This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato's Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Michael Chavis keeps his locker full of footwear options when he comes to the ballpark, but there is one pair he gravitates to the most. Among the sneakers and cleats are brown slippers that bring him an unbreakable smile.

That’s because each time he looks at them, he sees the face of his dog printed among a background of dog bones and paws.

“Everybody who knows me knows how much I love Charlie,” Chavis said.

Charlie is Chavis’ and his wife, Sarah’s, Great Dane-Rhodesian Ridgeback mix rescue dog, whose nicknames include “The Bigs.” She is at the center of their world -- a travel buddy who likes taking long car rides around the baseball map, a fan of sun tanning and an enthusiastic catch partner.

“When people meet her, she's just super affectionate and super loving,” Chavis said. “She's big and intimidating, so people are kind of like, ‘Oh my goodness’ and she has a mean bark, but she’s such a cuddle bug and so nice. I love her.”

Charlie made the trip from Fort Myers, Fla., to Boston when Chavis played for the Red Sox (and got a photo inside the Green Monster at Fenway Park); she made the trip from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Washington, D.C., this season. Being a pet in a baseball family, Charlie has also picked up one of her owners' favorite activities.  

“Charlie had never played fetch, but Sarah and I love playing catch,” Chavis said. “We have a tennis ball that comes with a sticky pad, and we’ll play catch with it … One day, we dropped it and she ran and got it and brought it back to us. We were like, ‘Wait, do you want to play catch?’ She’ll only play with that ball because she knows that’s how we play, and she wanted to be part of it.”  

Chavis keeps a Polaroid of him and Charlie, taken during Spring Training, taped to his locker in the Nationals clubhouse. The slippers -- a Christmas gift from a family friend whose dog-printed pajamas caught Chavis’ attention -- travel to home and road games.  

“You can’t move too fast in them because they’re a little bigger than I would like, but she makes me happy when I look down at them,” he said. “They’re actual slippers instead of slides or sandals, so they’re kind of cozy. It feels like I’m in the house. It’s my comfort thing.”