Thor is in Doggy Heaven.

Thor

Age 11, ~2000 - December 07, 2011

Thor was a big baby weighing in at 140 pounds. He was misunderstood because of his size. Miss U

Nickname: Thor Thor

Thor was adopted when he was 5 years old. His first family (starter family) abandoned him at a local pet store hoping he would be adopted. We were in the pet store and was asked to foster him. This is how Thor's story began. We welcomed him into our home and into our lives. We became a family four pack. We learned that Thor had trust issues and was fearful of being touched. It makes you wonder what the starter family did to him. We worked with him to develop trust. He was food aggressive but seemed to deal well with our other Rottweiler. They seemed to become friends and eventually partners in crime. Over time, Thor slowly learned to trust us but we did have a few run ins. He bit me twice but I must have done something that triggered him. People I work with said that I should get rid of him or put him down for biting me. I explained to them that we had made a commitment to each other and you don't get rid of family and that the only thing that would separate us would be death. Loud noises scared him which would cause him to hid. This was usually under something that he was too big to get under causing him to get stuck. He managed to get his head stuck under a bed; under an end table and even between the water tank and the wall. We would rescue him from where ever he was and just sit with him under he calmed down. Our fear was that he would hid if ever there was any type of emergency in the house (fire, smoke alarm, etc) and that no one would know to look for him. Luckily, the smoke alarm only went off a few times when my husband was cooking. Storms also scared him. If there was a storm during the night, he would always come to my side of the bed and paw at the mattress until I woke up. This was his way of telling me that he was scared and wanted to get in bed. I would move over and up he would come. All he needed was to be hugged until the storm passed. By this time, our other Rottweiler was also in the bed. It was very crowded but cozy and snug. We all just made room for each other. By looking at him, you would think that he would be vicious and although he could be, he usually was a big baby. We also all watched TV snuggled on the couch, they loved Animal Planet, go figure. The sofa was able to contain all of us. We each had our favorite spot. Those memories are golden treasures. The funny (or not so funny) thing that Thor did was head butt you. His way of ending any type of loud conversation was to head butt you in the groin. It was funny if it happened to someone else but not so funny if it happened to you. You can see how big his head was and can only imagine the impact. I'm not sure if the starter family taught him this as a puppy, you know, going between your legs but it eventually became groin head butting. His trust issues carried over to his grooming. We took him to a groomer but as soon as they tried to pull him into their work space, he growled at them and that was that. We were asked to leave. So, we learned how to shave and groom him. We had to bribe him with canned green beans. He would do anything for a green bean so we always kept cases of green beans in the house. Over time, he grew to trust us to the point that he slept on his back with his feet in the air. Most dogs don't sleep like that for it is usually viewed as being submissive. No male Rottweiler ever wants to be viewed as submissive. We finally had won him over. I could go on and on because once trust was gained, he was an awesome member of our family. He was never viewed as just a dog, he was a true family member. We miss him so much that I cannot describe the impact that his death has had on the rest of his pack/family members. Our hearts/family and lives will never be the same...