Today I said good-bye to my beloved canine companion of over ten years, Bowser. He was a sweetheart of a Rottweiler. He loved everybody but at the same time, he was a one-person dog. He was my dog. Or rather, I was his person.
One time, we tried to have my parents dog-sit him at their house while we were on vacation and even though he got walks every day and lots of love and attention, he still acted depressed and refused to eat, until they added peanut butter to his food. Then he couldn't resist. Of course, when we picked him up and brought him home, he was fine and ate like normal because "his person" was back and all was right in the world again.
I have a tendency to like stubborn and difficult critters and Bowser was no exception. He was a very smart dog who was also very stubborn. I took him to an agility class one winter and he refused to jump. Not even over the little jumps! He was very capable but he just didn't want to so...he didn't. The instructors were amused with him but they couldn't get him to jump either. Only one instructor got him to jump a couple of jumps. Once. The rest of the time, Bowser just barreled through, knocking down each and every pole.
We got him as a puppy a few months after we got married. I really wanted a Rottie and we found a litter of puppies that we went to check out. There were nine little puppies, only two that actually looked like Rotties. The other was a girl and was already spoken for so we were left with no choice but the runt of the litter since I had to have a Rottie-looking puppy. I should have seen the warning signs but I was blinded by the cuteness. There was a toy that all the puppies were fighting over and our little runt outsmarted all the other puppies and snuck away with that toy where he could chew on it in peace. A sign that he would be smart and stubborn. And I loved him for it.
Good-bye, my sweet Bowser. You were a good dog. We will miss you.
