Funny huh?

Well, this is the best "smile" pic of Roman I was able to take, but he sure thinks he's funny! I'll try to get some of him with bigger grins, but I guess this will have to do for now.


--Peter

Teething

Yep, our puppy is losing teeth fast and furious. The more he chews on his toys, the quicker they come out. So, we’ve been keeping the raw-hide supply well stocked so he’s not one bit tempted to chew on my rug, couch, coffee table, etc. . . I think so far he’s lost about 9 teeth with more loose ones still barely hanging on by a thread! They don’t seem to bother him too much, but it kind of freaks him out when they fall out—trust me, it’s not pretty—and there’s usually blood involved, but he gets over it and keeps on chewing on his bone! (We just have to make sure to keep an eye out for the fallen teeth before Roman is tempted to eat one!). Peter’s pulled a few, cause at first Roman didn’t handle this whole “teeth falling out” process too well, but now he’s a pro at it and usually doesn’t need any help. Let me just say, his new teeth are GINORMOUS!!!!! Well, the back ones anyway, the verdict is still out for the front ones. He’s just starting to lose the “fang” ones, so I’ll keep you all posted, all three of you out there that read this! This first picture absolutely cracks me up because he unrolls his bones, not just tear into them, I don’t know, maybe that’s how it’s done, I’m not a dog, obviously! The other is just his little “collection” of teefers!

Elisabeth

Sooooo Big!!!

Okay, so I realized you guys don’t have much perspective of how big our “puppy” actually is, so I thought I’d fill you in. When we got Roman, he was 12 weeks old and only 15 lbs. But as of today he is now 20 weeks (5 months) old, and now weighs 30 lbs. What happened to my baby?!? I knew he was growing and was heavier for me to pick up, but wow, he has gained 15 lbs. in 8 weeks and won’t be stopping the growth anytime soon. Every time we take his harness off to give him a bath and after the harness has been washed and we’re putting it back on, we keep finding ourselves having to adjust it and make it bigger! He is turning 5 months old this week sometime! I say sometime because we don’t know the actual date he was born, the vet he was first taken to estimated the last day or two of January. Whenever we are out walking him the first thing people say about him is that he has huge paws, so we thought you’d like to see them for yourself!

Elisabeth

My Puppy and His Daddy

Roman loves his daddy, I’m tempted to say more than his mommy, but we all know that’s not true! Roman loves his daddy because daddy will get on the floor and play with him and let him lick any skin that is showing, where his mommy just likes to pet him and have him follow her all around the house so she’s never alone! When daddy is on the floor with Roman after they’ve been playing and it’s time to “calm down”, Roman’s favorite place to chill out is right on top of daddy! It’s so cute! However, Peter has ended up with not so nice parts of Roman in his face, but Roman usually circles around a couple of times before deciding on a permanent location, which is good! Roman just loves to be as close to his daddy as possible, sometimes I find them all curled up or stretched out and I just have to take a picture of them, it’s so precious! Then love each other so much and are already best buddies that are inseparable!

Elisabeth

Down came the Rain!

My wife has never been known for her throwing arm, but she managed to launch Roman's "Air Kong" onto the roof and lodge it securely in the gutter! Well, it rained really well that night, and what do you know!


"Down came the rain and washed Roman's 'Air Kong' out!"

My Puppy, My Baby?!?

You know how lots of people who don’t have kids, but have a puppy/dog will refer to their pet as their “baby” always get made fun of by the people that don’t have pets? Well, I was always the first one to jump on that bandwagon! But guess what? Now that same person I’d laugh at, I’ve turned in to. I know, it’s absolutely not like me. People that know me can’t believe I allowed Peter to get a dog as it is, but for me to now baby my puppy as if he were our child, I’ve officially gone off the deep end. Sorry mom and dad, but it was either a puppy or a baby. . .hmmm, let me think. Puppy it is! And, going even further, Peter and I have now become “mommy” and “daddy”. So, Roman is our “baby” and gets treated just like one too and is very spoiled. He’s got us wrapped around his paw and he knows it. We’ve gone from sitting on the couch—Peter and I—to sitting on the floor so puppy’s not alone, as he is not and never will be allowed on my couch! I have yet to make the move to the floor, Roman can still see my feet when I’m sitting on the couch, he’ll be fine! Bedtime is a huge ordeal as well, saying goodnight, putting him in his crate together, telling him he’ll be fine, etc. . .yes, we have become what we mocked and we are not ashamed.

Elisabeth

Why did we decide on a Pit Bull?

