My family’s story of Rocky began at 5am October 21, 2021, on my son Ethan’s birthday.
Ethan woke up early, peeked his sleepy eyes over the railing at me, and asked if we could PLEASE look at getting a puppy. I opened my laptop and we ran another search.
By some incredible stroke of luck, we discovered a new litter of Vizsla pups that had been born just three days prior to a family in Colorado Springs. And since I was planning a trip there that very day, it seemed the stars had aligned and so we scheduled a visit.
We of course instantly fell in love with the little closed eyes puppies. Both of my kids, Ethan and Zoe, (12 & 10 years), were able to gently hold the little soft sweeties, snuggle and smell their puppy smells, listen to their puppy squeaks and watch as they crawled over each other. We remembered Rocky that day because he loved to tuck his head into the nook of all of our elbows.
Rocky was the only male with six sisters. We decided later that day that he was going to be our new family member and that in eight weeks we would be able to bring him home just before Christmas. We would visit the family two more times before that because we were so excited to have him join our world.
Eight weeks later, I picked him up and tucked him in his crate to bring him home and surprise the kids with our new arrival.
His velvety ears and loving disposition immediately brought him to the center of all our lives.
Laughter, running footsteps and endless giggles and snuggles filled our home. The only one who wasn’t too impressed was our 7 year old Koa kitty who did not understand who the clumsy invader was.
At night, the kids made sleeping bag beds next to Rocky’s crate so they could comfort him and make sure he knew he wasn’t alone.
Rocky went with me everywhere. I tucked him in my sweatshirt for my son’s basketball games, I brought him to the stores on errands, and he sat on my lap or at my feet while I worked at my office in his little bed with a nearby space heater always searching for warmth and affection. He was soon beloved by all my office colleagues.
I felt whole when he was with me. He was always at my feet whether I was home or at the office working. Rocky became an essential part of my feeling balanced as he was my constant companion and when he was with me, I did not need to worry about him.
As Rocky grew, he became more and more social. He absolutely loved the neighbor’s sweet Lucy three doors down. She is a yellow lab that is just two months older than Rocky. They would run to the fence, jump up to be face to face, and go to town licking each other. During the winter, we would trade backyards to let them have snowy playdates and burn off some of their puppy energy.
Rocky was never aggressive with other dogs. He was submissive and simply always searching for someone to play with him. So much so that he started pushing open our sliding glass door and jumping over the fence, to go say hi to the neighborhood dogs. He even unlocked the slider door once before pushing it open. But despite being very impressed with his incredible intellect, this was really scary for us as we needed to rein him in and so we hired a professional trainer to help us manage him and to help keep him safe.
After training, Rocky became much more manageable and such a delight and all were happier and more settled. He came when we called, he heeled on command, never jumped the fence again, and did not pull on his leash. What a relief for us all and we had the confidence to take him anywhere after that because he was so well behaved. He was always on alert waiting for our command so that he could continue to please us.
He was also incredibly sensitive. He wasn’t scared of thunder or loud noises, unless they were raised voices. Any harsh words would send his tail between his legs as he was always watching dynamics. His presence was a good reminder to the kids to not argue so as not to hurt his feelings.
My husband and my walk-in closet was one of his favorite places to be. It was a safe space for him where he would always wiggle until he could not take it anymore and then would lie down for all his belly rubs and leg stretches we did. The hound dog in him would come out and he would howl his happy hellos saying, “Where have you been?” and “I missed you sooooo much!”
We loved all his hound dog hellos.
He was always entertaining us and cracking us all up.
One of his most beloved activities was bounding over the tall grass that began to grow this past summer after all the cool rains. Back and forth he would jump as he sniffed all the good smells. And taking him on our morning runs, watching him run circles around other dogs holding a ball or frisbee with the “you can’t catch me” look in his eyes was pure happiness for us all.
But most of all, our family loved and misses the nightly lap snuggles. He was never the dog to be alone and sleep in his bed. He was 63 pounds of warm muscle born to be our lap dog. He would lay back and snuggle his warm velvety ears all the way up under our chins to feel our breath. He lapped up all our kisses on his cheeks and head.
And he would have gotten millions more.
As a mother of two, my brain was on a constant repeat treadmill of, “Ethan, Zoe, Rocky…” “Ethan, Zoe, Rocky..” Where are they? What are they doing? Are they OK? What is needed next? Figuring this out for them preoccupied an enormous part of my life and is a big part of my identity. Protecting them is my primary responsibility as a mother and watching them grow and develop has been my heart's deepest joy.
Our home, our laps, our hearts are all missing our sweet Rocky. Our lives are forever changed and the loss is enormous. Everywhere we are surrounded by memories of him and the sounds of an empty house still feel so overwhelming at times. It is a depth and pain of loss for each of my family members that I feel so responsible for and must emotionally suffer as a result. The accident in which we lost him was beyond horrible. It was a sickening tragedy that is with me each moment and the grief is still so raw.
Someday I also hope to be able to open our hearts to another furry family member. We have so much love to give and I can imagine it might help heal the wound from the loss of Rocky. When that day comes, I think my children, husband and I might be able to find a way to move through this. And without a doubt, that animal will be hovered over and loved like it deserves.
We miss you sweet Rocky. Thank you for giving us such tremendous joy and showing us unconditional love.