Peanut Butter magic and love in other places.

A long time ago I discovered that Peanut Butter was irresistible to every Rottweiler we ever had. Every morning for almost 20-years, without fail, all of our Rotts have gotten a spoonful along with whatever pills they were taking at the time. While not every one of our Rotts has been taking medicine all the time they have always been given 6-7 Brewer's Yeast pills to help ward off fleas. I've mentioned that to our Vet and they seem to have heard this from others as well. I can't say there's scientific proof to support this but on the other hand, none of our Rotts have ever had fleas and none have ever worn flea collars.

The real enjoyment I get in giving them their "peanut butter pills" is the look on their faces when they get to clean the spoons. As what happened this morning when I also happened to have the camera in the kitchen after taking the picture out the window. Please note the dreamy look in Ruff's eyes as he gets the first taste.

Immediately followed by his little girlfriend, Bess.

Ruff and Bess have become inseparable. The earlier lessons in future warrior queen training that Ruff was giving the little girl have turned into a genuine love between these two. They go outside together and hang out together as I often see looking out the kitchen window. So I put the telephoto lens on the camera and grabbed this shot this morning of the two of them sitting side by side at the far end of the pool.

Around the house, day and night, but what seems mostly while I'm watching the television, my companions are always engaged in playful contact. And as a few pictures show, they seem oblivious to old man Axl who may be laying nearby.

Love is a beautiful thing to see. And I am so glad that Ruff has found a new companion to take the place of his first love, Sassy. He doesn't get to play with Axl very much any more because the old man has trouble moving around. 

Love on a little dog bed.

I am used to having Bess keep me company while I work on my computer. That's why I brought one of the dog beds into my office. Since she got to be full-sized I try to discourage her from wrapping herself around the base of my chair. So I often pay no attention to her sounds while she is on her bed. She takes noisy naps and snores a lot. Yesterday, the sound of heavy breathing caught my attention. When I turned to look the little dog bed was occupied with two Rottweilers. Bess and Ruff were both on the bed and it looked like, for want of another word, they were making out. 

Normally, when Bess starts hanging all over Ruff, Ruff gets up and goes into the bathroom for some peace and quiet. That's because the little girl can be quite a pest. She loves to grab his leather collar and pull him around. The strange thing about this case is that Ruff didn't leave. So maybe he was enjoying it.

This went on for several minutes and except for Ruff's occasional look up at the camera, not quite a look for some help, the two Rotts just kept enjoying themselves. And the odd part is that since the little bed is used exclusively by Bess I have not been able to get Ruff to come in and lay on it.

It must be love. 

An unexpected visitor came for the weekend and brought along another Rottweiler.

My daughter Karen gave us all a big surprise a few days ago and drove down from Long Island to spend the weekend with us. And Karen brought along her own best friend, a Rottweiler whose name is Boo Bear. To say the least we had an enjoyable and very exciting few days together. This is the first time we ever had four Rotties in our house at the same time.

Boo Bear is in training to become a service dog and often wears his vest and collar but for most of his visit with our three Rottweilers he was able to enjoy just being a dog. I was impressed with how calm he was coming into a home he has never been to before and meeting three strange dogs who were very eager to play with him. One of the first things Boo did was go up next to my wife Jacqueline and give her a kiss.

And during most of the quiet moments Boo spent his time laying next to Jacqueline, almost as if he realized she needed his company. This seems to be a natural inborn trait of Rottweilers which makes them wonderful companion dogs.

But except for one rainy day the weekend was too nice to stay indoors so we all went out for some play in the backyard. Boo was wearing a bandage on his right front paw because he got a small cut on one of his pads but that didn't prevent him from running with Ruff and Bessie.

Ready, Set, Go....

Now that is an action shot. And Ruff was doing a great job keeping up with the younger Rotts. His limp was all gone and he was running faster than I've seen him run in a few years.

Karen had to leave early Monday morning for her 800-mile drive home. It was a nice visit and we were glad to see her again. Now that she knows she can do this I'm sure we'll see her again soon.

A gorgeous day for a walk and a chance to enjoy the fall foliage.

Clear blue skies and a warm sunny day is a temptation for a long walk that's hard to resist. Combine that with an opportunity to see what Mother Nature has done with her new Autumn colors and the fact that all three of my Rottweilers were eager to go for a walk and my camera was close at hand and.... Well, here it is. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

And look who is coming with us.

The only disappointment was this was the only tree that had changed color. The Bradford Pear trees and the Gum trees have only started to turn color.

Last but not least old man Axl finally gets back to the house. Can't blame him one bit because of his age. But I think he may be in better condition than I am.

Ruff was the first one to get back to the front door. I'm so glad to see that the meds the Vet gave him yesterday have cleared up his limp. Although the walks lately have not been like they were a few years ago when he and his buddy Axl use to chase each other around the back yard. Hey, we're all getting old.

Ruff and Bess went to the Vet's office today.

The past seven days have been a hectic week of doctors visits and some would be better off left unmentioned. But most of our visits to the Vet are on the good side. It has always been a treat for the Rotts to go there and I always get pulled into the place because they're in so much hurry. I try to time my visits when they aren't busy so I don't need to spend a lot of time there. Also because Ruff and Bess make such a grand entrance everyone takes notice, some smiling and some taking a few steps back. Then again, Bess is curious about any dogs she sees there. The waiting area is partitioned into three seating groups separated by a three foot high wall and Bess usually climbs up on a chair to see who is on the other side.

