Rocky

The year 2001 in the month of June, a sunny day perfect for a picnic at the nearby park. We brought along blankets, food, toys, and drinks. As we enjoyed the day, we had our meal rested under the shade of the trees, then began a game of catch.

While playing we noticed some people gathering near the playground, curious I walked over to see what the commotion was, and there in a big box were six puppies quite small yelping and jumping and crying for attention. Next to the box stood a man who explained he was giving them away because his female Labrador had gotten out of his yard and when she finally came back, she was Pregnant. He was not interested in mixed breeds he said, so he was just giving them away. (Cold I Know)

There were 5 females and a tiny male. I picked him up and another person said he was too small, I really did not know much about dogs, so I took him; said thank you and waked away. The puppy was small and malnourished, so we took him to the vet, and to buy supplies. Once the vet saw him, he told us that he had been separated from his mother too soon, that he was not even eight weeks old. He also told us not to get attached because he might not even make it through the night. And so, it began we went home with a tiny puppy whom we called Rocky, it’s what the kids and dad chose, we feed him every two hours and gave him a blanket in a box to make sure he stayed warm, I checked on him every time I got up to check on Erick my 2-month-old baby.

Next morning there he was happy and moving around he was quite energetic for a puppy whom the vet said might not make it overnight. We were determined to make it happen for him, for us. As the days went by, we started him on wet food then dry food mixed in. He adjusted well and soon he was growing and running in the yard, this puppy became our baby he loved us and played with all of us in a different way he knew playing with dad meant rough housing, playing with mom meant light play, and with the kids run and catch.

He grew and at another vet visit we discovered he was a swiss mountain mix. And his Swiss markings came thru more than the lab markings He had the ears of a lab the body and eyes of a Swiss Mountain dog. We loved him so much, I had allergies to his saliva, and he learned to just be near me I would pet his head and scratch his back, gave him hotdogs and he was happy. Rocky completed our family he was very protective of us yet friendly enough to roam the streets whenever he escaped the yard, He was found by the same park where we rescued him on more than one occasion, he was at one of our friend’s home one time and later when we had adopted another dog, he took it upon himself to teach Butch how to get out of the gate too. Butch only stayed with us for a few months, his family came back for him. Rocky loved water, playing races on the yard and getting love from us all. Rocky stayed with us for 7 years in which we gave him all our love there were other dogs in the house at different times thru pet sitting, Rocky’s own girlfriend and later his babies, but he was an alpha and a baby all at once,

His girlfriend had to be returned to her own previous family as they wanted her back after breeding, they also kept one of the puppies. The puppies were a complete mix as mom was part chow, boxer from her dad and, pit bull lab from her mom. All puppies were adopted by good families, we continued to enjoy our Rocky, he grew to be about 27” inches tall, a good 70 pound of pure muscle, the vet quite happy to see how big he grew, Thru the seven years we had him he learned to love everyone that came to visit, and our family and friends love him too.

Sadly, during the economic fall of 2008, we lost our home and with it we had to give him up to rehome, it was pain upon pain, not only did we have to get the kids to new school new smaller home also we took their puppy away. Even though we gave him to a good dog loving person and he had a great life after us, we still miss him and feel guilty that we could not get him back home, our friend had a big house with pool, and a room that was set up for the dogs only. Beds, sofas, toys, we visited him a couple times, later our friend bought a farm out of state and we lost Rocky forever but were able to follow up a couple times. We lost him at age 7 but he lived to be 16 years old, he lives in our hearts and will forever be our first baby.