as he makes the transition from “inmate” to “innmates.”

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here New Kid on the Block at our B&B in Berkshires.

So meet Curly (we are already referring to him as Charley)! Curly/Charley, Ellen’s new hearing dog, is an 18-pound Bichon mix, and my trainer Brian reports that Curly/Charley will be an excellent hearing dog. Ellen will go to NEADS in April for a week of training with Curly/Charley, and then he will come home to our Berkshires inn.

Since Curly/Charlie is white, I’d better not teach him to roll in the dirt as I love to do when Ellen’s not looking!

Hi! I'm Curly aka Charley!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Meet the New Family Member at our Berkshires Inn.