Meet Our New Puppy – Zeus!

Many of my readers will recall that in June, our family lost a beloved member – our friend, companion and protector Caesar.  His passing left us with a Rottweiler sized hole in our hearts, and I decided to start approaching breeders about the possibility of getting a Rottweiler puppy.  My original intention was not to get another dog so soon after Caesar’s passing – I simply wanted to see when any of the breeders I know were going to be having litters.  I first reached out to Marcie Quigley of Schwarzberg Rottweilers (the breeder from whom we received Caesar) and determined that she wouldn’t be having another litter until early next year.  I then reached out to Christy Hutchison of Krafthaus Rottweiler’s as I had never previously spoken to her.  As it turned out, she had a litter born in May, from which all the puppies had been sold but she did have one 12 week old puppy that had recently been returned to her.  The couple had placed an advanced deposit on the puppy (male) and followed through on the transaction only to return him two weeks later because they were experiencing an unforeseen life changing event.  My preference was certainly for a male, so that much was intriguing.  We discussed this more, and the more I heard, the more I liked.  Again, I hadn’t planned to get another dog so soon, but neither did I want to pass up a great opportunity that sounded ideal.  Christy and I arranged for her to bring the puppy to our home for us to see him – no obligations at this point, as again there was a part of me that worried we were jumping into things too soon.  I really have to give Christy a great deal of credit here – she was fantastic to work with, and extremely accommodating to our needs.  When this little puppy came into our house, our hearts melted – that one our visit has now lasted almost two weeks.  🙂

His AKC Certified name is Zeus Sind Von Holbrook – translated from German that means “Zeus Son of Holbrook.”  Here’s a photo of him with my wife:

Zeus has tremendous personality – all boy, and all puppy!  If he’s not eating, sleeping, or relieving himself, he’s playing.  Or trying to get someone to play with him.  Christy indicates that Zeus’s parents are quite large even by Rottweiler standards – the male was about 138, and the female about 126.  So we’re figuring that Zeus will fall somewhere in between at around 130 lbs.

So far he’s responding well to the first few days of obedience training.  I’m trying to handle “basic” training on my own – watch me, leave it, sit, down, and leash training.  Once I think he’s ready, we’ll try a more formal advanced training class – we might try for AKC’s Good Canine Citizenship certification.  We’re also making regular runs to the local big box pet stores for socialization opportunities.  Of course, there’s lots and lots of picture taking too.  🙂

Fortunately, he’s as willing to pose as he is cute!  Thankfully, he seems to be getting along quite well with Hans and Lady – our two five year old litter mate labs.

Look for more photos of Zeus and updates on his developmental progress coming soon!