Welcome to the first edition of PetFitness Dog of the Month! At PetFitness, we strive to feature dogs that exemplify beauty and positive energy.
Special shoutout to Kristina for answering these questions on behalf of her dog Rocky.
Rocky is our first Dog of the Month for January 2022.
Now, let’s get to the interview…
————————————————————–
What’s your dog’s name, age, gender, and current location?
Rocky is 1 year and 10 months old. He’s a male and we live in Everett, Washington.
What type of dog breed?
Rocky is a purebred West German Showline German Shepherd Dog.
Why did you decide to get Rocky? How was your first day with him?
The reason why I decided to get a dog is because I wasn’t an active person before and I would always stay home. All of my friends started to get dogs and I really wanted to get one so we can go out on adventures.
I kept things positive, thinking it will be easy taking care of a big dog… until I got Rocky on May 25, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. and brought him home at 9:30 p.m.
The first night we had him, he peed right away in the house so I took him out for a potty break. He used the bathroom again and we took him back inside. We played for a little and my brother stayed with him the first night downstairs.
The next morning I woke up and this time he peed on the carpet so we had to take it out. I was starting to stress out and couldn’t eat for a whole week because I was so nervous [about] having a big dog in my house for the first time.
I was thinking of giving him away after 3 days of having him, but my family didn’t want to give him away so I had to deal with it. A couple [of] months later, I got used to him being with us and I started training with him and going out more to [nearby] schools and parks.
I absolutely love him and I would never give him away.
What’s Rocky’s current eating schedule like? What do you feed him?
Rocky has always been a picky eater with his food so we had to go on a long journey finding the right food for him.
He was a little overweight because we would give him some human food but then we stopped and started to add fresh food and raw food into his meals and he loves it. He also gained a lot of muscle and lost a lot of weight.
He’s much more active and is excited to eat. He eats 4 cups a day, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. He eats VICTOR Performance dry dog food and we add MyOllie, NomNom, and FreshPet. These three pet food brands are great and [are] the best fresh dog food.
We also add additives like raw egg, coconut oil, olive oil, salmon oil, water, hip, and joint supplements, fruits, raw meat, and much more.
What’s Rocky’s favorite exercise to do from the PetFitness workout plan?
Our favorite exercise to do from PetFitness is definitely weight pulling. But we do it differently. He doesn’t pull objects, he pulls me around on the longboard. It’s our favorite exercise to do together.
Me and Rocky are obsessed. We also like to play with toys.
What’s Rocky’s preferred toy?
His favorite are the plush toys that have a squeaker inside and he destroys [them] in minutes, but he still plays with [them].
What’s his preferred human food to have as an occasional snack?
Rocky’s favorite human snack is definitely cheese. He loved it since day one. We even sometimes do training with cheese.
What’s one thing your dog does that annoys you?
The one thing that really annoys me is when we are arriving [at] our destination, he starts to cry and whine like crazy because he wants to go out and play.
Another thing is when we are getting ready to go on the longboard ride, he always starts to bite the wheels to let me know he’s ready.
What’s your biggest pet peeve with other dogs and dog owners in general?
My biggest pet peeve with other dogs is when dogs run up to us off-leash and do not listen to their owners and don’t respect other dogs’ body language. And my pet peeve with other people is that they will let their dog(s) off-leash thinking their dog(s) will return without any training.
What’s a cool fact about Rocky that most people may not know?
One cool fact about Rocky is that he’s a gentle giant and really loves kittens. He loves any small animal and wants to play with them but he’s too big so he really can’t.
WANT MORE THINGS ROCKY?
Follow Rocky on Instagram!
To find out more about our other PetFitness Dog of the Month interviews, check out this tag!
