By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
SPENCER ó It was pushing 50 degrees one afternoon last week and Rebecca Pless and Penny, her 4-year-old Rottweiler, were out for a stroll.
Or a ride, depending upon one’s point of view.
“I’m just curious,” asked a motorist who stopped to inquire about the assemblage, “do you do that for exercise?”
Pless gave Penny a pat before answering.
“That and fun,” she replied.
Penny (and sometimes Penny’s son, Milton) can often be seen traversing the streets of Spencer with Pless in tow. They travel from their home on Alexander Street, covering a half-mile or so to Park Plaza where they make a loop before heading back.
The contraption that Penny pulls and Pless rides is a sulky, a two-wheeled carriage with a single seat. It’s the type often used in harness racing.
Pless got the sulky in early January. Already, she and her dogs have become a hit around Spencer, something of local celebrities.
After all, when was the last time you saw a Rottweiler pulling a carriage?
Pless said residents often stop her to ask about her sulky and her dogs, both of which she’s happy to discuss.
“You’re just a brilliant dog, aren’t you, PoPo?” Pless said, kneeling and using her pet’s pet name as she lavished the canine with kisses.
Pulling the sulky isn’t hard on the dogs, Pless said, nor do the animals consider it punishment.
Quite the contrary, she said, they look forward to their around-town jaunts.
Pless said Rottweilers ó bruisers of dogs that can weigh as much as 100 pounds ó were bred to pull wagons and do similar tasks.
Pless said that in Germany where they were first bred, Rottweilers were known as “the butcher’s dog.” She said the dogs would herd sheep and cattle on the way to market.
After the sheep or other animals were sold, the butcher would tie the money he’d earned around the neck of his Rottweiler for the journey home. Rottweilers have an intimidating look and thieves were reluctant to try and steal the money.
Pless, 50, has an interesting background. She’s a Kannapolis native who graduated from A.L. Brown in 1977. For 10 years she worked as a stewardess for Piedmont Airlines, then U.S. Air.
Nowadays, she works part time, managing rental property for her father. Pless’ husband, Randy, is a carpenter and the couple is remodeling a house across the street from where they live.
Pless said she grew up with a love of horses, an affection she’s transferred to her dogs. In addition to Penny and Milton, Pless also owns Mike, another of Penny’s offspring.
“I wanted a short-haired dog that didn’t require a lot of grooming,” Pless said of her decision to settle on Rottweilers. “I have trouble grooming myself, much less my dogs.”
The sulky she owns was given to her by Bob Busby, a dog trainer and breeder from Mooresville with whom Pless has long been friends.
“Rebecca is great,” said Busby, president of the Salisbury Kennel Club. “She’s a great ambassador for all dogs.”
Busby said he’d owned the sulky for several years, purchasing it from Bob Cooper, a man in California who builds them. They’re designed, Busby said, to be pulled by large dogs.
“I got it on a whim,” Busby said. “I have Rottweilers. It’s natural for the dogs to want to pull wagons, and this is perfect for them.”
He said Pless jumped at the opportunity when asked if she was interested in the sulky, which hadn’t seen a lot of use in recent years. She re-padded its seat and gave its frame a fresh coat of red paint before leashing her dogs and hitting the road.
Pless said she’s especially proud to show off Penny. The dog is an American Kennel Club and United Kennel Club champion, and has garnered numerous obedience titles.
Pless sometimes takes Penny to schools and nursing homes to interact with children and senior citizens. They all benefit, she said, from the opportunity to give Penny a pat, and Penny enjoys the attention.
Pless said Rottweilers are a loving breed, undeserving of the bad reputation that some people have given them.
“Where there is a dog problem, there is always a people problem,” Pless said. “I’ve never had an issue with these dogs in 20 years.”
Cathy Rubens, an Apex resident and ó like Pless ó a member of the Carolina Rottweilers, agreed.
“They love to clean your face,” Rubens said of the affection that Rottweilers bestow upon their owners. “They’re a wonderful breed.”
Rubens said she met Pless at a dog show and they’ve become friends through their association with the Carolina Rottweilers, an organization whose members work to promote the breed.
“She’s a constant trainer,” Rubens said of Pless. “She is always working with her dogs.”
Like Pless, Rubens owns Rottweilers and said she’s involved them over the years in a number of activities ó carting, included.
“The dogs love it,” Rubens said of harnessing the creatures to a cart or wagon and taking them for a spin. “These are dogs that were bred to work. They need a job. They get a sense of self-importance when they have a job.”
Rubens said carting such as Pless does with her Rottweilers used to be a common practice. Centuries ago, there were plenty of carts that needed moving and Rottweilers were happy to throw their backs into the tasks.
Rubens said that not long ago, she had a friend who regularly loaded a wagon with logs for his Rottweiler to pull. The logs needed to be moved, she said, and the Rottweiler loved the chore.
“Having dogs that have jobs makes them better canine citizens,” Rubens said.
Pless said she breeds her dogs on occasion, but said most people don’t qualify to buy from her.
“You don’t want to know what you have to go through to get a dog from me,” Pless said. “That’s one reason I don’t breed my dogs more often than I do. I can’t find people who are qualified for them.”
Pless laughed as she recalled what her brother said about how particular she was with her Rottweilers.
“He said, ‘When I die, I want to come back as your dog,’ ” Pless said. “Not just any dog, your dog.”
As she climbed back into her sulky to continue her spin about Spencer, someone asked Pless where she put her feet. There are no foot rests on the sulky.
Only then did Pless admit that the art of riding a sulky as her Rottweiler pulls is still a tad short of perfected.
“You just sort of let them dangle,” she said of her feet. “It makes good for a quick exit. Hang on a second and you’ll see.”
Pless said she hopes to have Penny adequately trained so she can pull the sulky through the streets of Salisbury and Spencer in the Holiday Caravan Parade come November.
“With horses,” Pless said, “the trouble can be getting them to go. With Rottweilers, it can be getting them to stop.”