We share some similarities

... as humans and dogs. We wear sunglasses, so do dogs. We eat 3 meals a day, so do dogs. We like to make our loved ones happy, so do dogs. After walking around barefoot our feet get dirty, so do dog's feet. Humans can get into the yoga pose called downward facing dog, and so do dogs (hence the pose's name). However, I also notice a number of differences in us. Such as when MY feet are dirty I wash them like a civil human being with soap and water or in the shower. Dogs lick their feet cleaned (thank GOD we don't have to do that too!). Also, when I do downward facing dog, my back cracks... several times. When Zeus does HIS downward facing dog, he farts...several times!! It's a good life being human...  :)

We Gotta Go Back to the Vet

OK, we are STILL having issues with Zeus' poop! For almost 2 months now (seems more like forever) we've been feeding him chicken and rice until his diarrhea goes away. Then we give him 1/2 rice with 1/4 chicken and 1/4 dog food. Once the 'stuff' is firmer, he gets 1/2 rice and 1/2 dog food. I can't even remember the last time he had a full meal of just dog food!
This morning already he's gone out twice for 'dooky time' and they've both been mush. The second 'drop' even had some blood in it! Steve is thinking we should have his anal gland removed. That just screams FUTURE PROBLEMS to me... We were told that if his diarrhea didn't clear up it's possible he has allergies and the vet wants to test him for those, which runs $170 just for the test. Then if he tests positive, he'll be prescribed allergy shots which we'd have to administer daily!! I can't even imagine how much that'll cost!
Here's another issue he needs to see the vet for. He's got really long and thick toe nails. We can't clip them ourselves - he won't let us. Trust me, we've tried and it's not pretty... There's this one nail in particular that scratches up against the pad of the toe next to it and makes it bleed. It doesn't matter what the length of the nail is and it doesn't happen all the time. It's when he runs. He loves running and I know it's good for him to get that kind of exercise... but when he runs, he comes in the house and leaves blood everywhere he steps. Last night we had another episode of "The Bloody Paw" (sounds like a horror flick, right?) and didn't notice it right away. Finally, my daughter says "Oh my God, he's bleeding! Mom, there's blood everywhere." And sure enough, we ended up bandaging up his toe with gauze and medical tape then proceeded to clean up blood stains on the hard wood floors, the carpet in the living room, the ottoman and the ceramic tile in the bathroom... Let me just say that Formula 409 Carpet Spot & Stain Remover is an AWESOME product!! But I wish I didn't need it for blood stains from my dog's toe... I'm actually thinking of asking the vet if that one toe nail can be removed. Sounds horrible, I know... but drastic times call for drastic measures...

Freckles on Dogs?

When we first got Zeus, his nose was as pink as a baby's butt! Just take a look at the large photo above! When he was somewhere around 8 months old, we started to notice 3 dark pink dots on his nose right around the fur line. We washed them, scrubbed them and even tried to scratch them off. I was convinced that they were dirt spots at first. Then when they didn't come off, I thought maybe they were some type of bug that embeds itself into dog's skin. That grossed me out and I stopped kissing him for awhile... But these dots got darker... and larger... then darker again... and even larger! At some point, it dawned on us that he was getting freckles! I had no idea dogs could get freckles but I'm so glad they do cause they're so damn cute! As a puppy he always had one big black spot on the left side of his nose. It kinda looks like a big booger. But NOW he's got several small ones all over his nose. One day a few weeks ago, I saw some dirt inside his nostrils so I got out a Q-tip to clean them out... and low-and-behold... the dirt was a bunch of freckles, too! So he's got little freckles inside his nostrils. You know how while your kids are growing you don't notice it so much because you see them every day? You don't notice their growth until someone else sees them for the first time in a long time and comments about it? Well, same thing is true with Zeus. We hadn't really noticed all the new freckles and spots he's been getting over the past year until recently someone else pointed it out to us how many little spots he has. He's looking more and more like a Dairy Cow as time goes on.  ~Moo~

Is It a Tail or a Whip?

It all depends on the moment, really... Zeus has a 26" tail. That's pretty darn long!! There are times when his tail is just a tail. It's got a cute curl to it about 8" from the tip. And when he's scared or nervous he tucks it between his legs so that the skinny part of it curls right next to his stomach. It's amazing how he has such precise control over such a long tail!
But there are times, and these are painful times, when that tail is swinging back and forth, to and fro and even up and down and IT HURTS!! It's hard to get out of the way when that thing is in motion. And it's even harder to try to push him away when it's in motion... What has shocked me from the get go is how he swings his tail into stuff... like the tv... and it hits so hard. Not only will it hit once, but it'll hit 2, 3, or more times. It sounds like it should hurt... but he just keeps swinging it! And he's whipping it really hard and fast...I know he can't hear the sound it makes, but I would think severe pain would sting through his body and he would stop the madness!! When he gets his tail swinging, all hell breaks lose. He only does it when he's playing or chasing his tail (go figure). And when either of these 2 things are happening anything can go wrong. I've been whipped in the butt, the thigh, the crotch and the eye, believe it or not! I can't even remember all the things he's knocked over or knocked off tables... He should come with a warning:

WARNING!

