Matt and I spent the better part of an hour today arguing if the little brown dog on the webcam was in fact Charlie.

I won this bet. At least I say I do.

Camp Bow Wow allows us unfettered viewing of Lex and Charlie. I access the footage through an app on my iPhone, so you can guess how small the images are.

This little dog looks a lot like Charlie, but I’m saying his fur is not dark enough. Also Lexie is missing and the place has kept them together up til now.

So yes, it’s kind of odd spying on our pups like this. But it’s made our vacation so much easier, knowing we can literally check in.

Having the ability to watch them from afar, we have discovered a few things.

Lexie is much more spry than we originally thought. She may have dementia and kidney disease, but we clearly saw her trotting deep in a pack of dogs. She was keeping pace, and even initiated playing once or twice.

Charlie is a leader at heart. More importantly, he’s a border collie. There’s no more denying it. Spending his days with about 15 other small dogs, he focuses much of his energy herding them. More often than not he will gather about 10 dogs into the middle of the room and trot around them. Then he will lead them outside for a romp on the grass. Classic border collie behavior.

Perhaps I should introduce him to some sheep.

For the record, I won the bet. I just checked and a puppy that clearly is Charlie is back in the pen, wrestling with a English bulldog.

I’m betting he’ll be herding that dog in no time.

(Below, Lex and Charlie take a moment to reverse spoon. They are in the lower right corner of the frame. )