For Caroline, in France: Some pictures of our Rottweilers and Casey our black cat.

Caroline,

I loved the pictures on your web site of your Rottweiler Leslie and your black cat. We also had a black cat living with our Rotties and here are some pictures. I have no other way to show them but to place them here. These pictures were taken about 8-years ago and this is our then young girl Sassy with Casey the cat who was about 13 years old at the time.

Casey lived with us for almost 17 years. The Rottweilers all respected her and made me think they knew she was the oldest of the family. Casey even ate dinner with the Rottweilers.

 

Sunday afternoon at the movies.

Sorry PetSmart, we all stayed home today. Had some work to do. We will have to get some dog food on Monday or Tuesday so we will be paying them a visit. Anyway, we did sit down to watch an afternoon movie after we had lunch. Sassy was on her couch next to me. Ruff was in his chair, and mom and Axl took up their places on the big couch. Everything was just normal around here. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Of course Ruff didn't stay awake the whole time.

And here is the whole crew.

Sure glad no one came and rang our door bell.

Almost forgot, Seems like Ruff still has a thing for his girl Sassy. You might want to check some older posts back around 2006-2007 to see what I mean. They were nuzzling with each other quite a bit before I went and got the camera. I did manage to grab one shot.

 

Ruff and Axl visit Santa Claus at PetSmart.

Our Sunday visits to the Florence PetSmart store has become a regular weekly event. We have taken some or all of the three Rottweilers there every Sunday for the past five weeks. And after I mailed them our Christmas Card a few weeks ago, everyone who works there has recognized them and if I didn't bring them all they ask where the others are. 

Today when we went to the store we took Ruff and Axl to visit Santa Claus and have their picture taken. This was a fund raising event for an animal adoption group called PAWS. Here is their photo in the frame they gave us.

I think Santa had as good a time posing with our boys as they did. And I know the ladies working the event were happy to meet them, too.

  

Some people can't leave a sleeping Rottweiler alone.

Here we are in the middle of a cold Saturday afternoon and only a Rottweiler knows how to deal with it. Take a nap. But some people, namely my wife Jackie, can't leave things as they are. Poor Axl, he is such a wonderful old Rottweiler, all he wants to do is to sleep. He takes after breakfast naps, after lunch naps and after dinner naps every day. And after going out the fresh air seems to make him even more sleepy. We already took the three Rotts for a ride in the car today when I went to Walgreens to pick up some medicine. They love to go through the drive-thru and meet the people on the other side of the window. Then after we got home there was nothing else to do.

But you all know that moms can't leave things alone. They worry about everything. Like maybe the old guy will fall off the couch or something. Or maybe he was cold so she would get him his blankie to keep him warm as she has done before on many occasions.

 

A rare photo of all of us watching television.

I got the bright idea tonight to put the camera on the tripod and use the timer to take a picture of Jackie and I and Ruff and Axl watching a movie on TV. Only Axl was sound asleep at the time. Usually, I am the only one who is awake as the second picture shows.

 

Making the perfect Rottweiler Christmas Card.

We are no different from any other dog lovers who dream of having the perfect family portrait along with their pets and even having that special Christmas card to share with all our friends. But anyone with dogs knows how hard it is to get everyone to sit just right all at the same time and unless you have someone else take the picture, you add another complication when you use the self-timer on the camera. And so it was when I set out to make just such a special Christmas card last year. But now I thought it would be fun to share some of the outtakes from our little excursion that turned out pretty good in the end. So here is how we made our perfect Christmas card.

It all began with a Santa Claus hat. The first time I used it was when I wrote the story here on December 24, 2009, titled A Rottweiler Christmas story about the Santa Tiger meeting our new adopted Rottweiler, Axl and giving him a very important message. Here is one of the pictures and may I suggest your read the original post to see that message.

Then I attempted to pose our other Rottweilers, Ruff and Sassy wearing the same Santa Claus hat. That part didn't go as well because they were awake while Axl was asleep when I took his picture. Anyway, here's an outtake of my faithful assistant trying to get Ruff to wear the hat.

We did have better luck with little Sassy. It took only two attempts to get a decent shot of her wearing the Santa hat. Here is what that looked like. The right hand picture looked pretty good because, at least, Sassy had her eyes open and she had such an innocent look on her face.

So we went out and purchased four more Santa Claus hats. I don't think it was a planned thing, I just spotted them on display at the local Kroger supermarket and the idea just popped in my head. But having the hats and getting the Rottweilers to wear them was completely separate things. First of all, Sassy was pretty laid back and all we had to do was set the hat on her head and take the picture. This didn't work for the boys. So I came up with the idea of attaching an elastic chin strap which I could digitally remove later. But getting them to sit still was another matter.

Then there was the question about the 20-second timer on the camera. I needed that much time to move from behind the camera to get to the couch and sit behind Axl - and try to get Sassy to move in front of us. A lot can happen in 20-seconds. Like this.

But along the way I did get one fairly decent picture without Sassy and decided to try and work with this one. Here is the un-retouched version of what would be our final picture.

But those hats had to go. Ruff kept staring at the pom-pom which hung right above his eyes and because of their wide heads I couldn't get the pom-pom to hang down on the side. So I took the hat and made a separate photo of it, cut it out and pasted it on Ruff and Axl's heads.

But it still needed some shape changes so what you see above is slightly different from the finished picture below.

But there was one last item to be corrected. I needed to add Sassy to the final picture. So I took the better shot of her wearing her Santa hat from above, cut her from the photo and reversed it so she was looking up at me and pasted it into the final, final version of our perfect Christmas card. And here it is. 

Moochers and snoozes.

Of course all they want is to share everything we have. Especially our food. I took these pictures tonight with the Nikon D40 tonight. At least Ruff wasn't drooling like he usually does.

