Charlie Turns Six!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BarkBox. All opinions are 100% mine.

Happy birthday to my sweet and excitable mutt, Charlie “Bug”!

“You know, having a birthday party for a dog doesn’t seem all that weird. That is, until you’re then forced to ATTEND a birthday party for someone else’s dog.” – my sister’s boyfriend

I’ve never really made much of a to-do about Charlie’s birthday. I love every furball-tumbleweed-making inch of her, and she’s quite a character, but since she was adopted as a pup, I never really had an official birthday of hers to write on a calendar. The Atlanta Humane Society (where I got her) simply listed her as being born sometime near the end of April, and since my birthday immediately follows on May 1st, I’ve always just lumped her birthday into mine. Hey — it’s not like she can complain all that much, right? She’s already quite the pampered pup with my ability to work from home.

But this year, when BarkBox reached out and suggested sending me a few months of their subscription boxes just because, and it happened to simply be her birthday month, I figured, why not let her have something special? She is, after all, 50% of the living creatures in this house (well, now that that squirrel family is gone), and my constant companion for almost every DIY project ever worked on over the last six years.

If you’re a new dog owner or (for some reason) have never heard of BarkBox before, then imagine one of those monthly subscription boxes. But instead of containing makeup or clothing or coffee, it has fun stuff for your pup to unbox on a monthly basis: each box has 2 bags of treats, 1 chew, and 2 toys that she can macerate to her heart’s content. And if you think opening a gift box for yourself is fun, just think of how funny it is when a dog is trying to nudge her way into its contents. It might even be my favorite part — watching her find a new favorite treat or toy each month (before picking up all of the stuffing once she gnaws her way through one of these things, but such is life with a dog).

I’ve had a number of unboxing occasions with Charlie from having this subscription before, so she’s kind of used to what the box of goodies I leave on the floor is all about. There’s the trying-to-put-it-on-the-floor-before-she-notices…

Then, the initial investigation (which is kind of fun for me too, since the boxes have a surprise theme each month — this one was a cherry blossom theme)…

Then, the complete devouring of the chew (a guaranteed goner on the first day) while I look over the other contents…

Then me pulling out all of the other items for her to sniff, chew, and take back to her “bed” (which is really just a few inexpensive pillows and some leftover fabric I used for the Christmas tree skirt; she’s got proper beds all over the house, but this one just sort of happened and I haven’t felt like throwing the materials away yet since the room is missing coffee and end tables).

Eventually, Charlie picked her favorite: an adorable fabric sushi roll. Both it and the little matcha teapot squeak, but so far, she has elected not to destroy the teapot (yet… one third of the sushi roll has been gutted, but she seems content to keep the teapot squeaking away)…

The all-natural treats last her a good long while, which saves me a trip or two to the store. In fact, there are enough of them to share with her new BFF, Stella (not my pup, just a frequent visitor to the UDH). Watching the two of them play and show off the toys they stole from each other is pretty entertaining (Charlie would like me to be clear that she does not actually desire to share the toys with Stella… she just wants to fan them in front of her and demonstrate how fun they are to play with, then hide them for the rest of the afternoon. So if your pup has a selfish streak like mine, you might want to check out the Extra Toy Club option to accommodate multiple pups).

So, a very happy birthday to my goofy Charlie girl, and a big thank you to BarkBox. We can’t wait to see what comes in next month’s box! Here’s to many more years of leaving fluff and paw prints all over my pretty floors. ????