Hi, my name is Rocky.
by Cindy Wieland
Hi, my name is Rocky.
You might not look at me and think ME to be a hero. But I am.
This lady named Cindy called to me one day and I climbed into her van. I was out wandering around. I guess she thought I was in danger or something. She took me home and I was glad because there were lots of dogs to be pals with.
I cannot see very well and it took a few days for me to figure out my new surroundings, but it is easy navigating around now. There are plenty of scent marks and fellow dogs to guide me.
Cindy was keeping this one dog separate from me and my newfound dog pals. Princess is this isolated dog's name. Cindy had seen Princess act with great ferocity at us from the other side of a fence and she pegged her as a "dog aggressive dog." Cindy would make us meet Princess through something she called a "partition fence" every day. She called it "socialization."
This is Princess.
Well, Pilot and I got so that we didn't get bad vibes off of Princess, so we would sniff noses with her and we would lick her nose. Cindy wondered if Princess might get along with us. But she was too nervous to try it out & she kept thinking that Princess was going to hurt us.
One day Cindy messed up. Well, what she would do is put me and my dog pals on one side of the fence after our walk. Then Princess would take the same walk while we watched through the fence. This one day after the walk, Cindy didn't realize that I was still on the other side. Sometimes I lag behind on the walks & she left me behind. And out came Princess. And Princess and I met.
Princess casts an admiring gaze at me.
I am a real laid back kind of guy & let Princess know that right away. She picked up on it quickly & invited me into her living area. She had a full collection of toys & bones, so I had to check them all out. Princess was cool with it. We chewed bones together for a while. Princess wagged her tail at me a lot. She poked me with her nose and it sort of tickled.
Things changed then. The very next day, Cindy did something different than her usual routine. This time she gave Princess a formal introduction to everybody. Princess wagged her tail a lot & I want to tell you what she was trying to tell Cindy all along, "Please give me a chance before you put the aggressive label on me!"
No, I may not look like a hero in the conventional sense. But sometimes heros can be gentle and mild, small and meek, voiceless and adorable.
My name is Rocky, and Cindy has declared me a hero! If it were not for me, Princess would still be deprived and isolated!
Well, I'm off! Gotta go & do some more good deeds! Bye!
Wait! Don't go yet. Click here to see a couple pictures of me in early Autumn of 2004. I am doing great these days!