Rozzie's MY Best-In-Show!!!

My Best-in-Show: Rozzie!  xoxo

In honor of today's Purina Dog Show this afternoon, I want to recognize MY Best-In-Show, Rozzie.  She's been a big part of our family for over six years.  Sometimes, she can come across as anti-social- if you don't know her, she barks a lot and shows her teeth and can give the impression that she doesn't like you much, but once she gets to know you, she shows just how much Miss Congeniality she really is. 

For our family, she's a nearly constant companion for Zoe, very protective of "her" baby, and she's a lot of company for me.  I feel safer with Rozzie in the house, because of that thing with the barking.  But when it's just her and me, I never feel alone. 

My house is thick with furballs from Rozzie.  She sheds like crazy.  She's "antiqued" our hardwood floors for us, and left her mark on a couple of the doors.  She puts nose-prints all over every window within her reach.  But she also has a sense that only a dog can have.  When I'm upset and having a bad day, it's not unusual for me to feel a cold nose nudge at me, and then a furry head nuzzled up on my lap.  So what if I have more cleaning-up to do than I would if Rozzie weren't here?  She's more than worth it!

I love this beautiful smile!

Even when I've cooked something, and it's gone all-wrong, Rozzie makes me feel like a Great Chef.  Without fail, at cooking time, I can find Rozzie's nose and ears peeking up over the counter, and the very end of her tail wagging. 

My favorite thing to see, when I've been away all day, is pulling up in my driveway, and seeing Rozzie framed in the door's window, like a perfect, living picture.  At first, her face is serious, and she looks like she's going to go into alert mode, and then she recognizes the Jeep, and a smile breaks on her face.  Dogs DO smile, and as far as I'm concerned, Rozzie has the best smile in the canine world!

Rozzie and I have been through a lot together.  Full-body casts, bi-weekly trips to Guelph, Ontario, hours of physical therapy a day, panicked trips to the vet, daily medications, food allergies, allergies to lots of things, monthly trips to the vet for special baths...  I had to learn to give her shots.  But because of Rozzie, a place in my heart was opened up.  We've met so many good people because of Rozzie, not the least of which are the people at her vet's office- I'd be lost without them!  I would do anything to keep her from ever having to go through all the things she's gone through in her life, if I could, but if I had to, I'd do all this over again for her.  Things would have been easier at times, over the last six years, if we'd never met Rozzie, but our lives would be so much emptier. 

So today and every day, Rozzie is my Best-In-Show.  I'm so thankful that we got the runt of the litter that day at the kennel - she picked us as much as we picked her.  We'd pick her over and over again.  And I hope that we are as much a blessing in Rozzie's life as she is in ours.  Every home should have a dog like Rozzie.  The world would be a much warmer, friendlier, fuzzier place.