Freya came into my life when she was just a few days old. Me and my family were parked up at a squat in the French Pyrenees, when one day a man parked up next to us with his two dogs, who recently had two puppies. Freya and her brother. Both me and my two girls fell in love with them both pretty quickly. We kept our distance at first, just watching them, whilst giving the mum lots of affection.
I made sure my girls knew not to go near the puppies until they were a few weeks old. After that, it was hard to keep them away. Both puppies were due to be sold and would most likely end up chained up in a warehouse a a security dog, as that is what Rottweilers are usually bred for these days, unfortunately.
I just couldn't let that happen, at least not to one of them. I tried really hard to convince my then partner to take both of the puppies, but he was not even really keen to take one. But in the end we took Freya. I mean look at that face, she has to be one of the cutest puppies there ever has been!
I spend a lot of time with her, training her,getting her used to my voice and my command, because I knew she would be a big dog. I don't like the idea of controlling animals, but I did want her to listen to me and respect me. She also needed to be shown how to behave around young children, to know that they are not as robust as young dogs. It's a lot of work, and a huge responsibility bringing a big dig into the family.
She is so loyal and always listens to me, when I have to go into town, I tell her to guard the truck and when I come back she is always in the exact same place that I left her. I don't expect her to do that, but I know she takes her role as protector very seriously. I feel a lot safer with my girls, knowing that she is there looking out for us, but also know that she won't do anything unless I ask her to.
One of my dear friends, calls her nana dog, just like the dog from Peter Pan,who looks after the whole family. Freya is so good with all of my girls. I remember when my youngest turned one, she loved to bite things, anything. We were al sitting on the tail of the truck and she was next to Freya, when all of a sudden she had Freya's ear in her mouth and he bit down. Freya let out such a huge yelp and just as quickly she turned her head around towards my daughter, for a moment I thought she was going to bite her, but instead she licked her in the face.
Freya has always been there for me and she knows exactly when to come inside and rest her head on my lap. She accompanies me, on my walks up the mountains and I could not imagine doing them without her. She is 8 now and has Glaucoma in one eye and I have also noticed that her hearing is not so sharp as it used to be.
That photo above, is the most recent one that I have of her and it was taken, at one of our favorite spots. You can see for yourself how happy she looks in the photo. I don't really like the idea of ownership over other beings and I am not too hot about the way in which some people treat their 'pets', expecting them to act more like humans, that what they actually are. I can only imagine how stressful that must be for the animals, not being allowed to just be themselves.
My life is all the richer because of Freya and I have learnt a lot from her, especially about myself. I am very grateful that she came into my life and that my girls have got to grow up with her as well. Rottweilers can have a bit of a bad rep unfortunately, but that's just because they are misunderstood. They are amazing family dogs and extremely loyal. At the end of the day, the respond to how they are treated!
___<
<
