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Born: August, 1998 |
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Dear Rocksey......... I want to let you know "the Story" of how we came to love Catahoulas better known as Louisiana Leopard Dogs. Our first Houla was Rocksey, our love. We lost her to Cancer January 2007. "The Story" as I referred to it when I recounted it so many times to Rocksey (she would put her paws over her ears), is a true adventure. Joey and I were vacationing in New Mexico in the fall of 1999 and decided to rent a car and tour the area. We headed toward Shiprock and I missed a turn (I am usually an infallible navigator but there was a higher calling). We stopped to take a picture of the giant projection from the earth and a hundred feet away two blue eyes popped out of a pile of rocks.... we were about 100 miles from anything, even a teepee. I got out and called.... "come here puppy" and Rockey was along for the ride with us. We tried to give her to a Native American lady at Four Corners but with one look at Rocksey she said that the little puppy was meant for us and was a gift that we could not give away. Joey got on the phone that night and Rocksey had a ticket to travel back to Virginia with us.... right at our feet. She spent the next eight years being our best friend, soul mate and marriage counselor. Everywhere we went people would stop and stare and she would stare back with those intense blue eyes. We were utterly devastated by her untimely death. I sat at the computer one night about a month later trying to find a puppy to adopt on the Internet. We had wanted a blue-eyed baby Catahoula puppy but were unsuccessful, always too late, someone else always being the lucky new parents. Joey and I had agreed that we wanted only a baby with blue eyes... were we trying to replicate Rocksey? Suddenly, something drew me to a new orphan at a sanctuary in Georgia. Her name was Matrix and she had brown eyes and was almost a year old. She was not socialized, they didn't know if she got along with cats - we have six - she was not housetrained and was very shy and the low girl on the totem pole with the other 40 dogs. Nothing that we were looking for, but I kept getting the feeling that Rocksey was guiding me toward her. When I went to bed, Joey was asleep.... something that we got very little of during those times. I nudged him and said "there's a little girl in a sanctuary in Georgia who really needs someone to rescue her, her name is Matrix." I didn't even think that he heard me or was awake. The next morning Joey got up before I did and found her on the Catahoula Rescue Website and by 8 AM we were calling Jeanine, the Coordinator of Catahoula Rescue. We didn't know that she lived in Montana.... it was really early out there, but she was wonderful and within three days we were on the road with the camper and on a mission to rescue our new baby. She has fit in with us and learns very quickly. She is a real love and sleeps right between us, exactly where Rocksey slept. Her brother, Jack, is our 13 year old Husky - Shepard mix. He was in severe depression from losing Rocksey and is much better now with his new sister as part of the family. She is keeping the old guy on his toes. Joey and I both agree that Rocksey had her hand, well.... paw, in finding us someone to help heal our hearts. We still cry because we miss her so very much but Matrix is there to lick away the tears and thank us for saving her and giving her a wonderful life. You can't replace your loved ones but you can open up your hearts to someone who needs you. I hope we are never without the love of our cats, dogs, horse and bird.... I can't imagine a life without them. Love, Mommy Cappy and Daddy Joey
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