I’ve had Rocky since he was a pup, well, since then we’ve had many adventures together, some good, some not so good and quite painful. There was a time when Rocky got lost and I spent many sleepless nights and days searching for him, and, thankfully, got him back. There were three times he went missing, one time he was dognapped but managed to escape, another time he went missing for two nights and three days, and another time in the bush. Thankfully on all these occasions I got Rocky back. . .
Rocky has saved my life on a few occasions, especially from snakes, which he is quite capable of tackling – cobras being his specialty. One cobra I was about to tread upon brought forth raucous barking from Rocky, who sprang between me and the snake, who was basking on some rocks with some dry grass concealing him. . .
The one thing Rocky has never been good at is swimming, he tends to sink like a rock. I’ve had to dive in and under to get him on a couple of occasions. He is, however, very good at saving lives. On the one farm there were screams from the farmhouse nearby. As I was fast asleep I didn’t hear them. Rocky grabbed me by my sweatshirt sleeve and pulled me out of bed, leading me to the door. Only when I opened it did I hear the faint screams of a woman. I told Rocky, ‘Go fetch!’ Which he did. . . In the farmhouse two would-be rapists, thieves and murderers, had broken a window and were attempting to force themselves upon the unfortunate lady, who lived alone, at 2.30 in the early morning hours. Little thought they gave to a brindle ball of sharp fanged fury interrupting them as Rocky dived through the broken window and charged them. . . They flew back out that same broken window like bats out of hell and sprinted like professional athletes up the dirt road away from the farmhouse with Rocky at their heels. . . When I arrived on the scene the lady was running around in circles, naked, screaming hysterically. Rocky trotted back and started to yap at her, “It’s okay, they’re gone! You can go inside and put your clothes on now!” And these are just a few of Rocky’s real life adventures. (For details of rocky Boos, go to www.rockybooks.co.za & www.rockyinthewilderness.com for details.)