When Romeo left us to run free across the rainbow bridge, I said no more dogs. He was one in a million. I didn’t want to go through the pain of loss again.

Then a thing happened which I call The Troubles. Police suggested getting a big dog because even though they can usually get here fast, a dog is faster. The search for the right dog began. He needed to be strong, loud, loving, smart, and to live inside as part of the family.
The stars aligned and Diesel came to us.
He’d lived outside. He didn’t know much about how households run. His vocab was very limited.
He adjusted fast.
He understood his role. He learnt so much. His vocab grew until he understood entire sentences. Everything was fun for him. His job was the most fun ever. Protect and love. That is what he did, with everything in his heart.
Police met him early on and decided he was the goodest boy.
Our boy turned out to be as loving as Romeo and as smart. Not bad for a Mastiff x lab. (Mastador)
Diesel was a bit surprised at first with inside life. But he found pure joy in sleeping on our beds. He had his own bed as well … but that was more for daytime.
He learnt about his people. He connected the dots. He learnt to walk like a good boy. (That was hard work for Freda because he was strong and it took her a lot of work to get him to get the walking thing.) He loved us. His family was everything to him. He was everything to us. He understood that not all family lived with him and he loved seeing everyone.
He taught himself to alert for human health issues – like a wonky heartbeat or migraine. He would appear behind me and guard when he detected a migraine on the way. He was never wrong.
He adopted his Birman kitten when she was 10 weeks old – Dallas was the family member he didn’t know he needed. Their bond was incredible.
She is sad.
We are all sad.
Diesel is with Romeo now, probably comparing notes.
Diesel’s job was not easy … he was constantly checking where everyone was. Just to be sure he was on top of anything that could kick off. 🙂

End of watch 1/11/25