Hanging out with the Rott-n-kids on a nasty day.

  

The weather outside has not been conducive for long walks or romps in the backyard. So what else is left to do? Watch TV and take naps on the couch. Here are a few pictures taken in the last couple of days.

A few days ago Ruff wanted to know why his Mom was wearing a hat inside the house.

The good news is we are having lots of rain. The trees sure need it and we hope they recover from the drought we had last Summer. And in case you didn't notice, Mom always seems to have a few companions to keep her company. That's what it's like Living With Rottweilers.

NASA finally launches our Rottweilers "Face In Space" pictures.

Last June 9th I posted a story about a NASA (yes, that NASA) program where people could send them pictures of themselves and their pets and all of the pictures would be carried aboard the Space Shuttle on Mission STS-133. That space flight was supposed to take off last September 16th but got delayed due to technical problems. Well, STS-133 finally made it into space yesterday and the pictures of Axl and his Mom along with 194,180 other pictures went with them. We have to wait until March 7th to get a confirmation certificate but the news on the NASA web site is good enough for me. UPDATE: Here is the certificate.

Here is an interesting clue to doing a really cool thing. NASA is collecting photos that people post of themselves or their pets or both and will carry them into space on the next two space shuttle launches. Best of all, IT'S FREE. Go to this web site http://faceinspace.nasa.gov/index.aspx and fill out the form and upload your pictures. The shuttle launches are scheduled for liftoff in September and November. Here is one of the photos that I submitted:

Click pictures for larger view.

GO, NASA, GO, DISCOVERY!!! GO, ROTTWEILERS!!!

Happy Valentine's Day. Mom's extra special day in our house.

The three Rottweilers in our house stuck with Mom almost all day. Did they know what special day it was? Or maybe they just sensed it because of the extra love. It doesn't matter either way. We all wished Mom a Happy Valentine's Day.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

In our house, Mom is a very special person every day. That's why Ruff and Axl like to hang out with her. But today, even little Sassy joined them to keep Mom company.

But not everyone was so excited about all the pictures that I took. Axl gave me a dirty look because I was interrupting his nap.

Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures of our Rottweilers. I have over 15,000 to prove it.  I'm thrilled when I get one really good one for every ten I take.

We went to Petsmart today and Ruff kissed all the girls again.

We had to replenish our supply of dog food and biscuits so we took Ruff to Petsmart in Florence, KY, today, which happens to be the Rottweilers favorite store. In the aisle where the dog food was we met a man who had a beautiful 7-month old female Mastiff puppy. She was 70 lbs, the man told us and she tried to get Ruff to play but Ruff was very reluctant because in his house the girls don't allow that sort of thing. 

Then we met two couples who told Ruff how handsome he was and he started to revel in all the attention. Ruff likes to make friends with the men he meets but he loves to give women kisses and he managed to do so once again.  

Then he met a woman who was pushing a cart with her daughter in it and we stopped and had a nice chat. I saw this woman standing down the aisle talking to the man with the Mastiff and I overheard him say she could pet his dog if she wanted. The woman declined the offer. Then the woman walked toward my wife and I and she stopped to pay Ruff a compliment. While we were talking Ruff was trying hard to make friends and he reached up and gave the little girl in the wagon a kiss. The woman was very much taken with Ruff's friendliness and he wound up giving her a kiss, too. I happened to comment to her that he attracts girls where ever he goes and has probably kissed more than a hundred women in this store in the four years we have brought him with us. I asked her, jokingly, to imagine what an 18-year old boy could do with a Rottweiler like Ruff and she laughed.

Later we got to the check out line and this same woman was on line ahead of us. Ruff jumped up and stood with his front paws on the counter and gave the little girl in the wagon another kiss. While we were waiting for our turn some more people came in the store and a yet another woman stopped to say hello to Ruff and she bent over and got some kisses from him. The woman with the little girl turned to watch this as she was leaving and I saw her smile. I looked at her and said, "See what I mean?".

When we got to have our items checked Ruff jumped up with his paws on the counter again and the clerk gave Ruff some treats. When the clerk came around to price scan the heavy bags of dog food in our cart he gave her a kiss. Then Ruff followed the clerk when she returned to the register and another female employee that Ruff has seen many times before came over behind the partition next to the register. As soon as Ruff recognized this woman he jumped up and put his paws on the top edge of the partition and gave her a kiss, too. While this whole thing was going on I saw another woman standing in the adjoining check out line look at Ruff and smile. She then made a one word comment and said, "Rottweilers!" 

I guess the well socialized, friendly types are all alike. So maybe Ruff isn't the only one who goes around kissing all the girls.

Just to give you an idea of what Ruff looks like when he gives a kiss to someone he meets at Petsmart, here is a picture of him kissing his Mom on Valentine's Day back in 2008. I would love to post some pictures of Ruff's adventures at Petsmart but there are legal complications that prevent using photos of people we don't know without their written permission. Ruff doesn't jump up on people unless they have given him some hint they would enjoy having him do it. He usually sits in front of them wiggling his butt in anticipation while stretching his head up as high as he can. And usually, they will just lean over to get their faces closer to him. I have never had anyone complain about his affection.

  

The food may be expensive but at least the entertainment is free.

Not a day goes by when our three Rottweilers don't manage to do something to make us smile or laugh. I have often told our friends that our Rott-n-kids provide us with almost as much entertainment as the television does. They all manage to do this by just acting natural. Take this for instance. Ruff was on his Mom's bed and Axl jumped up to see what was going on. 

Or last night when we were all watching television. At least the two humans were watching the TV, the two Rottweilers were sound asleep. Ruff had started to slide backward off the foot rest and didn't realize it.

I asked some of our Rottweiler friends to guess what Rottweilers do best and a lady in Cleveland, Ohio came back and said, "Hold down the furniture and keep it from flying away? Hey, they may *look* like they’re lazing about, but they are working hard keeping that furniture in place!"

So that's the way it is when you live with Rottweilers. I'm told my three are not very different from the one's our friends own. So when is the news media going to stop referring to the breed as being so dangerous. It's the bad owners that we should be worrying about.