It has been very quiet around here lately. Now I know why.

It has become very obvious that with the passing of our girl Sassy that something else has also gone away. No one has barked at anyone walking down the street or coming up to our door any more. I used to think of Sassy as our Early Warning System because she was the one who let everyone else know that "danger" was coming. Now it seems no one else cares. When Sassy sounded the alarm the two boys would instantly arrive to back her up and we'd have three Rottweilers standing guard inside the front doorway. Now, if I'm lucky, Ruff goes to the door with me out of curiosity to see whose there but he doesn't make a sound. Of course we have a full glass storm door so when I open the front door his huge presence is very obvious. Maybe he doesn't have to bark and maybe that's a good thing. I used to try and get him to be a "Stealth Rott" but I thought it wasn't working out right. Now that we are missing our little instigator (or cheerleader) Ruffin has become the stealth rott that I always wanted.

We are still looking to fill the vacancy in our lives. I have several people watching out for an adult, female Rottweiler that need a good home. I think Axl and Ruffin need a new leader and I have told a few people that we have a management opening here.

P.S. Summer is here and so is the outside work that comes with it. Soon as the cleanup is done I'll be posting new pictures.

 

Watching the Belmont Stakes horse race with Ruff and remembering old times.

This has become something of an annual tradition. Ruff has a fascination with horses. Always had since he got to kiss one when he was about two years old. So every year we seem to watch one particular horse race together, the Belmont Stakes. Well this year we were rooting for California Chrome hoping it would win the Triple Crown, but it didn't. I'm glad Ruff didn't bet any dog biscuits. I did manage to get one decent photo.

OK, for those who may not have seen them yet, here are the pictures that forever changed Ruff's opinion about horses. And makes him charge at the TV screen whenever he sees another one.

Here is how it all came about. We took Ruff over to the horse farm where his father lived to meet him. I spotted three horses in the pasture and asked if it was alright to take Ruff out to meet them. The horses were used to Rottweilers since the farmer owned about 6 of them. When the horses spotted us one began to slowly walk toward us and Ruff kinda lost his nerve. Especially when he realized how big it was. Anyway the rest is history. Here is the whole group of shots.

And then the clueless dingbat dog did what every other dog does, he went around to sniff the horses butt.

That's when the farmer told how lucky I was that the horses were used to Rottweilers. If the horse was skittish he would have instinctively kicked back at Ruff. Lucky I yelled at him as I took the picture.

Sassy - one last time.

For a little Rottweiler who I sometimes referred to as being anti-social because she kept to herself in her later years, Sassy has made a deeper impression on my life than I would have ever thought. And from the way Ruffin looks when he lays on her bed it seems that her passing has affected him as well. I just finished designing her headstone and will be ordering it next week and I came across a few older pictures of her when she was not quite 2 years old.

 

 

Sassy wasn't a champion or anything fancy like that, she just received a medal for entering the Parade of Rescued Rotts. But we were still very proud of her and she looked very proud of herself. That's the way it was when she was young.

The title of this post may be incorrect. The tears are welling up in my eyes again as I write this. I don't think I can ever forget her. Rest in peace little sweetheart and wait for us at the bridge.

 

Ruffin is still in mourning.

After our little girl Sassy passed away one of the first things I did was to move her bed out of the family room where it had been almost all of her life. She actually had more than one bed in this same spot over the years and this one was about five years old. I took the bed and stuck it in a corner of the living room so it wouldn't keep reminding the two boys about her since they both spend most of their time in the family room with their Mom. I was mistaken. On several occasions I have now found Ruffin laying on her bed, something he never did when Sassy was alive. He doesn't sleep on it he just seems to be laying there thinking about her. I realize now that he still remembers her and misses her very much and this is taking much longer that I expected. I took this picture tonight and the look on Ruff's face tells me he is still in mourning. 

I just realized it has been a month since I posted the sad news about Sassy. I think we have all been in the dumps around here so it isn't just Ruff who misses his little girl. I have asked several people who are involved with Rottweiler rescue to keep an eye out for a mature adult female Rottie about 5-7 years old that I could adopt. We have always had a female Rottie in our house since the day in 1995 when I got my girl Mocha and it seems very strange now without one.