Well, ever since we had started to seriously consider getting a puppy, I thought we’d end up with a Boxer, don’t ask me why, that’s just what I pictured. Peter had always wanted to get a Pit Bull, ever since we’ve been married, that’s the only dog he’s ever talked about getting because a guy he worked with in Wisconsin had two of them. So, I figured since we could never agree on the breed, we’d be safe and never have to get one! Boy was I wrong! After that week or 5 days we’d been looking at Roman on line, we just knew he was the puppy for us. We definitely did our research though because I wasn’t going to just make a quick decision about this. We needed to make sure that we knew what we were getting into and to see if a Pit Bull would fit in with us and our lifestyle. I mean, seriously, if you don’t know anything about the breed, of course they sound scary. But after we had poured over tons of information and seriously thought about the change Roman was going to make in our home, we decided we had to have him. Pit Bulls are such a misunderstood breed to begin with and it seems like the only time you hear about them is when they attack—which has to do mainly with the owners, not the breed. So, we decided to go ahead and adopt Roman and give him a good home where he was loved! I haven’t regretted that decision yet! (I’ve certainly second-guessed that decision—especially in the middle of the night when he was whining and getting potty trained!). He has truly been so much fun and I’m learning a lot about myself and my husband in the process! He is our little “experiment” and we’re glad he loves us no matter what!

Elisabeth

What’s in a name?

Well, since we have a Pit Bull, we didn’t want the usual tough “pit bullish” names like Killer, Duke, or Rocky. But, at the same time, we didn’t want the typical puppy names like Fluffy, Patches, or Buddy. I mean seriously, you’ll be yelling these out the door one day. . .Fluffy?!? At least we don’t have kids trying to name him, maybe that’s where the “Fluffy” names come from! Anyway, we decided we wanted a name that was tough, but not attacker tough, whatever that means! I immediately fell in love with the name Roman, but it took some time to grow on Peter, he wanted some ridiculous ones like Phinneus or John Calvin, was he serious? I tend to think that John Calvin himself would be offended, so I was just trying to honor his legacy by NOT naming my puppy after him, and I’m sure he’s greatful! Finally, I won, I mean, he got the Pit Bull didn’t he?!? So, it was decided, we shall call him ROMAN! His original name was Zach, how boring is that? So, we promptly changed the name. Oh, and it took Roman a good 2 days to realize that was his new name too. Thinking back, two days wasn’t bad, but at the time it was since we were saying it every 5 seconds! It got to the point where we had to say Zach before Roman, so the typical command for the first days sounded like this, “Come here Zach Roman. Good boy Zach Roman.” So, it truly sounded like we had given him a first and middle name, but he caught on quickly for which I’m greatful! So, all that to say, his name fits him well and we love our little Roman!

Elisabeth

Our decision to purchase a puppy

Peter and I both grew up with dogs, so we weren’t at all unfamiliar with what they do and how the act, but we never thought we’d ever get a dog. Well, let me rephrase that, I never thought we’d ever get a dog, sure, puppies are cute, but then they grow up! But Peter was determined to get me to cave in to the pressure, which obviously worked! I always thought that dogs smelled, got in the way, never listened, were too much of a responsibility, etc. . . For some reason Peter got it in his head that we needed to get a puppy, end of story. If we ever did, I told him it couldn’t be huge and had to be short haired. I for sure knew we’d never own a “yappy”, jumpy dog, way too annoying, and my patience is only so long. I was leery of dogs anyway, cause I have been bitten by one in the past, mostly my fault, who knew dogs were territorial and if you stuck your hand in a crack in the window of the car it’s in, it won’t just look at it! Long story short, through a bunch of unusual circumstances, he found Roman on line from a lady who took in Pit Bulls. He found Roman on the first day or two of May, and we “adopted” him on Sunday, May 7th! (Yeah, very fast, but Peter knew time was critical, for I might change my mind!) So, in a nutshell, that’s how we came about finding and getting our Roman, which of course leads us to his name. . .

Elisabeth

Looking for a family

These pics are a little small (sorry!) but they were the ones on the shelter's website. Roman was one of 12 puppies given to a shelter in Charlotte, MI (30 some mi. south of Lansing, MI. When we found him he had lots of brothers and sisters to choose from, but we loved his little bib and socks!

Another older pic

Well, we have a bit of catching up to do since our puppy is so big now! Here's another pic of him when he was just a little guy!

Our little guy

This is a pic of our little guy before we got him. I'm not sure how old he is in this pic, but the shelter said that he was born in the last week of January. I figured I would post his earliest pic first. Isn't he just vicious? :)