My Family: The Boys!

Roo here... Usually my blog is about... well... me... of course. But some people and animals around here have been whining (mostly Mom) that I wasn't sharing enough of the limelight, so I thought I would introduce you officially to the rest of my pack. As it would be very long to do everyone in one post, let me feature age before beauty and start with this blog about my two older brothers.

Note the kinda ragged ear tips. Auggie LOVES puppies and
when Mom had a litter of foster puppies back in Texas, Aug
was so loving and patient with them he even let them chew on
his ears when Mom wasn't looking! He would lie down in the
whelping box with them when their mama got out for a break!

This is Auggie. Mom got him when he was 9 weeks old and he will turn 13 years young this September. Auggie is a very sweet Rhodesian Ridgeback who is also a retired show dog with quite a successful career. Now, however, his job is apparently to hog the bed, play with Brentina, eat, pee and fart. Oh, and to follow Mom pretty much wherever she goes. He loves to back up and sit on humans' laps because that always earns him some extra butt scritches. Something about it being 'cute' and 'sweet.' He's getting a bit 'creaky' and sags in a few places he didn't use to sag, but he surprises us every day with a leap and a run, or some shenanigans!

He brags about all the things he won in his show career, but IMHO, if you don't win HATS, what's the big deal?!?!  But he is a pretty benevolent pack leader, behind Mom... and me, of course... me.

 
Next is Azi, the rescued Azawakh. He is the Fun Police at our house and won't hesitate to let us know if he feels we have stepped out of line. He's probably around 11, but that's not for sure as he was adopted. He was found beside a highway in Oklahoma by a truck driver who took him home. The thing about Azi is, he can climb ANYTHING. He kept climbing out of the truck driver's yard to go around and be with the neighbors and their dogs, so they took him to a shelter. At the shelter, he kept scaling the 10' fence around his kennel area and then he'd go around to the front door of the shelter and scratch at the door to be let inside with the humans.

Here's Azi with his very favorite person on Earth... Mom ♥

Mom is VERY grateful he mastered this trick because she thinks it kept him alive at this kill shelter long past his *shudder* 'd-day.' The workers fell in love with him and some ANGELS (Shelter Walkers) contacted Mom's rare breed rescue group. She picked him up, even placed him in a wonderful home... but Azi apparently had other ideas. He had bonded with Mom and made his decision known, in no uncertain terms! Azawakhs are known for this, so he came back home and stayed. To tell the truth, I think Mom was really glad that placement didn't work... she'd bonded with him too. He lost one eye to Glaucoma a couple years ago but still goes everywhere with Mom and hikes and rough houses with the best of them. He has an unusual soft spot for Brentina (go figure) and she has convinced him to play and romp more than he's ever done before, so I guess that's a good thing. Mom says he's the most "obedient" dog in the household. Pppfffttt... I say he's just sucking up, but that's OK... Mom can believe whatever she wants...

These are my brothers... my protectors and my teachers, and I love them.

I guess that silly old song Mom sometimes hums really is right... "Love... love will keep us together... "  

We would ALL like to thank (over and over again) our dear friends, Nick & Deb Hunseder, for taking the absolutely wonderful photographs of the boys used in this blog, and for loving all of us almost as much as Mom does! ♥

Next blog, saving the best for last, in my opinion, will feature the rest of our family - the girls!!