Welcome to the Bottieri WebSite

Attitude isn't a small thing. It's everything!

Either you control your attitude or it will control you.

Your happiness and success in everything you do depends on it.

When I was young, 2 years old to be exact, my mom and dad took me to a place where we could get a dog.  I don't remember too much about that experience, but the dog was a female german shephard pup.  We named her Ritzy.  It was in my adult life that I learned she was named after my mom's dog when she was a kid. There are a lot of great memories in my head that include Ritzy, but as I got into my teens I didn't pay too much attention to her as she aged and before I knew it she was 14 and not doing well.  One day when I got home from school, I went looking for ritzy, but could not find her. When I asked my mom if she knew where Ritzy was she started to cry and told me she had Ritzy euthanized that day while I was in school.  I was terribly upset and yelled at her for not letting me know or giving me a chance to say goodbye.  I held that against my mother for decades in the back of my mind. Eventually it came to me that it must have been very hard for my mom to do that and she spared me a lot of pain.

For many years I travelled by RV and laughed at people walking their dogs and picking up poop all hours of the day and night.  What a stupid burden I thought - you'll never catch me picking up dog poop. I had no intention of ever having a dog again. It was too painful losing Ritzy.  Little did I know at the time what the future would hold.

It was in 2002 when Sandy and I stopped traveling in the RV. We sold it and moved to the Space Coast in Florida and got Griffie, a black Brussels Griffon puppy. I thought he was cute, but he was Sandy's job - not mine.  That didn't last long and eventually I was in love with the little guy.  Yup, picking up poop and anything else he turned into a mess.

Well, we moved into a house from the condo and had a lot of room so we got Griffie a step-brother-  Affie.  Affie was an blond Afinpinscher.  It was love at first sight for Affie and me and now I was in love with two dogs.  Then a few years later in 2008 we got Katie and I fell in love with her too.

So ask me if I pick up dog poop.  You betcha and happily too!

Note:  There was another dog in my life that I didn't have too long. Lassie!  That dog loved me dearly. So when my mom and dad had to move to an apartment where they couildn't have a pet, Joyce and I took her. I don't rememver how long after that e moved to an apartment and had to take Lassie to Orlando to live with Joyce's mom.  Later I found out that Joyces mom ran Lassie over and killer her. I have lived with that for 45 years and am truely sorry that I let that dog down. I loved her very much.

Please read my personal dog story below the photos.

Ritzy - Griffie - Affie  Katie