(This) Man's Best Friend

Over 7 years ago, we brought home a little, orange, Bordeaux Mastiff, whom we named The Mighty Titan. Little did I know we would become so close. Over 40 years, we have had numerous dogs in our family. All have been great with the kids, fun to be around, home protectors and cat haters. Just overall wonderful family pets.

But Titan turned out to be so much more. He was inquisitive. Lovable. Friendly, but cautious. And totally focused on a ball. They could be big flashy balls, or small bumpy balls. He didn't care. As long as you tossed them to him a few times a day, he was thrilled. We probably went through close to a couple of hundred of them in the 7 plus years.

But more than anything else, Titan was my friend. He stayed with me almost all day long, hanging out in my office. Listening to constant sales calls, employee complaints, and reprimands. The reprimands sometimes from my good friend and boss. All the while, Titan waited to hear the word, "goodbye". On that cue, he would jump up, stare at Dad with the look of, "you're done with this damn call, time to get the ball." We would then take 5 minutes to go outside, throw the ball around, then back into the office for the next conference call or one of 5,000 emails to be read.

Our house was his castle. He had huge beds strategically placed in most rooms (thanks to brother Jim, who purchased him a bed per visit). You can't be too far from a nap site when you play ball all day long.

Titan always looked forward to weekday mornings when my grandchildren would wake up and get ready for school. He would patiently wait until we gave him the signal or they stirred, then he would run into their bedroom, jump on each one of their beds with his 125lb body, and lick them awake. Even when he was not feeling well the last couple of months, he still showed excitement when they awoke. The girls will sorely miss him, as he them.

Many of you know Titan from Flickr and the Internet. I have had offers from a Japanese television studio to film he and I. I had a National Geographic producer of one of their dog shows contact me to shoot some footage at my house. Titan was painted by 3 different artists over the years, where his paintings were auctioned off for charities. A college student in London used his image in a play. A professional sports team in Europe (who didn't identify themselves) asked to use his image for their team. Other than the paintings, I turned them all down. I did not want to deal with the aggravation, the stress, and the interruption to our lives, and Titan's.

He was a wonderful dog, a major part of my entire family, and a fixture in my son's DigitalCatharsis blog.

Titan left a lasting impression on thousands of people, world wide. But he has left a lasting hole in this man's heart.

He was my best friend.

Bye Dee-Doos.

Wrong house, wrong dog, wrong guy, right timing

Nothing like a little excitement in my life.....again.

As Donna and the kids were at a religion class at church (thank God), I went in the back yard to trim the bushes. I brought my little puppy with me (125lb Mastiff named Titan). As I was standing on top of my hot tub, trimming a tall bush, a pick up truck came slowly down our alley behind the houses. I didn't recognize the truck, so I paid attention. He slowed at my open garage. Then moved forward just out of the way. But he was directly in front of me, maybe 15 feet away. He didn't see me. I watched him get slowly out of his truck. He didn't shut the door, as to not make any noise. He looked up and down the alley, and toward all the houses. Then he walked to my driveway and into my garage. I jumped off the hot tub, and flew out the gate to the garage, with Titan at my side. This 6' 1", 170lb white male now had this 5' 8'' pissed off Italian, and his Mastiff in his face. I actually had to hold Titan back as to not maul the guy. We proceeded to "have words" and he called me "Dude". Wrong "F'n" word to call me. As every word my mother told me never to say came out of my mouth, at the top of my lungs, I told him to get his sorry ass on the ground, and hands behind him. Hell, I was holding hedge shears (30mm too). I scared the shit out of this guy. Hell, I scared me, I was so pissed off.

All the while this was happening, I memorized his truck, his plates, his height, approximate weight, clothes, all of it.

When I turned to grab my cell phone, he bolted into the truck and took off.

Police came shortly after, and said they identified the plates and the truck. They were very pleased with how I handled the whole situation, and the attention to detail I gave them. The Police are going to the DA on Monday to see if they can bring him up on attempted burglary. We'll at least get him for trespassing. Maybe even stupidity. Perhaps we should shoot him?

Just another day in the Parisi household.

How was your day?