And later this evening I took one of old man Axl snoozing on the couch while we watched TV.

And this picture was taken yesterday afternoon with the old Sony while Mom and Axl took a nap on the couch together in the family room. Even though it was only 1 PM the sky was dark with rain.

Some people ask where our third Rottweiler, Sassy, is while I'm taking all these pictures. Sassy is rather anti-social and likes to be by herself, especially if we are in the other room watching a movie like we were tonight. This is her lying on the couch in the family room all by her lonesome self. We often watch TV shows in this room and then Sassy shares the little couch with me.

What a difference a half-second makes.

I was reminded yesterday of another reason why I bought my Nikon D40 four years ago. The older digital cameras like my Sony had a built-in delay between the time I pressed the shutter release button and the time the flash went off. It wasn't a big difference, it was only about a half-second, but here is a perfect example. My wife was smooching Ruff and I took a picture of it and then Ruff turned his head and gave his Mom a big wet kiss right on her face. I pressed the shutter release and missed the kiss but caught her reaction. That wouldn't have happened with the Nikon so maybe I'll have to start using it more often.

I guess I should have reminded my wife to keep her mouth closed when Ruff is in a kissing mood. It wasn't the first time he stuck his tongue in someones mouth.

 

Saturday afternoon and the weather is changing.

Changing weather is right. The overnight temps are now down to below freezing and the afternoon highs are in the mid-sixty's (when the sun is shining). Today the clouds fill the sky and block out the Sun and we have outdoor temps like the inside of our refrigerator. Hense the need for a turtleneck sweater to keep Mom warm. Took this picture with the Nikon because it was getting jealous of the older Sony. Since the days before Ruff's 5th birthday last week I've taken 80-odd pictures with the Sony and only 19 pictures with the Nikon since Nov. 13th.

Here are two pictures taken last night with the Sony, one with Mom and her boys watching TV and the second of my sleeping beauty, Ruff. My wife is happy that Ruff doesn't want to lay in her lap.

  

My Sony camera is back on the end table.

I mentioned on my old web site that I always had my camera nearby so I could grab it quickly to take pictures of my Rottweilers. The old camera was my Sony DSC-S85 digital that I replaced 4 years ago with my current Nikon D40. The old Sony wasn't very big and I used to keep it in the living room right on the end table and it allowed me to quickly take some really cute pictures. While I was waiting to record the 10,000th picture of Ruff on his 5th birthday last week, I put the old Sony back to use for a few days. Now I have decided there are still plenty of times when I need a camera close by and the Nikon is not as convenient because it is stored away in a camera bag with a flash and a telephoto lens. So here are a few shots taken in the past couple of day with the Sony of our gang of Rottweilers just being what they always are - big clowns. Hope you enjoy seeing them.

Hope I didn't confuse you but this first picture was taken at bedtime and I had carried the camera with me. Ruff was already waiting for me.

See how sleepy he looked when we turned off the television. I caught him in the middle of a big yawn after he woke up from another nap.

And here is my little girl Sassy who spends the night laying next to me on the other couch while we watch TV.

A king-sized dog on a queen-sized bed.

I took this photo when I was going to bed last night. This is "little" Ruff sleeping on my bed. And he was sound asleep. I couldn't wake him up to get him to move so I slid him across the bed to give me some room.

Here is what the little guy looked like 4 days after we brought him home on January 7, 2007 when he was just 7 weeks old. He is laying on the couch next to my old girl Mocha who became his new foster mother.

And here is a recent picture taken a few days ago of Ruff sleeping on the same couch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY RUFFIN.

Well, today was little Ruff's 5th birthday. He has grown quite a bit since we brought him home on January 7, 2007 when he was just 7 weeks old. Ruff was just a little fur ball then but now he is 132 lbs of love. I baked him a special meatloaf cake topped with mashed potato icing and he enjoyed it very much. Here are some pictures.

I also got a surprise when I transferred the pictures to my computer. The Nikon picture file did not continue beyond the last picture which was # DSC_9999. I expected it to go to # 10000 but it started all over at picture # DSC_0001. Not a really big problem except I still had those first pictures in my computer so I had to create a new directory to store them.

 

Last night at 9:36 PM

One thing I like about the little Sony digital camera is that I can leave it out on the end table next to the couch where it is easy to reach. So it was last night during a commercial break while watching the TV. It wasn't any where near bedtime, the time stamp on the picture said 9:36 PM. This crew doesn't appreciate the fact that I was the only one awake and on duty to protect them.

Click the picture for a larger view.

Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Ruff's big day. He will be 5 years old and we plan to take him to Petsmart to see the other dogs and meet some people. He really likes to do that. Then it will be time to bake his meatloaf birthday cake and have a party. I will then take picture number 10,000 with my Nikon.

    

Tinker and Lucy pay us a visit.

Actually, our friend Lucy paid us a visit today and brought along her little long-haired dachshund Tinkerbelle. Tinker is a big favorite of our two male Rotts, Axl and Ruff. Usually it is Ruff who claims all the attention but today it was Axl's turn. I took this picture of Lucy and my wife Jackie on the couch with Axl in between and he was resting his head in Lucy's lap snuggled up next to Tinker.

Click the picture for a larger view. You may have to to see Tinker.

Oh, yeah, the reason my wife is holding Axl's hind feet is because he likes to stretch out when he lays down and he kicks with them.

 

Killing some time with the Sony taking more pictures of my Rotts.

Well, I dusted off (literally) my 7-year old Sony digital camera, charged the battery and took some more pictures of my favorite subjects. The camera has laid dormant for so long that when I turned it on and took my first shot it re-set itself back to picture # DSC00001.  Here are one each of Ruff and Sassy followed by a surprise.

And a surprise.

Peek a Boo!

The last two were taken tonight.