Selective Memory

We adopted Rocco in the winter of 2006. He was only 3-months old at the time, and it was his first winter. He was frightened of the snow, but he was only a puppy.

During the next year, the winter of 2007, Rocco was over a year old. He didn't remember snow, and was fearful of it throughout the entire winter.

Flash forward to the winter of 2008/2009.

It is Rocco's third winter.
Yet, everyday he still looks at the snow like "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"



If you can't tell by his expression, he hates getting snow in his face....



...yet he sticks his face in the snow every.single.day.

Rocco will never be a snow dog.
But he sure is cute, isn't he?

Another Rocco Quirk

Rocco hasn't quite figured out how to get through a doorway if the door is slightly closed. He doesn't have a narrow doorway aversion, so its not a cognitive mannerism. He just hasn't discovered that all he has to is nudge the door and it will pop open.
Molly, on the other hand, shoves the door open so it slams against the wall and she bursts out like a magician's assistant.
TA DA!
Rocco peeks through the door opening and stares at me, willing me to let him in or out.
His eyes plead HELP ME!





The funny thing is that Rocco is big enough to actually BLOCK a doorway.
He just can't figure out how to get THROUGH a doorway.
I guess we'll never have a doggie door in this house.

Rocco = Bird Dog

Saturday afternoon Rocco was outside and Molly was waiting to go outside. She was in the kitchen and I was trying to coax her down the stairs. Since her surgery, sometimes she is still leery of the back stairs. I opened the back door to let Rocco in while turning my head to watch Molly.
After she was outside and Rocco was inside, I walked into the kitchen as he dropped something at my feet.
I shrieked.
Well, screamed was more like it.

This was on my kitchen floor.



APPARENTLY Rocco decided that a dead bird was a wonderful present for me.

Between screaming "OH GOD, LET IT BE DEAD" and "BAD, BAD DOG", I realized that I could not pick it up.
I just couldn't.
And Ken was working.
So I had to call next door.
THANKFULLY, Bob was home and came over to dispose of my present.
He said it was still warm.

So Rocco killed the bird.

I am feeling kind of bad about that.
Well, I felt bad AFTER I bleached the kitchen floor and tried to rinse out Rocco's mouth with mouthwash.
There will be no Rocco kisses in this house for QUITE awhile.

Guess where I was this past weekend?

At the hospital.
Getting my foot x-rayed.
For stepping on a hard plastic dog toy and hurting my foot.
I can barely walk on it.





The good news is that wasn't a stress fracture.
The bad news is that it's probably tendinitis.
And I will have to wear one of those funny shoes.
In the winter.
In Chicago.
In freezing weather.
Nice, huh?

Christmas Loot

Rocco and Molly were spoiled this holiday.

They received Christmas stockings from Jeanine.
The one on the right is Rocco's if you missed his possessive profile.


And stockings from Gerry & Darcy...


...all filled with generous gifts.

They received a 14-lb box of treats from Ed & Sue...


Note the scale of this box as compared to a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.


They also received gifts from Kim...


We let them open those gifts themselves.


They each got their own stuffed hugging bear. This one was Rocco's if you can't guess that...


And of course in true sibling rivalry, they decided to fight over the same toy...




And made a mess.




Thank you everyone for thinking of Rocco & Molly this holiday season. They truly loved everything!