Fancy a cuppa , Connect now 2

@heartathome Yes they do need time spend but it is no a lot of work. They both need time to cuddle for they are real cuddle pots, unlike the non Rottweiler Shadow, she does not like hugs or too much affection. However both Zeta and Zeus cannot get enough. When i miss Zeus out for a day, because i'm unwell or something, he will literally jump on my lap for cuddles, he needs/wants them very badly.

Zeus has a heart of gold, but would appear very scary if you came around our place. For he puts up a massive performance. Yet only because he is so dominant that he wants to challenge any new comer for position. Those who understand that have no trouble with him, those who do not, and dare to come near him, he will literally run rings around, so they cannot leave, but have to keep petting him the boss of the show. Funny to watch.

When Zeus is a great need for cuddles he will come to me, and either sit in front of me with drooly eyes, or growl his meanest growl, as to say come growl with me a bit. For he loves growling together the very best. When i spend time with him growling then it sounds as if we are wild animals, and others think he is going to eat me alive. Yet the wilder the better for Zeus, yet as menacing he may seem to others all teeth and growl to be, he has never hurt me playing this game. Zeus does not hurt or harm anything or anyone when it comes to that.

Zeta on the other hand is a female, they use the B name not for nothing, for she can be a real female dog. Sure she will not growl at anyone, and is always really happy to see someone. However when she plays with you she will bite, and hard to. And even though she is a pleasant enough dog, she has bitten me a few times so badly that i bled. Not on purpose, but because she gets so worked up playing, that she forgets to be gentle, or tries to win that way. Shadow has the same problem as Zeta, all of as sudden she will loose it and snap. Mind you Zeta has beens learning to be more gentle, and has not hurt me for some time. However i do not play with her near as much as with Zeus, for he is really good fun and never a bother, and loves me the most by a long shot, and i him.

That filter i figured out out of pure frustration! We have had many different kind of filters, spending big dollars even, all so we would not have to cull our fish, but all the bought filters were all highly disappointing and lots of work.

So i designed this filter taking ideas from the others and preventing the stuff ups they had made figuring out how to make a filter easily cleaned and working good enough to take care of our many fish. It is cheaper than the filters we bought and works many times better than theirs plus is many hours less (dirty) work to clean.

Yes the fish have bred in the past, and fast. We started with 4 goldfish in 2014, i think, but i estimate we have had around a 100 in our pond for already about 6-7 years now. For when we have such high numbers, the fish will stop breeding, and only replace those who died from old age, illness, or have been taken by birds, but such deaths do not happen very often.

At the moment it purifies 7000 litres of dirty water a day. It could do much more if i would run a bigger pump filling it up.. i have to clean it every 3-4 months instead of every week. And it takes half the time cleaning.

I can tell that you really love your dogs @DownMoreThanUp ! How old is Shadow? What breed is she? She didn't look like a Rockweiler although I didn't see much of her. Your dogs would have eaten my old dog, Mannie! He was a silky terrier x chihuahua. He was an old grump too but fortunately only had two teeth. He was a rescue! You did an amazing job with the filter and I'm sure the fish would say thank you. I bought two goldfish when my son was growing up. I couldn't believe that they lasted for about eight years! 😲 I hope you have another good day today! 🤗

@heartathome Yes i sure love my dogs. They are my very best friends. Our girl Shadow is already 9 1/2, and no although she is 1/4 Rottweiler, she is 3/4 Austrian Shepard dog also called a Sarplaninac, and behaves like one. Sarplaninac are an intelligent, obedient, loyal, fast, and an independent breed.

Shadow usually only need to be told once, at most twice or three times, to know and remember. She will never do what she knows she is not allowed to do. Very much unlike Rottweilers when it comes to that. Who are much harder to teach, think they can do what they like to do when you are not looking, and will take time to train to do something. Although once trained they are reasonably obedient.

The best part with Shadow is that she literally trained both Zeus and Zeta the finer skills of obedience to me. For she understands any command and will show the other two what to do, and even make them do it when they do not understand what i want.

