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On Thursday, October 24th we lost Rosie Rottweiler. It wasn’t something we expected, but the Vet just didn’t have any miracles in his bag. In the short 8½ years that we had Rosie, she proved to be that one-in-a-lifetime dog that we were lucky enough to have as part of our family. She was a great friend, loved everyone and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Her special ‘person pet’ was our grandson, Tim. Rosie’s favorite things were taking walks, scrambled eggs, giving doggie kisses, sharing a banana with me, sleeping on the glider outside with my husband, and having her ears rubbed.
Rosie brought happiness and lots of smiles to many people, especially those she visited through KPETS as a registered therapy dog. Rosie started out with KPETS when she was only 6 months old with my daughter, Bev, joining the other therapy dogs in the Manheim Farm Show parade. Here, she discovered that she really liked seeing the children, climbing on several laps to share kisses with the little ones. She visited nursing homes and students at Elizabethtown College, participated in presentations with other dogs, worked at the PA State Farm Show for 3 years representing therapy dog groups in Pennsylvania, and marched in more than 10 parades in Manheim, Millersville and Elizabethtown. |
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Rosie was included as a calendar girl on several of KPETS calendars. But her special love was for children. For 6 years she visited the Milanof-Schock Library in Mt Joy to read with dozens of children in their “Read With Rosie” program. She helped children who struggled with reading by providing a set of ears to listen that did not judge, criticize mistakes, and certainly never laughed. She was extremely gentle with kids and often crawled closer to her reading buddies to give kisses while they read, possibly as encouragement. There was one child in particular that was special to Rosie. Dakota was afraid of dogs when he started the program, and there was Rosie, a big black dog waiting for him to read. She somehow sensed his fear and reluctance to be near her, so she worked her magic, melting away those fears through her loving behavior. After a few weeks they were playing and rolling around together on the floor with Dakota laughing and Rosie’s stubby tail wagging like crazy. Rosie was even featured in a documentary of that library on Korean TV.Our family will always love and miss you, Rosie. You were such a blessing to so many. Your pain is gone, run and play with the other animals over the Rainbow Bridge. |
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