| Hannah's Christmas present the year she was 14 was permission to buy a dog of her own. She had been saving money from baby-sitting and other jobs, and she did a thorough job of researching breeds, then locating a breeder, and arranging for transportation. We had some concerns about how Princess might react to a puppy in the house, but Charlotte charmed her, as she did all of us, and there was never a problem, nor were there difficulties later on when we added Winnie, Danny and then Kira to the household. Charlotte excelled at obedience training, but never quite grasped the concept of retrieving for the fun of it. Somehow the retrieving genes must have been lost on the way to beauty and temperament (mixed-breeds Kira and Sasquatch were far better at playing ball). However, Charlotte had the retriever's "mouth" instinct, and she enjoyed moving various items, especially socks, from one part of the house to another, which led to our calling her the Golden Relocator.
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