Sage's story

Meet Sage

Sage has a very sad story and I really want to help her, but I can’t without a foster home for her. She belongs to a drug addict who lives in a hotel room, and has repeatedly tried to kill herself. When this happens the dogs are left to fend for themselves, paramedics arrive, and take their owner, and they have no one to care for them.

The owner's mother will no longer take them in, so their owner's grandmother agreed to take them this time, but she is not strong enough to handle them and she is going in to have heart surgery on Friday. She is trying desperately not to turn them over to county and is begging that we help her.

Currently they live in a run on the side of her house with a small part of her garage reserved so that they can get in out of the weather at night or when it’s been raining. The most she can do for them is to place their food and water over the fence that she has set up to separate them from the rest of her garage.

Sage is a sweet girl who lives with a 7 month old cane corso/pitbull mix and does well with her. She is obviously overweight. She said that her granddaughter did take her through a training program but hasn’t really followed through with that training. She has power of attorney over her grand-daughter so she can legally re-home her dogs.

I would take Sage in a second if I had a place to put her! I would hate to see her go to county or worse. Her grandmother even called county and they told her that they were full and she needed to make an appointment and someone would call her back within 72 hours to do that but nobody has called her back yet.

So there is a possibility that county won’t take her before Friday and if she can not find them a place to go before she goes in before the heart surgery, she is talking about letting them loose to fend for themselves.

If you are looking to adopt a young (2 year old) female Rottie, consider being Sage’s Rottie hero please. She deserves stability, and to be properly cared for. We are in Gilbert, AZ. We can not ship Sage out of state.

She will need to be fostered in the Phoenix area or adopted to someone within AZ. If you are interested in saving her life, please go to www.rottenrottie.com and fill out the proper application under the "How To" button. Thank you.

1st adoption of 2026:

Handsome Ripley

Our very own Mark Cefalu has adopted his 3rd Rotten Rottie Ripley (previously known as Rupert) !! Mark has been part of the Rotten Rottie family for years, and when I asked him to meet The man that found li'l Ripley in an ally in Casa Grande he didn’t hesitate to help!

Something unexpected happened on their way back... they fell in love!! Timing could not have been worse though because Mark’s Rotten Rottie, Kai, just had his second ACL surgery which means that Kai has to stay calm and no playing for 6 weeks!

So li'l Ripley couldn’t go home yet. Yesterday, Ripley was sent to boarding school for a month with Karen at Dynamic Dog Training AZ to learn from the best, so when Ripley does get to go to his new home and meet his new brother, he will be ready to enjoy the good stuff in life!

Ripley and Mark

Huge thanks to Richard and Alicia Isaacson and D and Niko Huffman for letting Ripley hang out with them until school started. On his first day of school this frozen white stuff was falling out of the sky!! How fun! Congrats Mark and Rene!

🐾 Foster Needed🐾 Phoenix Area 🐾

Simone

Please Note: Our foster homes have to be in the Phoenix Area;, we do not foster dogs out of state or outside of the Phoenix Area. We need our dogs to be close to the rescue so that we are able to get them the vet care and training they need.

❤️This sweet little girl's name is Simone. She was brought into the Pinal County Shelter as a stray by a member of the public. We don’t know what her life looked like before, but we do know it wasn’t good to her. Now that she is in the shelter, she is being fed and cared for, but the shelter environment is overwhelming, and she is struggling to cope. She is extremely fearful, shut down, and unsure of the humans around her. She has some superficial wounds on her face and legs, but they will heal.  Right now, more than anything, she needs safety, patience, and time.

💔 What Simone Needs Right Now

 Simone needs a very specific foster home, and we want to be upfront about that because her success depends on the right environment. Normally, we would bring a dog like Simone to the rescue, and then place her in a board & train, but right now we are full at the rescue & all of our trainers are working with other Rottie’s we recently saved. So for now, if we are going to save Simone, we have to place her in a foster home. 

👉We are looking for a foster who:

•  Is located in the Phoenix Area, preferably the East Valley, since as we are based in Gilbert, AZ

• Can transport Simone to our vet and to the rescue as needed in Gilbert, AZ

• Is willing to work with a professional trainer if needed

• Has experience with fearful/shut-down dogs

• Can commit to going slow at Simone’s pace

• Is patient and understanding with:

  • Learning to walk on a leash

  • building trust with humans,

  • allowing decompression time without pressure,

  • someone who can resist petting Simone until she is ready for it.

• Someone who will commit to fostering Simone until she is adopted 

🏠Home Requirements

 For Simone’s safety & emotional well-being:

• No other dogs, no other animals

• No children

• A calm, quiet home where she can decompress 

• A yard with at least a 6ft fence. Simone needs leash training and cannot be walked on leash outside of a contained area for her safety.

Pinal County did attempt one dog introduction, but it did not go well. So until she has time to decompress and we get to know her, we will not place her in a home with other animals or kids.

🐶 The Kind of Foster Simone Needs

Simone needs someone who understands that progress may look like:

• Sitting quietly in the same room

• Letting her observe without interaction

• Celebrating small wins

• Allowing days where “nothing happens”, and that’s okay

She needs a foster who won’t rush her, push her, or expect affection before she’s ready. Someone who sees value in simply showing up consistently and kindly.

🏥 What We Cover

 As with all of our foster dogs, we cover everything your foster needs:

• All veterinary care

• Medical needs

• Training support

• Supplies (as needed)

• Ongoing guidance and support. You are never alone.

Simone cannot recover in the shelter. But in the right foster home, she has a real chance to learn that humans can be safe again.

If you believe you might be the calm, patient person Simone needs, please complete our foster application at https://www.rottenrottie.com/foster-a-rottweiler

We can only help Simone if we find a foster whose home and experience truly align with what she needs right now.

🖤 Sometimes saving a life doesn’t look loud or heroic- sometimes it looks like quiet, patience, and love.

Be a Rottie Hero today and apply to Foster Simone🐾💕