#TrueStory: I rescued my dog from a Doobie Brother

Rocky Balboa is for reals, the love of my life. I love this dog. He’s special … and I know that EVERY dog owner says that about their dog, but trust, I’ve had PLENTY of dogs over the years … and this one is different.

It was a Saturday night in 2006, and I had gone to a club dancing with my best friend at the time Sam – and she was totally crushing on this dude … so we decided to call it an early night and head over to his place to kick it. I walked in, and was greeted with an amazing loft style pad decorated with awards. I had never met this dude, only knew he lived with his parents … clearly they were a big deal I thought. When you’re in situations like that however, you just keep your mouth shut. I’m not impressed easily, and I certainly never get star struck. People are people, some just have cooler jobs. Work your ass off, and you too can have a cool job. Period. End of sentence.

I walked over to this chair, sat down, and we all started watching The Chronicles of Narnia. Clearly this is something that kids do after a night of dancing. A wild one I am …

Not 5 minutes into the film, this little dog jumps up on my lap and just starts cuddling with me. I say to the dude, “if you ever think about getting rid of this dog, will you let me know!” Swear to god. I haven’t known this guy for a half hour, I’m in his house … this could be HIS dog for all I knew … and I go asking if I can have him.

I don’t remember his response, or anything … I just had fallen so incredibly in love with this little thing – that I had to figure out a way to make him a part of my life.

A couple days went by, and on Tuesday, my phone rang – it was the kid’s mom, Heidi asking if I was still interested in the dog. My mouth was moving, but words could not escape. Uh. Uh. Uh. Finally, I just said YES! I got her address again, and got in my car to see the dog. She informed me that she rescues animals for a living, and this one had just come from a crack house, and needed a lot of TLC as he had been terribly abused. (She also told me that her husband was in the band the Doobie Brothers … so rad!) I was interviewed for a half an hour, discussing my lifestyle, place of employment … I told her we could have dogs at my office, and I would bring him in as often as I could … DONE! She said. And in came this little goober in my life.

He didn’t even have a name, they just called him “dog” so, that was my first challenge. I had been editing the trailer scripts for the new Rocky Balboa movie at the time … so I just kept looking at him thinking, you TOTALLY look like a Rocky! And dude, he literally had the BIGGEST balls ever. For reals, this dog is only 6 lbs on his heaviest day – and 4 of them were in his testicles. It was obscene, and hypnotic all at the same time.

So, Rocky Balboa it was!! I took him to work with me the next morning, and everrryyyoonnneee fell in love with him. He’s just got the sweetest personality, and he’s so damn smart! He’s an italian greyhound, mini dachshund mix. Perfection!

Another funny tidbit, Rocky’s first best friend was Phil Jackson’s dog Princess Cujo. My supervisor at work was best friends with Jeanie Buss who is the executive vice president of business operations for the Lakers – and is dating Phil (the Laker’s coach). Well, my supervisor would bring Princess Cujo into the office when she had her – and her and Rocky hit it off better than peas and carrots. It was so adorable.

Rocky is now currently a happy little camper staying with my parents who spoil him rotten as I continue my adventures in traveling. So no worries there. He gets to run around the house all day with their dog Noelle, who is seriously too precious for words. They’re having a grand ol’ time! My parents even got them matching Santa hoodies for the holidays. Yep … they’re milking this for all they can since Rocky is the closest thing they’re going to get to a grandchild for a while. HA!

Rockys best attempt at a smile is something straight from an elvis impersonator.