For Dog Lovers - Rutroe Part One

Freddy and I drove to Hamburg, Arkansas to get him.... about four hours away. I thought it was stupid to travel four hours to pick up a puppy but a friend owed us money and said we could have the pick of the litter. His father was a huge lab of 120 pounds, his mom pretty big too - her name was Diving Duchess. Her owner was happy to show us how she earned her name. He threw a stick into a pond in their backyard and she went top speed and dove into the pond and disappeared under the water for at least 10 seconds to retrieve the coveted stick. This was incredible since she was still swollen from puppy-birth with her eight breasts and all.

Freddy checked out the selection-eight wiggling chocolate fur fat-bellied lumps of love. The adorable little runt wagged her way over to me- she was precious, so sweet and gentle. But oh no... forget that. Freddy discovered love at first sight. A hyperactive massive puppy had firmly planted himself in Freddy's lap. Freddy took one look at him and said isn't he great .... I said he looks like trouble.

The owner said both mom and dad were great hunting dogs and this dog would make a prize hunter. Imagine his dismay when Freddy stated the he did not hunt ... this would not be a hunting dog.

During the drive home he slept in my lap. All curled up, smelling so sweet-awww puppy breath. I fell in love too.

After a few days he earned his name - Rutroe from Scooby Doo because we were always saying
'ruh roh' when he ran into things or knocked things over. He was a terror on four paws. I believe he weighed 80 pounds by six months. He was too much for me to manage. Taking him for a walk was misery- he would bruise my wrists and hands trying to hold on to him. We decided he needed obedience training so we decided that I would take him to the classes because I was having such a hard time controlling him.

At the time I owned a small Grand-Am. Driving to Memphis with Rutroe was an adventure in itself. He spent most of the drive trying to sit on my lap. I went to the store and bought him a doggie seat belt harness that would secure him in the backseat and it did for about 20 minutes - the time it took him to chew through the harness so that he could climb back onto my lap.

Registering him for class was a nightmare - he wanted to meet everyone there and their dog.
The owners and their dogs went to the center of a large room to begin learning to be a good dog. All the dogs were intimidated ....except mine. I spent the entire 45 minutes trying to corral this cow of a dog and keep him off everyone else. The instructor suggested that I RUN him for about an hour to get him worn out before the next session - great I want to RUN this 80 pound dog, and for an hour? Then we were supposed to endure 45 minutes of class?

Well before the next lesson I took Rutroe to an enclosed softball field and threw a stick to him for 45 minutes - it was great .... he slept the whole way to the obedience class. Bad idea when we got there he was CHARGED AND READY TO GO AGAIN!!!

I complained constantly about this dog. There was something wrong with him. He must have doggie ADHD. I inquired whether Ritalin was available for dogs.

After six weeks we were preparing the dogs for the last session in which we would be judged in front of our families. I am not an advocate of being in front of crowds, especially with an extroverted brown beast. My husband and son were looking forward to seeing all the tricks that Rutroe had mastered. I warned them that we would be doing good if he sat still and did not run into the crowd.

The day of the contest arrived. I was trying really hard to love this crazy animal. I sat down next to him and after minutes of me wrestling him off of me I pinned him to the ground. I looked him in the eye and implored whether he could be a good dog for ten minutes and attempt to not embarrass me. He stared intently into my eyes and for a second I thought I got through to his big thick scull. Then he stuck his huge twelve inch wet slobbery tongue out and swipped it up my face.

We entered the floor. Everyone was looking regal. I caught my husband's eye and he gave me a 'thumbs-up'. We went through our paces. Sit, stay, heel - he performed them all like a pro. The final challenge was an obstacle course of sorts. We had to walk a certain path showing that the dog can exercise control no matter enticements are planted along the way. I was very nervous and I had a death grip on Rut's lease. Sweat was rolling down my back - all eyes were on us. Suddenly I felt a tug on the lease and I looked down. Rutroe had stopped and was looking up at me and nodded his head to the left. Of course! In my nervousness I was about to lead him the wrong way. I think...I don't know. I was confused. I was getting off course. I froze. I couldn't believe that after all this practice I couldn't remember which way to go. I looked down into his eyes and he looked back at me. In his eyes I saw wisdom and love and they seemed to say "relax, I got this - come this way" so I relaxed, smiled and loosened my grip on the lease and off we went to the left. We completed the course and won first place.