Sunday, July 24, 2011

Fwd: [New post] Dang, this is one big dog!



Dang, this is one big dog!

dcgere | July 23, 2011 at 11:20 pm | Tags: World's Biggest Dog | Categories: Animals | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-8hz
George, the world's biggest dog. Photo courtesy of Martha Lochert Photography

The Daily Mail has published an excerpt from a book entitled, Giant George by Dave Nasser, published by Simon & Schuster, that describes the life of the Nasser family living with the world's largest dog, George.  George is a Great Dane that is nearly 4 feet high at the shoulder, 7 feet long and weighs nearly 18 stone (252 pounds)! Excerpts from the books below (you can read the full version [and see more pics] at the Daily Mail link).

George as a puppy. Photo courtesy of Simon and Schuster

The first time we saw George, our beloved Great Dane, he was no more than a tiny, cowering ball of fuzzy fur. As my wife Christie opened the door of the crate he'd travelled in, he teetered to a standing position and looked out at us, moving his head slowly from side to side, taking in the wonder of it all. Finally, as if weighing us up and deciding we were acceptable, he tentatively pushed his little nose forward and gave Christie her first lick. Though it didn't really register, George's paws were comically large even then. But all we saw was this cute puppy.

At five months he still acted like a puppy, chasing his tail and playing games of fetch and tug-of-war with his favourite bit of rope. But he was already the size of a fully-grown Labrador.

He was putting on more than a pound a day and he bounded around like Bambi, skittering on our wooden floors and hurling himself at everything he fancied, including us humans. His displays of affection could leave you pinned temporarily against a wall or a piece of furniture.

Soon we encountered another challenge as George reached doggie puberty. Once he had grabbed life by the lapels, now he was grabbing onto legs — table legs, chair legs, human legs, he wasn't picky — and doing what all male dogs do with the vigour of a canine giant. He calmed down in the furniture department after we had him neutered, but then he took up a new hobby, eating as if it were an Olympic sport. A sausage on the barbecue was like a siren to a passing sailor. You couldn't turn your back for a minute. And he was so tall that he actually had to bend down to pinch food off kitchen counters.

He could reach the high shelves as well, so we had to hide everything away in cupboards. Soon, he was getting through around 100 pounds of dry dog food every month.

George's paw is bigger than Greg's hand! Photos courtesy of Incredible Features

His personality grew more delightful the bigger he got. A male Great Dane typically weighs from nine to 11 stone, but by Christmas 2007 George weighed   15 stone — bigger than most men. At this point, he loved being chauffeured around in my golf cart and would sit in it, his haunches on the seat and front legs on the floor. By Christmas 2008, our canine colossus weighed 18 stone.

After a friend suggested Dave contact the Guinness Book of Records and George was certified. He was officially declared not just the world's tallest living dog (43 inches from paw to shoulder) but the tallest dog ever.

George has gone on to become a celebrity.  He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, has built a following around the world, with his own fan club, website and 70,000 fans on Facebook.

None of this, of course, means anything to George. He still spends his days doing what he has always liked best: eating, playing and sleeping.

Can you imagine how much it costs to feed this guy?  And I don't even want to think about cleaning up after taking him for a walk!

DCG

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