| I steeled myself to write Smidgen's story in the Rainbow Bridge forum for her birthday last week so if you're interested you can read it there but she was my heart dog, no doubt about that.
I knew that I wanted a rottweiler and knew that I'd name it Smidgen because I thought that was a great name for a big, goofy dog. After much research, meeting with breeders & looking at a few litters Smidgen found me. I went to look at a litter of 11, the mother wouldn't nurse so the pups were weaned very young & hand fed (the breeder would hold the mom on her side & pet her so that the puppies could sneak some meals but you know that couldn't have been easy or satisfying for the pups). The pups were obviously very accustomed to people so when I put my hand into the box where they were it became engulfed by a tidal wave of 10 black & brown wriggly bodies. One little squirt was clever enough to sneak down the side, around the edge of the crowd thus avoiding the press & sneaking right to the front of the pile & into my hand (and heart :)) Of course I was enchanted...she was obviously meant to be mine. She chose me!
As time passed I discovered that the little weasel was a glutton for attention, everybody was a friend that she hadn't met yet and that there was no such thing as too many hands scritching her at once. But her name fit her perfectly.
The funny thing was that I found her breeder as a result of the chooch that I was dating at the time & the only good things to come out of that particular relationship were Smidgen and an appreciation for a finer caliber of male (like the one that eventually became my husband ;)). And as much as Smidgen may have approved of my choice of spouse & have plotted as to how she could end up on the bed & me in the crate she was without a doubt my dog.
And she still is. Gone from this earth but never from my heart.:)
Nina  |