By: MJ + PJ
As described on our FAQ page, we have a painted image of our dog as our logo. Kind of a weird choice. This post provides more insight on that background story.
Pets are family. This is what we have experienced with the pets that we have had the pleasure of owning. Maybe it is better to say ‘having time with’ than ‘owning’. Rocky Dog, known by many aliases but with one reputation, was one of our recent pets.
Almost ten years ago we bought our Colorado home and wanted to test our parenting skills. It seemed like a good time to also accessorize our cats with a pet dog. A friend in California had located the candidate named Rocky on a Denver Craigslist sale posting, in what seemed like only hours after we mentioned wanting a dog to her. We called the Craigslist number and subsequently met the owners and hung out in a Denver park where Rocky did some of his tricks.
He was a pound pup who was chosen and raised with much love to become an obedience school demo dog by his initial owners. Luckily for us they were looking for another good home for him as they were being deployed. A previous taker had returned Rocky to them as he had hind leg lameness at times, but this dog was just what we were looking for.
With us making a big decision in a short space of time, all it took to convince him to go for a ride with us were the words “Hop in the truck!”. We were off to his and our new home, with him probably not expecting such. Suddenly someone had a dog, and someone didn’t. The emotions of these positions are contrasting to say the least.
Once at our home we showed him around the house. He seemed to approve, though he didn’t say much. He learned to use his designated poop pit in about five or so days, and he taught us how to open a door for him, which made the transition easier. Rocky came with some exemplary features besides bathroom notifications: fire alarm person hunting, personal distance restrictions, frisbee interception, wait mode, and assault barking (sometimes confused with excited hugging), to name a few. Some of these he had to teach us. We sometimes needed even more help, so we would contact the initial owners for clarification. This dog was legit.
He actively spent plenty of time with us inside and outside, doing dog and human things. Rocky warmed us… and the couch… and the bed… and anyone who dared sit in our home. There are too many good times to mention here! Luckily we have photos to prove these stories – he had a Facebook album of his own. He tolerated all manner of activities around town, including wearing the occasional festive costume or impromptu cap:
Rocky was accepted by the cats but was never top cat, as one of our cats would not permit such. He gave this particular cat plenty of space in doorways and on the stairs. He would often look guilty when presented with a cat committed crime, of which he was innocent. The three of them were all obtained from pounds, so were loosely ‘bretheren’ by origin.
Whenever we had someone look after our pets, we would give them a pet manual. This was a few pages of things to refer to to reduce confusion and make all sides happy. Rocky’s was about two pages to our cats’ one page each: It listed his known commands and few limitations, and took up an extra page. Our pet-sitters probably thought we were crazy with the details, but it seemed appropriate.
Rocky’s lameness worsened over the first year or two, interfering with his frisbee catching, so we took him for a surgical opinion. Due to having two bad knees we asked if vet surgeons did bilateral procedures as they do with humans, to which the reply was “No, we would never do that to a dog”. He ended up having three surgeries during his time with us, bouncing back nicely but a bit slower each time. He visited dog friends occasionally, but we had to keep an eye on how rough and tumble their play became – in his mind he was young and able and fit again!
The local groomers loved him. He must have really enjoyed his time away from us and the cats. He always came back from grooming looking like a year old puppy, and we subsequently treated him as such for a few days. The most frequent passerby comment for the nine years we owned him was “What a cute puppy! How old is she?”.
It seemed he held his age well, as we both grayed and wrinkled and our child grew. AJ had been born about a year after we acquired Rocky, so Rocky was our baby until that point. Rocky Dog slowly accommodated the new human in the house. He clearly appreciated the increased abundance of dropped food and the more lenient supervision.
About a year before we left Colorado we went to a ‘Painted Pets’ session at a local art store with some local friends who also had a dog. All you had to do was email your pet’s picture and the artist would sketch an outline from the photo ahead of time. Then you would show up and paint with guidance. Hence, we have the fine painting by PJ and AJ that became the logo of our blog.
Rocky was almost 14 years old when he started to decline unexpectedly. After behaving a bit strangely at MJ’s bedside one evening, MJ stated in exasperation “Look, I really don’t know what you need!” The next morning we realized that this was a dog trying to explain there was something wrong. We took a trip to his usual vet and then a specialist vet. Over the next few months, with many difficult decisions and no ideal scenarios, his decline progressed. The time had come.
As mentioned through this post, there were quite a number of people who loved their time with Rocky Dog. We were happy to share him – at least one different person spent a few days with him on each of the nine years we had him.
We put him down merely a few months before we started this worldly adventure. It was not meant to end this way – we had planned to return him to his initial owners on our drive towards California, thus having him start this journey with us but finish his journey with them.
It’s easy to love a pet, and it’s hard to let them go. Rocky was a great dog at the right time, and was an integral part of our Colorado based life chapter. Pets are truly family.
Colorado is a great place to have a dog. Many business are dog friendly, and many community activities are lenient to them attending and even participating. There are dogs in pounds, but not as many as you would think. This was explained to us in our initial dog search by a pound employee “There aren’t many dogs in pounds in Colorado – people tend to want their dog for the right reasons so they keep their dog once they obtain it”.
