We asked for photos of slumbering critters and got this great response from our pal Jeneva O’Connor. “Not sure this is useful but I had to send it,” Jeneva wrote, then explained, “My Charlotte, now 11, puts herself to bed, under the covers, every morning after breakfast. You know, that post- breakfast nap!
“I had to lift the bedspread to get the shots, otherwise there's just a picture of a lump!”
As you can see, Charlotte is too beautiful to be relegated to “lump” status.
Jeneva founded N-TRUST-UR-PET and, as the website says, she’s been taking care of pets in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow since 1986. In that amount of time, a petsitter gets to know a lot of a clients and a lot of animal people.
So, what’s Charlotte’s story?
Jeneva, long a Beagle backer, writes, “Charlotte was the result of an accidental breeding, her dad being a horny 9-month-old PBGV(Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen) and mom an unsuspecting 13-inch Beagle. My good friend -- who gave me Benjy, and Melissa Boesch's Nemo [the late beloved star of local cute dog contests] -- called me when the puppies were born, and that is when she realized who the father had been.”
[LARRY NOTE: DEAR READERS, I’m going to keep you paternal suspense for a second to ID the two sleeping dogs as Benjy and Charlotte from 2009, and the baying Beagle with his distinct foreleg, is Nemo, around 2013, or so. Now, back to paternity.]
Jeneva explains that her friend “had just been keeping him [Dad] temporarily and he had jumped the fence to get to the female. She had not known that he did that, or that the female was in season at that time.
“There were 8-mixed puppies and she wanted to place them in good homes. Not exactly a 'rescue' story. I went to see them and fell in love with Charlotte. She is more independent than the Beagles, and has never slept on the bed with me.
“As far back as I can remember, after the Beagles get off the bed and eat, she goes back on my bed and digs into the bedspread until she can burrow underneath. It is pretty cute to see the lump. She will sleep for several hours like that. ... She really is adorable and has her own way of doing things. This is what she really looks like and yes, that is a cat condo which she took over when she was old enough to use the couch to access it. It gives her a better view since she has her mother's legs which are very short!”
[LARRY ASIDE: How adorable is Charlotte! And, don’t you Westminster Dog Show fans love it when the announcer says, “And now we have the P B G V” or when the announcer explains the difference between a 13-inch and a 15-inch Beagle. One does have to say Charlotte looks like she got the best of both breeds and may be the world’s most comfortable P B G V B G, i.e., Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen Beagle Gal.]
SEND THE PHOTOS AND BIOS OF YOUR slumbering dogs, cats and other critters to [email protected] and we’ll post them in our long-running, internationally read, weekend feature Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. Your story may inspire someone to give a good home to a dog who loves to nap under the covers, on a cat condo or in the lap of a favorite human. And, expect some of us dedicated insomniacs to try getting some sleep by pulling the covers over our heads after breakfast-- it's The Charlotte Method, it’s a proven slumber strategy.
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