A few more thoughts on three dads raising one little girl.

Up to now baby Bessie has been getting most of her training from her two male Rottweiler surrogate fathers and some minor house-breaking from one ragged old human. On the subject of that ragged old human I think I really am getting old. Next month I will be three-fourths of a Century old. Yeah, the big 75, and it shows. I have been measuring Bessie's weight every week by picking her up and standing on a scale then measuring my own weight and subtracting the difference. Bessie is now 5-months old as of December 1st and she weighs 58 pounds. I only mention it because I can hardly pick her up. I was beginning to think she weighed a lot more until I realized I was just getting weaker with old age. Just for comparison, here are two pictures taken when baby Ruff was still a baby. He was 8 months old when these were taken and he weighed about 80 pounds.

It is worth noting that Bessie has been putting on more than 10 pounds a month for her first 5-months so it will be interesting to see what she weighs two or three months from now when she will be as old as Ruff was in these photos. Of course, that will have to be done at the Vets office because I don't think I will be able to lift her up on the scale.

I saw Bessie reveal her female dominance the other day. I had her and Ruff outside and she wanted Ruff to do something and stared him right in his face and lowered her head and gave a very distinctive bark. Reminded me right away about our girl Sassy telling the boys to behave. This also makes me wonder if her three dads can raise her the same way a female Rottweiler would. Sassy had a way of doing play school with Ruffin like Ruffin does with Bessie but with one big difference. Ruffin can not bring himself to tell Bessie to STOP! the way that Sassy did. Ruffin lets himself be a big play toy and he is so infatuated with the little girl he just lets her do what she wants until the two of them collapse to catch their breath. They also seem to be starting the tongue-kissing stuff that I saw with Ruff and Sassy. Bessie sticks he snout in Ruffin's mouth while they are playing. Sassy did that a lot but she knew how to end it as you can see here.

Now I can't leave this post with just some old pictures and not show any progress with our new girl. Except for her growing like a weed nothing else has changed. She is still going to play school but the subject she is learning now is about love. Love according to Rottweilers.

Meanwhile, the May - December romance is in full bloom.

I think Ruffin has given up trying to teach Bessie about respect and discipline. Maybe because the big lug has fallen madly in love with the pretty little Rottie girl. I noticed a few weeks ago that he started to cover up her pee outside so that officially makes her a girl, in his eyes. Funny how he didn't do that from the day I brought her home.

I took these pictures the other night while I was trying to watch television. This kind of wrestling is what goes on, all day long, in every room in the house. Yeah, even in the bathroom and thankfully not too often in there.

I know it must be love because I can't keep them separated. When we need some peace and quiet I will take Bessie into my den with me and close the door only to find Ruffin laying right outside, breathing heavily under the door. By the way, Baby Bessie has passed the 50 pound mark, two weeks shy of her 5-month birthday.

Bessie and her favorite Grandpa.

After her two ventures into the Fall snowstorm, Bessie and Axl waited while we got the Mom out of bed this morning. And these two now seem to be best friends after Grandpa Axl laid down his own rules. He made it very clear that he was not going to be Bessie's playmate like Ruffin is. And she does not treat him like a playmate, she treats him with respect. And so it shows.

The part that amazes me is that old man Axl never snarled, growled or barked at Bessie any differently than Ruff does. So why does Bessie treat Ruff's growls, snarls and barks as a challenge to play harder or attack harder and when Axl does the same thing Bessie treats him with respect? Guess there are some Rottie Rules that I haven't learned yet.

Bessie has her first taste of snow - literally.

Not to be outdone by the festive gourmet meal that Axl and Ruffin shared last night, a meal that I also shared earlier with my new best girl when we ate dinner, today Bessie saw and tasted her first snow. And eat it she did when she first set foot in it this morning at 8AM. If my observations are correct I would say I think she likes it. Because all Rottweilers love snow.

And Ruffin was there to show his little girl all the really cool things you can do with this new stuff. Playing chase is always one of her favorites.

Like having a game of chase me and catch me if you can.

And, of course, some wrestling to start the new day.

You can tell this is an action shot because her ears are standing straight up.

Never letting some play get in the way of her official duties, Bessie challenges a neighbor who is out cleaning snow off her car. Thanks to Ruffin's combat training, Bessie has become a formidable watch-dog. Judging by the stance you could almost hear her bark.

OK, time for breakfast. Lets go eat.

We take birthday parties seriously in our house.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. RUFFIN. You are 8 years old today.

And I have kept my promise. We had a double birthday party tonight. Since I owed old man Axl a filet mignon steak dinner when he turned 13 last month and Ruffin had his birthday today, I decided to give them both half of a filet steak.

As I anticipated, it took only half a second for it to be consumed so I'm glad I made preparations in advance. I hooked Bessie to her leash in the living room just to keep her out of the kitchen. If she had gotten to the feeder the boys would have let her eat the steak. Thats a Rottie Rule. Then I had to get both of the boys to the feeder at the same time. And then grab the camera. Well, it worked.

I wonder if they appreciated the effort as much as I did?

UPDATE: November 17, 2014.
Someone asked me where were their birthday hats. I'm sorry I was so anxious to post the photos that I forgot to "put" them on. Here is the correction.

Picking up where I left off.

I think the latest news first works best because it has been fairly busy around here. As of today, my little Rottie girl is 4 1/2 months old and definitely not so little any more. We have had Bessie in her new home since August 29th, which was 2 1/2 months ago. She was only 13 pounds when I adopted her at the young age of 7-weeks. In those 2 1/2 months she has grown to 50 pounds. I put her on a scale a few times every week and every once in awhile she has a growth spurt. One weekend she gained 2 pounds.  Here is a photo I took this afternoon. And yes, she is standing on the floor. And she already makes a good bed warmer which will come in handy this Winter.

Old man Axl turned 13 last month and yesterday he had surgery to remove two tumors from his lip and his hind leg. He took the whole thing in stride. I was very concerned about him getting anesthesia at his age but the Vet said he had no problems with him at all. The tumor on his leg was about the size of a walnut and hanging by a slim piece of skin from inside his rear leg. He has had it for several years. It was more like a large skin tag than a tumor and I wasn't concerned with removing it until the tumor showed up on his lower lip a few weeks ago. It was heavy enough to pull his lip down when he ate and the food would sometimes drop out of his mouth. The tumor from his lip was sent out to be tested and I am hoping and praying it is not malignant. 

Ruffin's war wounds are healing nicely and he is continuing to get six 500mg doses of Cephalexin every day. The Vet said he only needed the anti-biotics for ten days but I'll keep him on it until the wound in his neck is completely healed. He got this from letting baby Bessie chew on him while playing and of course, her being a girl and him being a gentleman he did nothing to stop her. She has needle-sharp baby teeth and she must have left his skin riddled with tiny holes that got infected, not to even mention it must have hurt when she chewed on him.

Ruffin will have his 8th birthday in two days and I managed to find some "affordable" filet mignon steak so he and Mr. Axl will share one for a joint party. When I promised Axl he was going to get a filet for his birthday I hadn't been to the store to check the price. When I did I found it was $23 a pound. I managed to get into Sam's Club and found it last week for much less. Photos will be taken but since the steak is small and will be divided two ways it will be eaten rather fast so I will have to plan ahead to get a decent shot.