This is Rocco. I took his portrait.
A Quick story:
When I was six years old, I went into the backyard not knowing my mom had gotten us a puppy. Unknown to me, I walked to the backyard to play. Our grass needed mowing. I saw something moving in it and my imagination said it was a wild and viscous raccoon. I ran to the fence and climbed up to get out of reach. Then a small puppy came running out.
It was still a raccoon. A dograccoon and just a vicious. I stayed up on the fence for 20 minutes. The puppy jumped and wagged her tail trying to reach me. I finally came down and we made a friendship. She was kind, loyal, and loving.
When a new person came to the house, she tracked my little brother down, knocked him over, then sat nearly on top of him watching the guests until she had a better feeling about them. Once she determined they were friendly, playtime resumed.
She also knocked me out once. She was a year older and full grown. She chased me around the yard trying to get my shoe laces. We played it all the time. It was a late Saturday morning. Antasia and I ran around the yard playing the shoelace game. I tripped and hit my face on her back. It knocked me out. I woke up lying face up in the grass with my parents slapping on my cheeks trying to get me to wake up. She was a good dog. She was licking my face.
Taking a photo of this little guy brought that memory back. I loved that dog.