I sat everyone down to take a group of photos for my Rottweiler Christmas card this year and wound up with so many good pictures I had trouble selecting one to use. So I printed up two of the and gave Bessie a nurses hat to wear since she has been acting like my nursemaid for a few months.
I don't know about anyone else but the most frustrating thing about toys for my Rottweilers is how easy it is for them to lose them in the house. They always seem to role underneath the furniture. So I had a brilliant idea one day to get a dog leash and tie two round balls together like a bolo. Kong makes the best and toughest dog toys and several of their balls come with holes thru them so it is very easy to put a dog leash thru it after removing the metal clip at the end which isn't needed anyway. Check out the photos. Bess loves to swing the toy around her head and get herself wrapped up in the leash.
Took Bessie to Noah's Ark Animal Clinic a few days ago. The plan was to have her toenails trimmed but then after some rough playing last Sunday she began limping badly on her right-rear leg. After giving her a thorough checkup Dr. Katie Scarlett Black discovered Bess has torn her anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. So after two years of carefully nursing her partly torn ACL in her left leg back to health with Glucosamine Chondroitin, Gabapentin and conservative pain management, one brief moment of rough play forces us to start all over again. Started a new search for affordable Rimadyl to add to the household pill collection. To my big surprise I just discovered that Walmart has a web site for just Pet Medicine. In case you didn't know, Rimadyl can't be taken by humans so for that matter it isn't sold in local pharmacies.
Check out the very affordable prices https://www.walmartpetrx.com/p-1678-rimadyl-chewables.aspx?SearchTerm=Rimadyl+Auto
Also, Bessie weighed 119 lbs.
Griffin had a big day.
I got a reminder from Noah's Ark Animal Clinic that Griffin needed a Rabies vaccination before the end of the month and since he also needed a nail trim with anesthesia I took him in early this morning at 10:00am before breakfast. They put him on the scale and he weighed 125.9 lbs.
Well, almost half an hour after the first sedative shot the big stinker fought off the sedative so they gave him a second injection and he still wouldn't go to sleep. So my favorite lady Vet Dr. Black ordered a third shot which finally did the trick and he got his nails trimmed and dremmeled.
This is the second time I have seen one of my Rottweilers fight off the affects of anesthesia. My girl Sassy was like that years ago. Just like Griffin, I got the impression she was determined to stay alert and be able to protect us.
After his exam and vaccinations they gave Griff another shot to wake him up but by this time Griffin was having a lovely snooze and took his sweet time to stand up. With the help of Dr. Black and two of the tech assistants they walked him out to the car expecting to have to lift him into the back. Griff surprised everyone and jumped in all by himself. So three hours after we arrived we headed home.
And then I had a new problem once we got into our driveway. Griff was still wobbly and didn't want to get out of the van. So I brought Bessie out and hooked their leashes together and we sat there for a half hour waiting. By that time I had to drag Griffin out of the van and after a few minutes peeing on the lawn we went inside. And 4 hours after getting home, Griffin is still sound asleep at 8 o'clock. I think he will have a hangover in the morning.
This may just be my favorite new story.
In the old days when Ruffin was in his prime we played lots of games. Ruffin even invented a few of them. One of his favorite games was Toll Collector. (see the last photo) Whenever I went down stairs he would lie at the top of the stairs and wait for me to collect a toll. I would not be allowed back up until I gave him kisses.
Just about everyone knows the story about how I got Griffin and how he became Ruffin's replacement. Every once in awhile Griffin does something or shows me something that only Ruffin used to do.
And today, I got my Toll Collector back.
A year ago this week my life took a few violent twists and turns. When I began to put the pieces back together something spiritual came over me. On August 21st after 5 days in St. Elizabeth's Hospital I officially became a member of the Quarter-Million Dollar Man Club and came home with a very high-tech pacemaker with built-in wi-fi and defibrillator.
Things were not so good at home. My BFF Ruff missed me while I was gone. I was his whole world in the last year since he went blind and he couldn't live without me. I thought my return home would make him better but he was already too far gone, he was getting ready to die.
At 5:45am on the morning of August 23rd my Best Friend Forever, my handsome, gorgeous and beautiful Ruffin passed away in his sleep on the living room floor in his home. I had made him a bed and laid down next to him and held him in my arms so he wouldn't feel alone.
The last 24 hours of Ruffin's life several things happened. First, I took him to see his favorite lady Vet, Dr. Katie Scarlett Black at Noah's Ark. She did some tests and sent him home with me. Had she asked to keep him overnight I would not have been there when he died and Katie Scarlett you will never know how much that meant to me to be with him. Thank you forever. Shortly after Midnight I made an attempt to take him to the Emergency Clinic in Wilder, KY but even with the help of two friends we couldn't lift him into the van so we took him back into the house.
And most importantly, what none of us realized was that the day before Ruffin died a gorgeous 2-year old male Rottweiler who looked so much like him was surrendered for adoption up in Ohio. And while I was still grieving Ruff's loss this young Rottweiler was brought to my attention and I jumped at the chance to adopt him. Ruffin knew my heart was broken so he had sent me a replacement.
And on this day in 2018, August 27th Ruffin's ashes came home in a beautiful Rosewood box. And on September 4th a wonderful lady named Molly Beth delivered Griffin to my home.
The last three of the best group of Rottweilers we ever had. This was 2016 and on the left is 2 year old Bessie, 10 year old Ruffin on the couch and 16 year old Axl sitting on the floor.
You all have heard about the infamous Rottweiler prey drive? My big boy Griffin has taken this to a whole new level. While I have been working diligently to cure him of chasing cars, albeit while hooked to a long leash, Griff has become fascinated with just about everything that moves. First and foremost are the things that go BUZZZ. Griffin, Do Not Bite The Buzz!!! OK, that is a lesson he may have to learn on his own. And hopefully not ever. But when I sit outside on the deck with Griffin he never takes his eyes away from the sky.
Every bird that flies overhead excites him like maybe he's watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
But last night after it got dark out he found something new to catch his attention. Fireflies. And off he went charging around after every Firefly that flashed. By the time we came back inside he was totally out of breath like he just ran a marathon.
Griff caught the scent of something under a hedge by the front door a few days ago. Might of been a Rabbit. He literally dove into the shrub and I had to pull him out. Every time we went out the front door since that is the first place he stopped.
I think the Rabbit lives there. I got two pictures of it thru my bedroom window one day.
Bessie's story.
A few people know that after Sassy died Ruffin went into deep mourning after losing the love of his life. I searched everywhere for an adult female Rottweiler to be her replacement. A friend who worked at the Kenton County Animal Shelter sent me a photo of a 7-week old female Rottweiler puppy that someone had surrendered to the shelter for adoption. The woman knew I was looking for an adult Rott but she wanted to know if I would be interested in a baby girl. I came down to the shelter with Ruffin as soon as they opened on Monday, August 24-2014 and after a brief introduction and a few kisses I decided to adopt her. In setting a date for Bessie's birthday, I backtracked the date from the info the shelter provided and figured July 1st was pretty close. These are the pictures I took that day.
Well, the last five years have gone by pretty fast. So many things have happened that I won't try to dwell on the sadness. More recently I wrote about my big boy Ruffin crossing over the bridge and how miraculous it seemed that I found his replacement. Nevertheless, my baby girl Bess has someone new to keep her company and Griffin and Bess have become very fond of each other.
Keeping with the long family tradition we had a birthday party last night for Bessie. I baked a large meatloaf for a birthday cake, covered it with mashed potato icing and we all enjoyed it. Here are the pictures of our party.
