COW-COW

Rocco is a doggie who adores his toys!  Interestingly, he does not destroy his toys like Cecil and Lily did when they were young (and still had teeth).  Being good hounds, they would take a toy, focus on it, and bear down until it was a pile of fluff and unrecognizable material.  They always enjoyed a good toy, but only until it could be completely destroyed.   Often, that only took a few minutes.

Rocco is different.  He is exhilarated by the very existence of toys.  Rocco carries his toys around with him all the time.  He drags them around, moves them all from place to place and hides them in the yard.  He sleeps with them at night.  He snuggles, chews, mauls, dominates and attacks them with his joy.  Rocco presents his toys as offerings to guests and uses them as a means of communication with us.  In Rocco-World, toys are everything and it makes me wonder if he had any substantial playthings before we got him.

Rocco came to us with a couple of toys from the rescue and of course, we have given him several.  For a while, his favorite toy was a little blue dog he came with. That was followed by “Fox” and then by the beloved “snake” who is nearly indestructible and has been a constant presence in Rocco's daily exploits. 

 Those toys paled in comparison with what was to come.

Last week a dear friend of mine, and her sweet four-legged family, generously presented Lily and Rocco with a whole box of delightful toys.  A veritable plethora of objects guaranteed to provide happiness to small doggies.  Little did we know just HOW much glee was in that box!   

You see, that box contained – Cow-Cow.

 

Cow-Cow last week

Rocco has been in heaven ever since.  From the moment Cow-Cow hit the ground, Rocco has been obsessed with it.  Cow-Cow is unique as he (or she) is a squeaky ball covered with fabric and dressed up to look like a cow.  I have never seen a dog take to a toy with such a vengeance.  Cow-Cow is guarded with the vigilance of the crown jewels.  Cow-Cow is mauled and loved like no other.  It has taken the place of all other toys and consequently is rapidly disintegrating.

 

Above and below - Rocco with his beloved Cow-Cow

 Poor Cow-Cow.  He/she is so "loved", I keep wondering if the Velveteen Rabbit  principal will apply and one day I will come home to find a real, round, chubby cow standing in our living room. 

Cow-Cow today

Quote

Everything's okay in the end.  If it's not okay,  it's not the end
~ Carolyn Myers

I heard this quote today and it just stuck with me.  It stuck so firmly that I had to look up who said it and chew on it all day.  It doesn't have much to do with Rocco, or maybe it does?  I don't know, so I will have to keep chewing on it like a doggie with a toy.

Consistency

Five weeks later - nothing is really different, yet everything has changed.  The joy little Rocco brings to the house is palpable.   Many things about being in the world are still hard, but we walk a little lighter, a little more often.   It’s hard to imagine life without this funny boy.  He is growing and learning every day and we are learning too.  Rocco has taught me that trust does not develop in a vacuum, it can only mature through loving interaction and lots of consistency.  We are nothing if not consistent.  Rocco is one of the most loving, smartest and playful dogs I have ever met.  Some of the cute things he does are hard to even describe, but I will try to record them here.

·      He loves to play with his toys, by himself or with one of us.  He seemingly never tires of moving them from place to place.

·      If anyone comes in the house, he grabs a toy and welcomes them with it.  He drops it for the visitor (at their feet) and waits for them to throw it.  That is a ritual for him.

·      He loves Camille and likes to take his toys to her.  He will pile them outside the door of her room if she stays in there too long.  Too long is relative in Rocco time.

·      Rocco and Lily sleep in a large exercise pen with a bed at each end – I lovingly call this their…Dogworld.  It is the same pen that Cecil and Lily slept in and I don’t think I ever put either of those dogs to bed without having to chase them and physically put them into the pen.  Cecil was the worst as he would simply go “dead weight” on me and force me to lift him in.  Lily would run from one end of the house to the other until I could catch her and lift her in.  When she was young it included a significant amount of chasing.  Now that Lily is older, she is easier to catch.  Rocco is totally different.  As soon as I put Lily into the pen, he runs in on his own and gets right into his bed.  This alone makes me love him.

·      The water dish we have used - forever, has two compartments and we keep them full.  Somehow, it seems that Rocco can only use one of them – the right one.  He will bark and let me know that he is out of water – even if the left one is still full.  No amount of pointing to the full compartment is helpful – the only acceptable answer is to fill up the right one.

·      Rocco does not walk anywhere – he “zooms” from one point in the house to another.

·      He is not a big “barker”, for which we are grateful. Lily is a barker and her high-pitched yap could peel paint off the walls when left unchecked.  Rocco has a deep bark he uses when being a watch-dog, but it is not often.  He does have the funniest little squeak – a chirp really, that he uses when he knows we have said a final no about something.  He chirps once and then again quieter and quieter until he sighs and gives up.  It always makes me laugh

And so I offer these few observations as a glimpse into the evolving world of All-Things-Rocco. Happy Mother’s Day to all - whether your children have two legs or four!

Rocco in Lily's bed

Looking at me

So alert

This week's favorite toy is reindeer.

Getting ready to hide the reindeer

Stand In

The weather has been so drab this week-end that I have not taken many pictures, so Picasso's rendering of his Wiener dog, Lump, will have to stand in. 

Hope the sun comes out soon!

Thursday Night Pictures

Waiting for a treat!

Look at me, I can stand!

Double Trouble

Small Miracles

Rocco's story began with many obstacles, some harder than others, but one by one they are fading away.  When he first came to the Dachshund Rescue, he was so unhappy he would not eat and he was very thin.  The fabulous Wiener Dog Whisperer got him to eat with the aid of a mixture of treats and food.  We used that same method when we first brought him home and he has gained some weight. 

Little by little, Lily (who excels at eating) has been teaching him how to eat like a real dog.  He has been eating without the mix of treats in his food for about a week now, but only when we encourage him and I have been wondering if that would always be necessary. 

I guess not!

Today he went into the kitchen and barked for me to come in!  He has not done this before.  When I got there he was fixed on his bowl and kept looking at the bowl and then at me (kind of like..."hello, how clear do I have to be with you?").  So I got some food into that bowl and he ate it up.  We are happy with small miracles, here.

Resume Normal Breathing

I’m so happy to be home!  Home is good and seems like we have had Rocco forever.  It’s hard to believe that just two weeks ago he joined our little family, he is so firmly ensconced in our hearts.  Today is a trifecta of happiness as it is sunny, the Mariners are on and Rocco is here. 

We are really enjoying how Rocco’s personality is emerging - so fun to watch.  He loves his toys, but is good at sharing them with Lily.  He likes moving all the toys from one place to another – one by one. First he moved them all to his bed, today he has moved them all out on to the deck. 

I wonder if we will be able to teach him how to pick them up? 

A job well done.