Photo Shoot

I love leaves!!! I will chase them as they are falling and try to bite as many of them as possible out of the air as I twist and turn! E took some video of my antics, but A hasn't figured out how to cut out just a short clip to put up here. So you'll just have trust me, and enjoy these stills of me.

R

Thanksgiving

We went to E's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone was going to be there - even E's brother S was in town for the holiday! It was a surprise for Gpa J and Gma D that S would be there. When we arrived, E went in ahead of us and I started sniffing around. I was so excited to explore a new place! We started up the stairs so that I wouldn't scratch the floors in the entry way and I tried to calm down a little. E came back to the door and said he was taking me home. What?!?! Without dinner? But S wasn't even there yet! He told A not to wait for us, to go ahead and eat and that he might not come back. We got back in the car and headed home.

E did eventually head back for dinner and when E&A came home. They said they had a good time. It was probably better that I didn't stay though. My cousin Tess came with S, and it may have been hard to play nice with her. We'll never know. Turns out she probably didn't enjoy dinner either because she had to hang out in an upstairs bedroom all alone. Now she has moved to NC, so it might be a while before I get to meet her.

R

Obedience school

E&A had a plan before they even met me, that they would take me with them to school so I could teach them the best way to communicate with me. We started out going twice a week to a Level One class. We learned sit and down, and I can do them both wherever they ask me to - in front of them or on either side. We played a lot of the name game, one of my favorites, because I get something yummy every time I hear my name and look at them! The only hard thing was that I REALLY want to go play with the other dogs. So sometimes I would watch them instead of paying attention to E&A. One time I even tried to run over and play with one little white fluff of a dog. I took off running while E was swapping the leash to his other hand. I got there, but A did a spectacular grab and pulled me away from my new friend. E&A were worried, but all the instructors said that there wasn't anything agressive about my behavior.

Just before the Christmas holiday, the instructors announced that everyone had passed Level 1! So there was one class of level 2 left before the break so we went and visited there. They had all sorts of interesting things set up and we tried and tried to walk along all the paths that they had set up. It was really hard to stay with E&A. But we survived!

Then after Christmas when classes finally started up again, E couldn't make it to the first class with me. So A and I went on our own that Tuesday. We had a good time and even had some walking around that we did. But I passed a little close to one of the other dogs so I barked a bit, but eventually calmed down. Then our last activity, one of the trainers held my leash and A went running away - oh sadness! But then A called to me and the trainer let me run to A - high speed chase yippee!

When Saturday rolled around, I was ready to go have fun at class again. E&A were both with me this time. We had our little corner that E seems to like, right there by the door to the "nap room". I decided to bark a lot that day. So much that we hung out in the naproom and didn't get to do much with the class. I would calm down a little bit, then we'd go back out to the class and then someone would look at me - woof wooof woof! Back in the nap room. Colleen came in to visit us and suggested that we start coming to the "Relaxing Rowdy Rovers" class, but I could still come to the levels class too.

RRR isn't until Thursday nights, so we went to one more Level 2 class on Tuesday. I was really excited!! We got there before the door was open so A took me for a little walk. I wanted to tell everyone how excited I was, so woof woof woof I told the world. Well A wasn't going to let me in until I had stopped barking, so we waited around the corner while all the other dogs went in. E went to get our nametage and talked to Robin. When he came out we got back in the car and left. Sad, I didn't get to go in and play. And since I was so vocal outside the trainers actually decided that I should only go to the Rowdy Rovers class.

So now I'm working on relaxing rowdy Roman!

R

The Crate Escape Chronicles

My first couple of days and weeks with E&A, I was really reserved. I sat out front with them on Halloween while a few kids came by looking for candy handouts. I let them pet me and was well behaved. One of the neighbor boys, Sammy, even gave me a huge dog hug (I'm not a bear therefore it wasn't a bear hug) and I just soaked it up.

In my first couple of days I tried to meet and play with one of the neighbor hounds, Blessie, but that didn't go too well. Everyone seemed to think that I was not happy about playing nice and dragged me away!

There was one day that a spider set off a motion sensor and there were sirens and all sorts of noises while E&A were away at work. So until they could figure out what was wrong with the sensor, they turned off that one sensor. Being the smart fella that I am, I used that as an opportunity to explore the house and do some "redecorating." I figued out that if I bounced around enough, I could unhook some of the latches on my crate and with a little pushing, pulling and houdini tricks, I was able to squeeze out of my crate.

What do you think of my design style?

A big thanks to E for documenting my handywork! Although he considered the shoe trees and his book to be great casualties of my "antics" and didn't seemed too pleased with me. As big as I am, I figured out how to hide under the bed real quick!

I've worked on a couple of other noteworthy projects since then. Two days later I actually got myself stuck in the top half of the crate door and bent things up a little bit. No worries though, I was able to pull the whole front end of my crate in and then walked right out. Redecorating time!!!

Now E&A had great motivation to keep me IN my crate while they were out. So E bought a bunch of clips and secured all the edges of my crate. I haven't gotten out since! But I did manage to kick/slide the tray thingy halfway out once. Then I didn't know what to do with it and the edge of it was smack dab in the middle of my space, so I treated it just as any tresspasser should be treated. Tear it to pieces!!! What fun!

Oh, but I had one more antic up my sleeve in the crate department. Once the plastic pan was out of the way, I had open acces to the carpet scrap that was under my crate. The grid of wire on the bottom is probably 6" by 6" and I found a way to get a hook on it. Pulled the whole 4'x4' square of carpet through a 6" hole. Triumph!!!

Now it's just me and the cement floor. Occasionally I manage to scoot my crate here and there away from its ideal location. Sometimes my Kong or bone get stuck under the crate...it seems I can lift the crate with my head. I've started to get a little too cozy with some attachment on the furnace lately (so E says). But I should be getting a new tray any day now and I won't have access to external traction anymore. Hopefully, it'll still fit in the base of the crate, even though I have added some curvature to the typically straight line welded design of the wires. I'll do my best to not snack on this one, as long as E&A keep it latched in...

R

As far back as I remember

I don't remember much about my life before mid October. It is reported that I was wandering the streets and was turned over to Animal Rescue. After a week, no one had claimed me and I was about to go "to sleep" but someone at VGSR took responsibility for me. The vet gave me lots of shots and a little bit of surgery before I headed to VA. Back then they called me "Romeo" and you can see some of my early portraits here [My VGSR Page]

B.J., from VGSR brought me into his home and let me play with all the other dogs at his place for a week, then on saturday morning he took me and some of the others to a place called PetSmart. And that's where I met E&A. They walked around with me for a little bit and introduced me to a few other people. After a long while playing around, I got to go home with them!!!

Before we left, they had to buy a place for me to sleep, food, and some other things too. It turns out that I'm a bit smaller than I look under all my hair. E had to go back inside twice to get a different or smaller collar that would fit me. Finally, the third time, he just took me in with him and finally got it right.

So I hopped in the back of the RAV for the ride home and we were off on a new adventure! We stopped for "gas" on the way home and that's where A captured my first portrait, right there at the station in the car!

Aren't I handsome?

R

Under Construction

Let me get the hang of this blog thing and then you'll start seeing tidbits from me...

Topics to come are:
- my trip home
- Halloween
- Obedience classes
- my Thanksgiving
- my Christmas vacation
- That annoying itch

R