My Baby Boy is 4 Today...

As most of you are aware, I'm a mama to 5 canine kids. We have 4 girls and a boy. That's the way it has always been.
We lost our first boy at the age of 8. He was a Rottie by the name of Ozzy. He was having mini-strokes and we lost him 2 weeks after his 8th birthday.
It destroyed me and my husband. I vowed to never have another dog again. Our girls are 17, 14, 14, and 12 as I write this so I knew even back then, that there would come a time when I'd lose them all.
Dogs have a way of latching onto your heart and never letting go. When they leave their earthly bodies for the spiritual realm, it is always too early. So with hurt in my heart, I said never again.
Nine months later, enters this little face:

This is Diesel, the boy I vowed to never have. 

When I finally let go of my hurt over losing Ozzy (who was all Mama's boy), I began to look at a breed who would fit into our house with ease. *Laughs* 
I have 4 girls who are very dominant. Don't ask how that happened because I honestly don't know. But I knew I needed a boy who would roll with the punches like Ozzy had. Did I expect another Oz? Never in a million years.
I knew an English Mastiff would be the best fit and I looked everywhere for one. About 45 minutes from where we were living, someone had puppies. We went to look and fell head over heels for this precious face.
And Diesel was the furthest from the traditional Mastiff characteristics as possible. He was seldom still. He would be lying on the floor being such a good boy, then holy terror would reign down on us and he tore through the house. 

One lady told me that a Mastiff is very much like an infant, but I wasn't expecting an actual infant. I used to pick him up and carry him to his crate every night, just like a child. (I can't even imagine doing that now. He's easily 175 lbs. at this moment.) In order to get him to sleep, I would sing to him. Plus he had to have his crate right beside our bed where I could stick my hand in for him to sniff. (Until 4 months ago, his crate stayed by our bed.)

We've done a lot of learning as he's grown and we're still head over heels in love with him and his goofy grin.
And here he is now. All 175 lbs of wiggling, silly, laugh-inducing Mastiff...now I just need to find him a girlfriend because, dammit, I want a Diesel baby...or 5 :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIESEL!!!