For example when i called Zeus as a puppy to come to me, he did not know what i wanted, but Shadow did. So she would first show him what i wanted him to do, and then if he did not get it, she would urge him towards me gently biting his back leg and lead him towards me. Making training Zeus a breeze compared to normal (Rottweilers are know to be harder to train than your average dog.)

Both she (and Zeus a little as well fro he knows this behaviour from Shadow,) trained Zeta for me like this too. For it does really help to have an established dog raise a Rottweiler, as long as it is not another male. For Rottweiler males are far too dominant to heed or obey another male dog and fight for dominance instead.

The best shot we have of Shadow at about 4-5 years of age.Zeus in full glory at 2 years of ageZeta at 2 months.

Thanks for the photos and info about Shadow, Zeta and Zeus @DownMoreThanUp They are beautiful looking dogs, but I wouldn't get out of the car if I came to your place! 😆They would be good for security. We had a German Shepard when I was a teenager and just the look of him would scare people, much like yours, I imagine. Unfortunately, my idiot brother trained him as a guard dog, and he was never friendly with others. 😞 Great with us kids and an old kelpie (who was the boss). Thankfully we had a huge fenced in yard with mum's garden house turned into a kennel for the dogs. The kelpie followed me home from school when we were both quite young. She'd be abused and was terrified of everything. She didn't need much encouragement from me to come home. She hid under the house for a few days and eventually came out. She was with us for 17 years after that. I loved her so much! Just talking about her makes me emotional. 🥲 Her name was Sarina 💛

@heartathome i so relate you being teary remembering your dog. The truly negative part of dogs is their short life span. Because we like lager dogs the oldest dog we have had was 11 going 12, all the others died before 10 years of age.

The dog we had before Shadow was called Rocky. She died in my arms at 9. Sadly i went promptly psychotic straight after trying to deal with the manner she died as well as suffering the loss. Luckily we had just bought Shadow a few weeks before Rocky died, so i had her to put all my (lost) love into at the time.

The good part of small dogs is that they live much longer than large dogs, and usually suffer less health problems. Rottweilers only last about 9-11 years. Many do not even make that because of hip or other health problems.

Would not want to do without them though. i love dogs. And we live in the country and we do get unwanted visitors at times. Dogs, Geese, and also Guiana fowl are excellent guards though. They sure make a racket anyone coming near our property.

Not sure how a intruder would fare with Zeus around. To be honest i be very surprised if he did them any harm, that is if they were daring enough to challenge him For i know for sure they wet themselves seeing him coming racing towards them. (i do not call him tenderly my private monster for nothing, for at such times he is all growl, teeth, and drool.😁)

Rocky just before she died at 9.Shadow when we first got her.

This is how our Zeus welcomes visitorsThis is a little how Zeus tells me he is eager to play growl with me.

Hi @Shaz51, I am a January baby, born on the 3rd.

Much love xo 🤗

hugs @ENKELI 😍

Thanks for your words @heartathome, much appreciated xo

I'm going to be 57 in January.

I've tried admin in hospitals and they all want medical admin experience.

My local Woollies is hiring so I'm considering that. I'm like you, used to not having money so I don't want a high paying job. I prayed off my mortgage last month and I own my car so I don't have any debt to speak of.

I'd be happy with part time which Woollies is offering, although I'd prefer to work for Coles lol!

Do you remember the CES? Commonwealth Employment Services? When I first left college CES got me a job.

I have worked in a call centre (17 years with Telstra) and done office management and business administration but no one cares because I don't have a certificate or accounts experience.

I always used to joke when things got stressful at Telstra that a checkout chick at Coles is looking good so I might pray to get the Woollies job!

I'm not anxious about it anymore though as I know God has always had my back and He has it now 🙏

Hope you're doing okay, maybe I'll buy a lotto ticket and when I win millions I'll share it with you 😊 xx

Hello @ALotGoingOnMum

How are you going today my friend 🧡

@Shaz51 As the name says - a lot going on!! Some big family changes really testing my fragile mental health. How are you?