Rosie’s entire body wagged as she approached, almost as if by standing at my children’s bus stop that cold December morning we were making her day. The minute I laid eyes on this rangy white dog, I knew I needed her in my life. My neighbor explained this was her new foster dog—a Great Pyrenees—who had been wandering the streets of Chicago, picked up by Animal Care & Control covered in urine and fleas and weighing just 57 pounds at approximately a year old.
Convincing my husband that we needed a third dog to join our other two dogs and our three internationally adopted children was met with a swift, No! What are you thinking? Fortunately, the holidays were coming and after some cajoling and maybe even a little pleading, Rosie joined our family on December 21, 2019. Alise, our then seven-year-old, and Rosie became fast friends and spent the holidays parked on the kitchen floor. Picture book after picture book was dragged down from the girls’ bedroom. Rosie patiently sat and attentively “listened” to story after story read to her.
Covid quarantine brought immense battles of the wills between Alise, a second grader, who struggled with multiple mental health diagnoses, attention in school, and us trying to convince her that school Zooms were in fact mandatory. Tears, angry outbursts, and outright refusals to participate in her daily school Zoom lessons became a stressful and weary existence, until we discovered that if Rosie joined Alise on screen for the daily Zoom lessons, magic happened. Alise participated, and even better, kids in her class and the teachers looked forward to catching a glimpse of Rosie on camera or asked “what is Rosie doing today?” Realizing how Rosie’s calm presence and soft cuddly body helped Alise regulate herself enough to endure quarantine school Zoom lessons, in early 2021 I explored how to train Rosie to become a registered therapy dog.
After six months of practice and lots of patience with the common Pyrenees behavior of “let-me-think-about-whether-I-really-want-to-do-what-you-are-asking-me-to,” we passed our therapy dog evaluation as a team. We began several years of visiting schools, nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, parades, and community events. We then became an Animal Assisted Crisis Response Team, comforting doctors and nurses after the Highland Park 4th of July shootings, comforting students at schools where bomb threats and lockdowns occurred and even attending funerals to comfort grieving families. But to no one’s surprise, Rosie was best at being a Reading Dog with kids at the elementary schools and libraries. Delighted shouts of “there’s a polar bear walking down our hall!” and happy snuggles with the big white fluffy dog made reading fun instead of a dreaded chore for struggling readers.
But Rosie did more than read. Sheryl trembled and shook with huge tears welling up in her eyes as she explained how a coyote boldly snatched and made off with their Pomeranian, Bella, right in front of her daughter who had taken both of their small dogs outside. They were now terrified to take their young, miniature dachshund outside and were wondering if they might have a nightly walk around the neighborhood with us and, in particular, with Rosie, since they knew that Great Pyrenees were often used to scare off and protect small animals from coyotes. Night after night, month after month, and now year after year, 113-pound Rosie and 18-pound Auggie make their way around the neighborhood, the funniest big/little smitten couple. With Rosie’s calm, yet constantly alert presence and booming Pyr bark if necessary, Auggie and his family began to regain a sense of safety.
Rosie also regards her role as guardian, protecting and watching vigilantly over our aging, ailing two senior pups, Sunny and Clyde, with the utmost importance. When either one has been ill, we often find Rosie lying back-to-back or paw to paw with them. Despite her massive size, Rosie is incredibly gentle with small or frail creatures and humans. “Gentle Giant” is a fitting moniker for her, though look out if she decides to run and play outside. She resembles a freight train coming full force, unable to corner, cut, or stop on a dime.
Typical of most Pyrenees, Rosie’s favorite place to be is outside in the yard, creating or “redecorating” one of her many “condos”—the spots she digs out in the landscaping beds to lie in the cool dirt. I joke that Rosie is the mayor of our neighborhood. Cars stop, rolling windows down with shouts of, “Hi Rosie.” Children love to play the “Where’s Rosie?” game as they whiz by on bikes and scooters. And people stop along their strolls with kids and dogs venturing into our yard to say hello to Rosie and give her a pet, hug, or even a dog treat. A young girl, Isabella, and her mother, purposely ride to the park via our street. Neither of them speak much English, but that doesn’t stop Isabella from jumping off her bike, squealing “Rosie!” with a perfectly rolled R, and engulfing Rosie in a huge hug. Pure love and joy know no human constraints, they are their own language.
Amazon, UPS, and FedEx drivers all know Rosie by name and stop to give her a scratch on the rump. But the highlight of Rosie’s day is a visit from our mailman, Yoshi. Rosie just might love Yoshi more than she loves us! She sees his truck and she runs to the edge of the yard to wait for Yoshi. Yoshi walks his route up and down our street, carefully puts his belongings back into his mail truck and then, ever so sweetly, comes into the yard to play with Rosie, giving treats for practicing her commands and then doles out a huge amount of pets and scratches.
Though no longer an “official” therapy dog, but rather perched atop her dirt throne, this once unclaimed stray dog has touched more people’s hearts in her 4 years with us than I can hope to touch in my entire lifetime. Rosie, once homeless and hungry, epitomizes the resilience of the animal and human spirit to overcome adversity, spreading love and joy wherever she is.