Maybe Ruff is starting to feel his age but I got worried about a limp he started having a few days ago. I have seen him try so hard to play with Bess outdoors but he could never keep up with her. And Bess plays hard and fast. I saw her slam into Ruff broadside one day and she knocked him clean off his feet, so I wasn't sure if he was dealing with a battle injury or the onset of old age.

The exam didn't point the finger either way. His limp was caused by some inflammation in his spine between his shoulders. I left with two prescriptions to give to Ruff for the next ten days and we'll see what happens.

On the way out to pay the bill I asked one of the tech ladies if I could put Bess on the big floor scale. I took Bess along for the ride and to keep Ruff company. When she got settled on the scale it read 94.4 lbs. A whole 3 lbs more than her last visit. Apparently Bess has decided to grow a bit more and has filled out her over-sized feet very nicely.

I took this picture in my den yesterday while Bess was posing on her dog bed. I say posing because that is not the way she normally sprawls across the bed, usually with her head laying on the floor. She has turned out to be the most beautiful Rottie girl I ever had. And I think she knows it, too. She poses very well, when she knows the camera is pointed at her.

14 candles for the best old Rottweiler in the world.

We didn't have an overflow crowd for Axl's 14th birthday but everyone in his family enjoyed his party and his birthday cake. And that "birthday cake" turned out to be the best meatloaf I have ever made. Let me show you how the party went. I wrote the recipe at the end of the post.

Checking everything out. The camera is on the tripod and I'm using the hand-held remote. Took a test picture to make sure.

Mr. Axl gets his first look at the cake.

And a sample taste because I wasn't sure he knew what this was.

And a birthday kiss. And if I captioned this photo I think I'd say he had an Oh, Gosh, look on his face.

Now for a bigger taste of the special meatloaf with mash potatoes icing that I made for him. He did seem a bit confused watching me light the candles. I'm wondering what went through his mind. Did he think I was cooking the meal in front of him?

I had to help the birthday boy blow out the candles. Now everyone gets to eat.

Even Mom and Dad had some. I told you it was the best meatloaf I ever made.

And, yes, we even saved some for baby Bess. I couldn't handle all three of them at the same time, anyway.

This was the absolute best birthday party we ever had for any of our Rottweilers in the last 20 years. And as far as Mr. Axl is concerned, I hope it won't be his last. 

Thanks to all for your nice birthday wishes.

3 lbs of chuck chop 80% lean chop meat
4 whole eggs
1 cup of parsley flakes
1/2 large white onion, chopped fine and fried
2 cups of spaghetti sauce
1 bag of cubed turkey stuffing mix with herbs (cubes were crumbled)
1 cup of Club crackers also crumbled
1 cup of water

Blend all ingredients thoroughly. If you have a large mixer it helps. 

Oven 380 degrees bake for 90 minutes until internal temperature is 175 degrees (well done).

Cover with mashed potatoes.

WOW! A whole set of pictures I forgot to post.

STORM WARNING. July 13th, when the weatherman interrupts the daily TV shows and tells everyone to get themselves to the basement, you don't stop to ask questions.

Well that may be easier said than done when you have an invalid wife and an old Rottweiler who both can't walk down the stairs. So we took the long way around and went out the front door and down the long driveway and came in the basement through the garage door. And that's where we hung out for the next three hours. It was to our good fortune that we have a nice finished basement with lots of couch space and another TV. So of course I took along my camera.

If someone hadn't just commented on my last post asking how much Bess weighed I wouldn't have discovered this set of pictures. So please notice how big Bess looks laying on the couch looking down on old man Axl. And that's our big boy Ruff scrunched up behind her.

Later on Bess decided that her Mom needed some attention.

The storm passed over us, no damage was done and we all had an exciting afternoon. 

The only problem that I can see after the fact is why did I forget to post these pictures. Is my memory getting bad? Actually, I think I know what happened. Almost all of the pictures posted this past year have been taken with the Nikon D40, my older camera. When I was moving everyone down to the basement I grabbed the new Nikon D3200 and I keep the pictures in different folders. OK, now I feel a  little better. 

The count-down has begun. Saturday, Oct. 10th is the really big party.

This time I planned everything well in advance. I got 3 lbs of chop meat a week ago and just took it out of the freezer to defrost it in the refrigerator and I have lots of mash potato mix. Plus, I have a box full of birthday cake candles. Old man Axl is going to have one heck of a birthday party.  

You know, when you stop and think about it, there is no difference between making a meatloaf and covering it with mash potatoes and feeding it to some Rottweilers and doing the same thing for the humans in the house. I won't be making little, individual-sized loafs, I am going to make a large, cake-sized loaf and its going to have 14 candles.

One more thing, regarding that gorgeous Rottweiler plush toy with the big red embroidered heart, our young lady Rott Bess barged into my photo session last week but I forgot to post the picture. And I was just reminded after reading my previous post that it was two weeks ago, not last week. Time sure flies when you're busy.