The Rocco Diet

Is there a link between food cravings and nutritional requirements? Because if there is, Rocco’s diet is seriously lacking 100% Olefin quality loop pile carpet.
Because, yes, he chewed up another rug.
Rebecca, it’s your fault. She sent me an email from Alabama, with her tough as nails southern charm, gently suggesting that MAYBE Rocco tore up the feather bed because the floor was too hard for his delicate horse-like body.
So I fell for it, again.
Yesterday I went to The Family Dollar Store (where nothing is REALLY one dollar) and bought a $20 5 x 7 rug for Rocco to sleep on.


For some reason, I snapped a picture of it as I went to bed last night.
Isn’t it just, well, pristine?


At 2am my husband went to bed and locked Rocco in the kitchen with his brand spanking new, pure and unsullied carpet.
THREE HOURS LATER, I had just woken up and was getting into the shower when I looked into the kitchen and noticed THE FACE.


Then I noticed the new rug.


I guess the positive is when he does destroy something, he TRULY destroys it.
Our boy Rocco gave 100% to the 100% Olefin carpet.
Thanks, Rebecca.
You owe me $20.

Welcome home Timmy!

Rocco would like to give a big Cubs "woo woo" (oops, he means "woof woof")to his favorite cousin, Timmy.
Welcome home Tim, and GO CUBBIES!

'Cause that's how Rocco rolls

These are the toys that I just gathered from the kitchen floor. Believe me when I say that there are massive quantities of dog toys throughout our house.


Even with all his toys, this happens to be Rocco's favorite thing to chew, destroy, eat, unravel or just carry around in his mouth.....


He actually chewed off and destroyed the roller from our toilet paper holder (providing him easier TP access) so now we must keep our toilet paper rolls on the window sill. Behind a curtain. Out of his view.
Because if he locates a roll of toilet paper, I will walk into the living room to find this.....


Because that's how Rocco rolls.
I mean unrolls.

Sharing the sunrise today

When I was outside with Rocco and Molly this morning I noticed the beautiful sunrise. I drive past this lake every morning on my way to work. It was so beautiful today that I had to stop and take a picture of it with my camera phone.
Enjoy!

My helper

I made a Tastefully Simple Almond Pound cake last night. (For the record, its delicious).


As I was putting the bowl into the sink, I turned around and this is what I saw....


Rocco is like MasterCard. He's everywhere you are.
Still trying to figure of how he got the mix on his head......

Dog Day Afternoon

Rocco and Molly LOVE the same dirty, chewed up Frisbee. They fight over it everyday.


Here is Rocco and Molly playing with it this afternoon.


Okay, I know his head is missing but I could not get his entire body in the whole shot. Plus this picture is just plain silly.


When my husband walked into the house, Molly grabbed the Frisbee and followed him, thus separating poor Rocco from his beloved toy.


But all is well, and Rocco was able to enjoy an afternoon nap.
Don't you wish your days were easy as Rocco's?

Guilty face?

The criminal.


The scene of the crime.




The evidence.


Case closed.

Rocco's Fan Club

Rocco wanted to share an early Valentine with his four favorite ladies....Rebecca, Karen, Maya and Sabrina.


Thanks for all the love and support that you show to Rocco and this blog. We appreciate it!


And Rebecca, I know you don't like to share your boyfriend Rocco, but you know that he IS a ladies man and sometimes you have to let the player play.
But don't worry....here is what your player looks like when he IS playing.

It's a face only his mama could love....or Maya or Rebecca or Karen or Sabrina.....

Rain, rain go away

It feels like it's been raining for the past 2-weeks. And accompanying all the rain is very warm, humid weather.
Any idea how to keep him.....


From eating these?


With the humidity and rain, these crazy mushrooms have been appearing overnight on our lawn.
They say that dogs don't like the smell of mushrooms.
But Rocco has never met a scent that he didn't like.

Another one bites the dust

Yesterday Rocco ate a hole in my Mexican blanket. It’s a brightly colored pick serape that I bought in Puerta Vallarta on our honeymoon. I LOVE this blanket. It’s warm and beautiful and sentimental. And now it’s ruined and it’s my fault.


I left it on the couch. I didn’t move it because I was under the weather and tired. When I heard the familiar chewing sound I jumped up but it was too late. He had already started to unravel the serape. My beautiful serape.


Look at Molly looking at the blanket. She can feel my pain.
Well, not really. She is just nosey.


I believe Rocco is trying to remove me from our home, one item at a time, so he can have my husband to himself.
But I am onto him, now.
And it only took me 8 months to figure it out.

The Ladies Love Rocco

The ladies LOVE Rocco. Old, young, in between....it doesn't matter.
Rocco is a doggie Casanova.




When we walk Rocco and a guy walks by, we'll get a wide eyed "Whoa" or sometimes they choose to cross the street. Once in a while a guy will ask "Is that a dog or a horse?".
But when we walk Rocco and a girl walks by, we hear "Oh, he's BEAUTIFUL! Can I pet him?" Younger girls want to hug him, and older woman admire him.
Rocco is a chick magnet.
And he loves the attention.

