News

An unique employee at H&R Block

By Alicia Wicklund

05/29/2012

It’s an every morning ritual. Charlie doesn’t wake up until Jim Christianson crawls out of bed.

Charlie also watches Christianson’s pickup to make sure he doesn’t leave without him. Charlie and Christianson are more than best buds, they’re co-workers. And one doesn’t function without the other.

“In the morning we don’t even think about it anymore. He is going to be there, and he’ll jump in the pickup and away we go,” said Christianson, owner of H&R Block in Bottineau. “In fact, I wouldn’t even know what it would be like to come to the office without Charlie. He’s a great pet and good company. I like having him with me.”

According to Christianson, Charlie is a pretty timid dog.

“He acts tough and ferocious though,” he said. “His bark is bigger than his bite.”

As bold as Charlie will get is making a trip across the alley to the State Bank of Bottineau.

“He’s learned over the years that the bank is safe territory,” Christianson said. “Nowhere else or no other place would he do that.”

Charlie will be eight years old on Dec. 24 of this year. This is Christianson’s third American Eskimo and all three have been named Charlie. The first two girls; this Charlie is a boy.

“This will for sure be my last. I am now at an age where I am unsure who is going to outlive who anymore,” he said.

Christianson mentioned the average life span of an American Eskimo was 16 years.

Typically Charlie is a white fluffy ball of fur, but twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, he gets a haircut in Fargo. Charlie is slowly getting fuzzy again after this spring’s buzz. 

American Eskimo’s are a member of the Spitz family and that type of dog, according to Christianson, doesn’t take to strangers really well.

“It takes some time for Charlie to warm up. He’s pretty cautious when there is a new face. Once he hears his name, that seems to calm him down,” Christianson said.

Charlie has to know where Christianson is at all the time.

“I’ve got him pretty spoiled,” Christianson said. “Charlie thinks I don’t go anywhere without him. If I am gone, he’s pretty nervous until I get home.”

Just like people, Charlie has a best friend –their neighbor’s small house dog named Lucky.

“Lucky and Charlie are the best dog friends you will ever see. They just love being with each other. When Lucky comes over, she jumps in the pickup too. Most nights, about 10 or 10:30 p.m., I walk her back over to the Jarmins. We’ve got our routine.”  

Charlie is like the neighborhood watch dog.

“They’re terrific watch dogs,” Christianson said. “If anyone is at the backdoor whether it is here or at home, it’s total chaos. He thinks he owns the entire neighborhood.”

In one instance about a year ago, it was 2 a.m. in the morning and Charlie was inside sleeping like he normally does.

“All of a sudden he is up and barking like the dickens. I wake up and wondered, ‘What is going on here?’” Christianson said.

Charlie was at the backdoor. He had heard something. So Christianson opened the back door and Charlie took off like a bolt. Christianson waited.

“Pretty soon there was a skunk smell and it just about floored me,” Christianson said. “Charlie went after the skunk under our deck and the skunk had enough of him so he let him have it.”

“There’s a squirrel that eats out of our birdfeeder and every time Charlie sees him he will run after him,” Christianson added. “But if it were another dog bigger than Charlie, he wouldn’t dare chase.”

Yet like every human, Charlie has his own little quarks.

Ever since Charlie has been a little pup, he has sucked on Christianson’s thumb.

“He was weaned way too early. As soon as I saw him I knew he shouldn’t have been taken from his mother at such a young age,” Christianson said. “I don’t know how I discovered this. To this day, when he wants to mellow out and really feel secure he does this. It drives Bonnie berserk. I tell her, there’s nothing wrong with this. He was weaned to early and it’s like his security blanket.”  

Christianson continued, “Our second Charlie got hit and killed by a car out in front of our house. It was just devastating to lose a pet like that. I told Bonnie no more. I didn’t want to go through that again. But, my daughter in Fargo didn’t hear me say that.”

“I think it took a day or two and my daughter went to the West Acres Mall, and by chance they had happened to have a litter of American Eskimo pups there,” he added. “So our daughter, without saying anything, goes in and buys this Charlie for me. I find out a few days later I have another American Eskimo waiting for me.”

At that point Charlie was two or three weeks old.

“He was so small,” Christianson said.

As for treats, Charlie’s favorite food is cheese.

“It’s against the advice of my vet because he is overweight but he loves it,” Christianson said. “He loves steak and hamburger too and any good scraps go to him. I know I should trim him down, but how do you do that to a pet.”

When Christianson eats ice cream with chocolate, he always lets Charlie lick the bowl.

“He just loves that. But we do have a sanitizing dishwasher, so it is not as bad as it sounds,” Christianson laughed. “He knows when I am getting down to the bottom because he can hear the spoon clanking on the side of the bowl. As soon as he hears that, he perks up.”

He continued, “Yea, he is spoiled rotten. But I just love dogs.”  

Charlie also likes to take naps somewhere around 10:30 or 11 a.m. in the morning.

“He will usually walk in here and look at me. He is telling me its nap time and wants to be in my pickup,” Christianson said. “So I walk him out back and he jumps in and he will sleep for a couple hours in there. I think it’s his way of thinking that I won’t leave him when he shuts his eyes.”  

Christianson says he has never been without a dog, but says he won’t buckle for the fourth time.

“This is the last Charlie,” Christianson said. “We are buds to the max.”