Flashback Friday...Kid's Best Friend

The first phone conversation Cliff had with the Chaplain he was replacing, he told Cliff he might want to think twice about bringing his pets. The process is long and expensive to avoid quarantine, and we would limit our housing options. I love Cliff's response..."Our dog has seen my family through 3 combat tours...I think if it was put to a vote, they would choose her over me. We'll take our chances with the pets." That's of course not entirely true (luckily it's not a realistic scenario to choose between Brownie and Cliff) but the sentiment is correct. Brownie has earned our loyalty.

We got Brownie a month before 9/11, when we moved into our FIRST military housing unit that allowed dogs. I won't go into the story here at length, but we were not looking for her, we had gone to look at another dog at the shelter...but we paid a visit to Brownie based on the Handler's recommendation...and it was love at first sight.

Even though she drove us crazy with her sneaky food-stealing and her Houdini act (which is probably how she ended up at the shelter...and her previous owners probably got tired of hunting her down in the middle of the night...I know we did!) She is still a pretty amazing pooch.


Brownie's first choice for companionship is Dad, followed by mom, and on down the pack order...but since Brownie dreams out loud, and snores even louder, she doesn't get to sleep with us. Coree gets the honors, as she has a hard time sleeping alone, and doesn't mind Brownie's nightly show. (She has a bed of her own...this isn't really how it's supposed to go...)



Brownie is SO tolerant of children. She's helped many kids get over their fear of dogs. She even paid a visit to Coree's Kindergarten classroom. She had nearly 20 5-year-olds climbing all over her. She just rolled over on her back and let her tongue hang out, soaking in the love.



She actually is not really allowed on the furniture...but how could I get mad at this?




This was a regular occurrence. She was just what Jake needed at the end of a rough day of preschool. Brownie loves trampolines, too. She jumps up whenever the kids are on there and LOVES being bounced.



This was moving day in San Diego. Brownie was pretty stressed out, so it was Coree's turn to calm Brownie down...

(Trivia: Brownie almost never barks. I'm not exaggerating. Like twice a year, maybe. I love this about her, and I find it funny. We joke that the Chihuahuas in our neighborhood need to bark to compensate. Brownie is silent in the knowledge she could snap your neck in her jaws if she needed to...no bark necessary.)


FFWD several years, and we are still dragging her all around creation. I felt so much guilt at bringing her over here, making her endure that flight. She's already 10, and Rottweilers live around 10-12 years on average, so we know our time is limited. Just thinking about when it's her time to go makes me cry. She has served our family so well, and even considering all the cakes she's eaten, the trash she's strewn about the yard (or the pantry) or the times she's escaped and we've had to send out a search party...she has given this family SO much more than she has taken. Brownie is one of a kind, and has been such a tender mercy to the Stuart family.

BTW...I finally added some more pictures to the post on our trip over here. You can go back and check it out here if you care to!