Reality by Rocco

We were at the Chicago Air and Water Show on Saturday.

It's an unbelievable show. The US Air Force Thunderbirds and the US Navy Blue Angels perform. We have a friend with a boat, and Saturday we were able to watch the show from his boat on Lake Michigan. Our friend invited us for brunch at the Yacht Club, then we took the boat out for the air show.
Believe me when I say that sitting in a boat on the lake, drinking ice cold beers, looking at the city skyline with jets roaring by and doing an acrobatic show over our heads is a "live is good moment". Even the rain this year could not put a damper on our day. The beautiful colors of the rainy sky added to my euphoria.
Life was good.







Well, life was good until we woke up on Sunday morning.
The never ending battle between good and evil, also know as Rocco vs. The Futon, was played out as we slept.
And The Futon lost. Again.
Rocco was able to pull the futon mattress off the frame before he started to rip out the stuffing. The futon mattress is very heavy. And apparently Rocco is stronger than I give him credit for.




And here is his patented "hiding move" when he is trouble. He thinks he is invisible if he hides behind the kitchen island.


I just wish the "life is good" moments lasted longer than the Rocco's Reality moments.
But if that was true, you wouldn't be reading Rocco's Realm right now, would you?

Puppy Love

My husband and I are dog lovers. We both grew up in families with dogs. We will never be a dog free household. That's just not us.
We got Moose just after we moved into our house. He was an 8-week old Rottweiler/Shepard mix puppy, that grew into a big and majestic, protective and loving companion. He was only 6-years old when we found out he had cancer, and we lost him one week later.
We were distraught and inconsolable.
We love our dogs. We dress them up at Halloween and send Christmas cards out every year with our pictures on them.
Dogs are our life.

I was not going to have another dog. No way. The pain in my heart from losing Moose was unbearable. I missed my boy.
But my husband and Molly had different plans.
Molly, our black Lab, missed Moose. She would look for him everyday and it was heartbreaking. My husband missed his big dog, too. So they wore me down, one day at a time.
My husband found Rocco at the Humane Society. His name was Isaac, and my husband would stop on his way home from work everyday to visit the puppy. He always had stories. "Isaac did this...." and "Isaac did that....".
I should have seen the writing on the wall. There was a blog in the works while he was still named Isaac and living at The Humane Society!
Two weeks later Isaac came home with us....

And eventually became Rocco. The furniture chewing, garbage eating, stealing-food-off-the-counter dog that fills our home with enough adventures to earn his own blog.
Because it really is Rocco's Realm, isn't it?

The houseguest

We watched my brothers yellow Lab, Nala, for the past few days.
Rocco, the big-dog-in-charge, is an emotional mess when she is here.




I am his "mama". I spoil him and take care him. Yes, I yell at him and punish him, but in the end, he is my big baby.
When Nala is here, I give her extra TLC.
This makes Rocco crazy. Because in Rocco's world, his mama is only supposed to pay attention to him.
Period.
The other day I was sitting on the couch and Nala was curled up partially on my lap. Rocco decided that he had enough, so he tried to climb his 100-lb body BETWEEN me and Nala. Of course, there was no camera around, so we missed that picture.
But I can guarantee you that it was funny to have two big dogs vying for my attention, both trying to sit on my lap, trying to nudge the other one away. But in the end Nala won, and Rocco sat with my husband and ignored me for the rest of the evening.
He's like that sometimes.
Nala is home now after her mini vacation with us, and Rocco is back to being Rocco.

This is Nala.


This Nala and her buddy, Molly. They really get along well!


Here's all three...Rocco, Molly and Nala. If you have ever tried to get THREE dogs to sit still for a picture, than you can appreciate this moment. Truthfully, my husband was standing out of the frame, holding a piece of cheese.
Each of these dogs would sell their soul for cheese.
But that's another post.

It's a matter of taste

Apparently, Rocco has a taste for the finer things in life.
I mean he LITERALLY has a TASTE for the finer things in life.
Because he ate another rug yesterday.



And he tried to eat one two weeks ago....



His choice of rugs reflects his good taste and discerning eye. They were my favorite rugs.
Apparently, Rocco thinks we are people with a highly disposable income, able to replace rugs and furniture based on his appetite.
We have to address Rocco's chewing, and not sweep it under the rug.
I know this because we HAVE NO MORE RUGS to sweep under.

What Feathers?

Coming home at 3am to a room full of feathers: Irritating.
Waking up the next morning to clean up said mess: Exasperating.
Watching a lone feather float by two days later: Aggravating
Having the photo op of a lifetime: Priceless

Update

This is what we woke up to this morning, because at 4am we were too tired to clean up Rocco's mess......



We tried to vacuum, which made a bigger mess, as the vacuum would make the feathers fly around like we were in a snow globe. So my husband decided that using the Black & Decker Leaf Hog (which is BOTH a leaf blower and a leaf vacuum as advertised on the box) might be a better cleaning choice. And surprisingly, it worked well, as I have documented....






So the feathers are cleaned up, Rocco is booted back into the kitchen when we aren't home, and my spare bedroom is back to being clean.



Until Rocco gets into more trouble, which is inevitable.