Brandy
Brandy lived a very long life almost 13 years with her beloved Claudia and her many animal friends. She kept them all in line. She helped raise Bailey her Rotty adopted brother. She was a rescue that was all you could possibly want in a loving companion and did her breed proud! She will be missed by so many of us. Brandy 7/98-6/11 Just shy of 13yrs Brandy, the first of my booze hounds, passed away this morning. Bailey and Hooch will help with the grief but the hole in our hearts will never be filled. Farewell old friend till we meet again at the rainbow bridge. Godspeed sweet Brandy

Nala
Nala was the biggest most loveable rottie I have ever come across. All she wanted to do was lay in your lap and give kisses. She loved my kids as if they were her own pups. Always sitting by them and kissing them at any chance she had. She will be loved and missed forever and never forgotten.

Gris
Gris was adopted 7 years ago by John and Roberta. He was one lucky boy, who spent vacations at the beach and many days walking and hiking with his family. He was loved and cared for as he so deserved. Here is one of the famous Gris stories. We was so loved and he took a piece of all of our hearts when he made his trip to the bridge. A Lesson from Gris …this was learned during our annual Christmas Eve day hike in Red River Gorge. For years we have done the Rock Bridge trail. It is a 1.5 mile loop trail that starts out steep almost straight down (to my arthritic knees) then a steady downward slope to the bottom where the creek flows under the rock bridge and on its way to the Red River. The last quarter mile is like walking up steps then at the top it levels out and is a lovely pine forest leading back to the parking/picnic area. The reward for doing all of this is not only the scenery and solitude, seldom have we encountered another human being on Christmas Eve day, but we tailgate afterwards. Gris remembers the trail and the snacks, so he is always very enthusiastic when we arrive at the trail head. It was on the downward slope part when Gris heard something interesting that sent him down to the creek. Because of a recent snow storm and years of wind storms not only was the creek high and fast but there were a lot of downed trees cluttering up the steep bank. John and I walked another 30-40 yards along the path where it opened up to the creek. – Aha! Gris should be able to get out here – going back the way he went in was not an option and that would be a whole other story on human males and canine behavior. Unfortunately there were 2 or 3 trees down creating a dam (see photo). Gris was trapped on the other side. I’ll skip the 45 minutes of trying to coax him free and John traversing the tree dam twice. After observing the structure of the tree dam – I assessed that Gris could go under at the edge of the opposite bank – if I could hold some of the limbs out of his way. On our side of the dam the water was probably only 10 inches deep, a sandy pebbly bottom and I estimate about 45 degrees, maybe colder (really, my feet were numb for 10 minutes after getting out of the water). I took off my shoes and socks, rolled my pant legs up above my knees and started across the creek while John traversed the tree dam a third time to guide Gris to the other bank. Gris got the idea when I grabbed him with one hand and held the branch out of the way with the other and pulled him to the other side. Instantaneously he knew he was free. When he got up on the path he did his “happy dance” which is kind of hopping in a circle. Gris gave John and I that look of “Let’s go, what are you waiting for? It’s time to move on”. And hence that is the lesson. When something stressful in your life has passed – it is over, put it on a shelf deep in your psychic and move on. Live in the moment as much as is humanly possible. It is much easier for dogs to do this. The rest of the trail was uneventful and the tailgate party was very celebratory!

Rosie
We rescued Rosie about 1 month before we adopted her first companion, Charley, back in 5/2000. She was almost 2.5 years old. It took me about 1 day to win over Rosie, since her previous owner was an abusive lady. But with a lot of sitting on the ground on her level and a few packs of hot dogs, I finely won her trust. Rose was always a loving and vary fun dog. She always seemed to be smiling, even up to the end. The only time she was not, was when we had to put her companion, Charley, to sleep. She went into a deep depression and would not eat or move. So we looked into adopting her a new companion. Who was an Inky Rott Rescue. His name, Ollie. About a year later, we had our first baby, Alicia (2004). Rosie went into what I call “Little Momma” mode. She watched over Alicia all the time. Then just this last year, (2009) we had our 2nd baby, Aaron, and she was the “Little Momma” for him as well as his big sister Alicia. After just over 12 years of age, Rose started having major issues with her already bad hips. She had bad hips since she was born. Eventually she could not hold herself up. So we took her in to our vet’s office, where we helped her along (put her to sleep). We miss her a lot, as dues Ollie. But we all know we will see each other at the Rainbow Bridge later on. We know you are having fun with your old companion, Charley. We love You Rosie! – The Beers Family

Tank
This picture is in memory of our beloved Tank who passed away on 1-7-2010. Tank came into our lives 4 years ago. I was reluctant to keep him, as I didn't know anything about Rotts and had never had such a big dog. He was thin as he had not received the best of care from the woman who owned him. And even though her life was a mess, she had trained him well. He was without a doubt the smartest dog I have ever had. He was our buffoon and loyal companion. He was "Mama Tank" to our cats, as the 4 rascals were not allowed to run crazy through the house or fight. He never hurt them, just nudged them with his big head and barked at them. He and our lab were good friends, even though many a time she took his toys and hid them outside. He thought he was a lap dog and one of his great joys was to sit on my lap when I would sit on the floor. He never met a stranger. He had a wide circle of friends in our local park, who he always greeted. He loved the water as much if not more than the lab. She didn't like getting into our inflatable pool, he did. I will never forget going out to check on him and there he was he had literally splashed all of the water out of an 8 foot pool. The sides were down and I swear he just grinned at me with a look of "Hey, where did all the water go?" Come on mom, fill her back up!! We miss him, but his bad hip just gave out and now he is in the arms of the angels, running with our Hershey who we lost a year ago. And even when he lay in my arms dying, he reared up to snuffle my neck and lick my face and comfort me, as I tried to hold back my tears so he would be able to go in peace. Good bye doggie boy.