This dog may be hazardous to your health

It may bite you, step on your toes and whip you

It may knock you over if you have unstable balance

It may piss and shit on your floors

The Attorney General suggests you may want to wear

protective gear while around the animal

Including Gloves, Safety Glasses, Steel Toe boots and a Jock Strap

Strange Positions

What IS that?? Well, that's the view I get when I lay on the floor and do sit-ups. Those are Zeus' lips dangling over me and upside down. I can't seem to do any exercises on the floor without him hovering over me, literally. Unless he's sleeping. I try to time my workouts so that he IS sleeping for just this reason. My daughter and I were both laying on the floor doing sit-ups and we BOTH got out our cameras and took photos. It was fun... We had a work out and a lot of laughs!  :)

Zeus' Paw-decure

It's been difficult keeping Zeus' nails clipped. He does NOT like us clipping them so we've taken him in to have them done at a couple of local grooming shops. It's not pretty! We have a hard time getting him into the shops cause he knows exactly why he's there. So it's a matter of dragging him in through the door and trying to control him enough to turn him over to the groomers... Dragging a 140 lb. dog... Yeah, right!! It's more like a game of Tug-of-War in my opinion!

The last time we took him into the vet we asked them to clip his nails while he was there and they did a FANTASTIC job. So naturally, that's where I took him yesterday when he needed them clipped again. As soon as we got to the vet's office, Zeus started to freak out in the car. I pulled into a parking space and a man randomly walks over to my car, peaks into the window and takes a look at Zeus who is standing up in the back seat of my Dodge Intrepid. The guy says "Wow, you don't have any back seat LEFT with him in it!" I replied "Yeah, I need a new vehicle that'll fit my Great Dane." He laughed and I thought I'm not kidding... So I'm able to get Zeus out of my car and into the vet's office and we spent about 15 minutes waiting for his name to be called. All the while I get to listen to all the comments the other pet owners throw at me in reference to my dog: "Wow, he's huge" ... "I've never seen a dog that big" ... "How much does he eat?" ... "What do you give him for treats? Rabbits?" ... "How old is he?" ... "Is he full grown?" ... and so forth.

Once we finally get called in for his 'pedicure', I hand over his leash to the vet tech and off he goes. About 2 minutes later, the same vet tech comes back out and says "He's not happy and we can't work with him. Do you have signs you use to tell him to sit and stay?" And I said "Yes, would you like me to come back with you?" And she said "Yes"... So I followed her back to where they were trying to hold him still... and he was terrified. I could see it in his eyes... I told him in signs that he was 'ok' and told him to sit. He sat down, and the ladies (there were 4 of them) thought it was amazing... Zeus buried his face in my stomach and I rubbed and scratch behind his ears and under his chin. He was still afraid, but my presence made it much easier for him. It ended up taking 4 women to hold him steady and one clipped his nails. What took about 10 minutes total felt like half an hour! By the time it was over, we were all covered with his white fur  :)

Owning a Great Dane requires speed, agility and balance...

They certainly don't mention this in the Great Dane Ownership Manual - but it is very true!! I can't tell you how many times my years of yoga have saved me from disaster where Zeus is concerned. Dogs are quick and they can be sneaky... I can see it in Zeus' eyes when he's scoping something out, thinking about eating an abandoned morsel of food on the counter. He'll look at the food, he'll look at me, he'll look back at the food... waiting for me to turn my back. Remember - he's 38" tall at the chin and my counter tops are only 36 " tall... so he can see everything on the counter and he's certainly able to reach it, too!!
The problem isn't just that his head is above the tops of the counter tops, but also since he can't hear me, I can't just say "Zeus... I SEE you. No, no... no!!" and have him look at me and then walk away. So this is what happens: he looks at the food, looks at me, looks at the food and if I'm not able to walk over to him quick enough to touch him and distract him, he'll snatch the food. However, I can't even remember how many times I've been able to intercept his attempt while I'm washing dishes, my hands or preparing food at the sink. I glance back at him, see that he's eyeballing something and with a quick raise of my leg and a swift tap or push with my foot, I'm able to save the morsel. It's kind of like a TaeKwondo move. There have been times when I'm eating lunch or something quick in between clients and I'm also switching over loads of laundry while Zeus is asleep in the living room. I assume that he's going to stay asleep, I put my lunch on the counter and run down into the basement... and next thing I notice are his big feet shuffling around upstairs -thank goodness for hard floors. I quickly drop what I'm doing, run up the basement stairs (usually skipping every other step) and pounce into the kitchen just in time to grab my lunch before he does!
On several other occasions, my agility has come into play while defending my cats. I have one cat who's kinda slow, mentally, and another who is paranoid and skittish. The slow one, Mittzy, lays down anywhere and everywhere and big 'ole Zeus comes trotting through like a bull in a china shop paying no attention to who or what is in his path. He's stepped on Mittzy I don't know HOW many times! And the skittish cat? That's Smokey... he's so nervous around Zeus that sometimes watching him try to escape Zeus' giant legs and paws I feel like I'm watching a squirrel that sees the car coming but keeps going back and forth not really sure which is the safest direction to run to... My job as the 'Keeper of all Peace' is to save the felines from pain and mental torture. So what do I do? I pick whichever one is about to be obliterated, hold it in my arms like a football and throw a stiff arm at Zeus to keep him at a distance. See, when he was a puppy he would torture the cats, chasing them around the house everywhere. We would pick up whichever one was being tortured and run with it in our arms and take it to a safe spot - which was usually just the other side of the gate we used to keep Zeus from going upstairs. This daily ritual became a game to Zeus and he would try to nip at the cats while they were in our arms during their rescue. Still to this day, there are some times he wants to play a quick game of Cat & Mouse and when he sees me pick up the cat he'll come at it in my arms. I've been known to react with a quick karate kick at him to fend him off. One time my motion was so quick I even hurt my hip! OWWEEE!!