UPDATE ~ February 17, 2012
Hi Peg,
I have been wanting to write for some time to tell you what a joy this little girl has been. Our lives were flat compared to now. She is with me almost constantly except for when she goes out to do chores with my husband or when she is keeping watch over the farmyard from her perch on the knoll by the back door, chewing on a stick. Sticks are her favorite thing to chew on and she has quite a collection by the back door since she has to drop it before she comes inside. Her favorite thing to eat while she is outside is chicken and turkey poop. When she is inside, she likes to sleep in her crate or on my lap. Rosie loves to jump up onto my lap and lie on her back and play. She will whine and sing and talk while doing that and kick her feet in the air. She makes me laugh and smile a lot.
She has learned to pick things up for me when I ask and sometimes she does that when she sees something on the floor that looks out of place to her. One time I had been going through a box of garage sale things and had placed 3 hair brushes on the floor next to my chair. I was trying them to see which she liked better for my brushing her, so they were there for a week or so. When I decided that one needed to go upstairs, I put it on the steps. Later that day, I noticed that there were again 3 bushes by my chair. Somehow, she had found the brush in the "wrong" place and put it back.
One night, I was getting ready to head up stairs for the night. I always had to struggle to get my socks off until I figured that I could scoot my feet across the floor to remove the socks. On a whim, I asked Rosie to take Mom's socks off and the little smart one marched over to my feet and just pulled off my socks. You would think she could understand. She knew the words "socks" because they are one of her favorite things to steal, clean or dirty. I really am amazed how really, really intelligent she is. She has outsmarted us at times because we didn't know she was actually out thinking us.
I cannot imagine my life without her now. My back condition is worse and she is just about the only thing in my life that makes me smile and she is a great distraction to the pain. I was having heart pains last week, and she sat right beside me. She doesn't usually do that. She just knew I was having trouble. Now that things are better, she is back to her normal self.
Thank you so much for providing this little piece of heaven in my life. She had such a good puppyhood that she wasn't scared of people or things, so there was no hard period of adjustment. I cannot imagine my life now without her. She gives me the physical touch that I had needed very badly. I love her so, so much.
Rosie's mom,
Linda
