A rough morning,

There are moments in time that escape us and our memories as the days fall away, every once in a while, there are moments that take shape breathe and live vividly forever. The moment I first saw my furry friend I knew he something was different. Not just because of the unusual circumstances that predisposed my seeing him. It was his stunningly unique behavior that eclipsed all the stress of that day.

The day started just like any other, my beautiful fiance had left for her shift at work. I was trying to muster the will and strength to pull myself out of bed as I had been very sick for a few weeks from a flare of my Crohn’s disease. As I was finishing up my bathroom routine I got a phone call from my fiance. That in and of itself isn’t out of the usual. Someone upsets her on the drive to work, or she needs my help with something or to remind me of something I’ve forgotten. So unassuming I answered the phone, to be immediately struck with the severity and seriousness of the situation she had found herself in soon as the face time call connected and I saw the warmth of my fiance's face to be changed into one of sheer terror anger and grief. This was no ordinary crying, no this was not one of those pretty crying-fests we as men typically attribute to women. No this wail was one that would make a banshee stoically quiet. I understood enough to know this part of what she told to me “I found a dog, he was hit by a car on the side of the road I can’t just leave him. I’m bringing him home.” I didn’t ask any questions or wonder. I hung up the phone. I wrapped myself in a blanket, one that would never be mine again. Flipped the heat on in the house because this was one of those Bi-polar weather days where the days are blistering hot and the nights cold, and I forgot to turn the heat on the night before, for which in the morning I paid for with aching joints. Then I grabbed my meds and darted off into the kitchen but before I could take my meds I heard the loud racket of the garage door opening, which meant only one thing my beloved fiance was home. I put down my meds and went into the garage and out to the driveway. My beautiful wife’s face stained by the damage her tears had done to her make up, even without it she was still perfect to me. She was still hysterical and upset I did my best to calm her and distract her by going straight to the issue at hand. I asked the question “where’s the dog?” As I didn’t see it in the front seat like I expected I asked purely out of instinct “where he was hit.” She told me his back leg. She whipped around and opened the backdoor.

There I first saw him, what struck me first wasn’t the bloody car seat under him, nor was it his frail skin and bones appearance shadowing out from behind this large black malnourished frame. My eyes locked his and I could barely hear her say “He peed on himself when I walked up to him” I saw nothing but a big heart yearning so desperately to be saved from cruelty and to be loved. He jumped out of the car, walking to me in a gingerly fashion and cowering out of fear. We took him into the garage to keep him separate from our two dogs we currently had. I looked over his legs which he surprisingly let me do without a fuss except for an annoyingly large tongue all over my face and hands as I was trying to get a better look. I didn’t see any protruding bones and he didn’t react to me touching his back legs in any negative way. He just kept trying to lick me and put his front paws on me in a snuggling fashion. I told my fiance to leave it to me and we will figure it out. Both of us having previous dog and medical experience, and her already being late she went back to work after we got him situated. I put my blanket down on the cold concrete so he would have a place to lie down.

I went in grabbed our pets bowls, filling one with water and the other with food to see if he would eat, and also to see if he was a stray by the assumption of, if he inhaled his food then we would know he was on the run for some time. As I opened the door to the garage I realized that room wasn’t going to work because of the other two dogs. So I went to our lanai and locked it from the inside and brought him in there so I could go through the garage in safety for both him and our two dogs. I brought him the food and water first along with a heavy black comforter we weren’t using which was much larger then my blanket and softer, neither of which I have ever reclaimed.

I then got some bandages, gauze and peroxide I needed to clean the muck off his legs as well so I grabbed a wash cloth and a basin of warm water. I cleaned and dressed his wounds which for all appearances seemed to be purely superficial or at worst case muscular. He was up walking around still trying to snuggle and be loved. Our other dogs barking through the glass sliding door at him, our last rescue to the ranch of the Misfit and Lost Toys, Jack snarled growled and barked non stop through the glass door and lunged at it. That was very unusual, because Jack took right away to our little Luna with nary a growl or a snarl. This wounded new dog, just stood there tail wagging just wanting to meet the new pups with not so much as a single whine howl bark or any other indication of aggression. He finally laid down on the comforter and the other two on the inside momentarily forgot about him. Suddenly I heard a loud thump from the lanai and I peered over the back of the couch quick enough to see this forsaken dog bang his massive cranium against the door trying to get out the doggy door, which he did make it through without even noticing the collision of his head into the door. He sniffed the air the dirt and the plants by the door for a full minute then looked up into our large backyard, he suddenly began to frolic and run around chasing the squirrels and birds just out of reach as all dogs do. As he was doing that I watched his movement on his legs, again not even a limp or anything to show any injury. I realized I would have to switch them so our two could go outside. So I brought the big boy back into the garage. I couldn’t just bring him into the house because of my younger daughter. At this point, I posted all over social media about the dog we found hoping an owner would come forward for this marvelous lovable curiosity of a dog. Then I retreated to see if I could find a name he would in some way respond to.

I sat with him on the comforter in the garage. Once again this creature discarded like trash along the side of the road. Met me with nothing but snuggles and kisses. All he wanted was for me to hold him and I did. It was there he fell asleep. Even though he was malnourished that had no effect on his strength that was quiet evident when he tried to push through me to get into the house as I went back in.

Few hours later after lunch I swapped them yet again so he could use the restroom and stretch a bit. Same result despite Jack showing hostility jumping at the door trying to get to the dog just out of reach. Yet he was met with nothing but tail wags and licks on the glass door still not a bark only a whine that he couldn’t play with them. At this point our Jack and Luna had barked so long and often at our new arrival that I had began to hear barking even when there wasn’t any, in part due to the throbbing migraine that currently kept me incapacitated.

Once my fiance arrived home we introduced our daughter to the dog we rescued in the lanai to see what reactions we would get if any. Again we were met with nothing short of pure love and a wanting to be desperately loved. We did all the usual tests; food bowls water bowls pet toys tug on ears tails etc. No reaction at all other than tail wags and licks. For all outward appearances he was the perfect dog.

The true test had yet to begin. First my wife took jack the aggressor and I took the bandaged pup both of us with leashes firmly in grip. We did the initial meeting dance all pet owners worth their salt should do, in the backyard we already messed up the neutral ground which is ideal because of the situation. Once again the rescue showed nothing but love and a desire to be loved and played with. Jack still had some aggression but not much that night. Finally we got the submission we needed when first one pup rolled over onto their belly and then the other in kind quiet to our surprise. This went very well considering how we both felt it would go because of Jack.

We both looked at the rescue, as I told her how the day went. She was as surprised as I had been the entire day in sheer amazement of this wounded dog. We knew he was special, we secretly hoped no owners would come forward so we would be able to keep him as ours. We knew in our hearts that somewhere someone had to be missing this angel of a dog. Days passed not one soul wrote in on any of my posts that flooded social media. To our dismay no one loved and no one missed this angel. We knew at that moment we had to keep him and give him all the love we had, and that he desperately wanted from us. We tried several names; he really didn’t take to any of them. Then finally an epiphany struck my fiance. As just a few months prior my fiance lost her beloved dog Roxie. Here we had this dog who clearly was a kindhearted soul and a fighter. There was only one name that would do for a fighter, particularly one whose new owner, my fiance lived partly in the city of brotherly love, and with this name he became ours, he became our Rocky.