Last week Stacey became aware of a dog available for adoption, a giant schnauzer. She's been wanting a big dog for a long time, so I drove to Hannibal after work one day to check him out. A family with small children, a small house and no yard couldn't really handle him. I was immediately struck by the size and beauty of glossy, black Goliath. We talked with the people a bit and I took the dog for a short walk down the street. He seemed really mellow. So we decided to try him out for the long President's Day weekend.
Savannah was opposed to getting another dog, but after a weekend home, she fell in love with him too. Seriously, how can you not love this dog?
His size is so intimidating that we were a bit afraid to trust him at first. He is 30 inches at the shoulder and 96 pounds. That's in the range of a great Dane. Our fears were unfounded, however. He has no aggression at all. He is super affectionate and wants nothing more than to cuddle. He is not food aggressive either. He doesn't do a proper heel, but he doesn't pull on a lead. He doesn't know "sit," but he knows "walk" and "car ride." He comes when you call him, and, incredibly, takes hand signals. His only trick is to stand up and put his forepaws on your shoulders at a certain sign.
He doesn't give "dog kisses", but he gives full-body hugs. He really wants to be a lap dog.
Of course, the real test as to whether we would keep him was how he would get along with Gretchen. She was really not amused by the introduction of this gigantic beast into her household. She was very afraid of him at first, and wouldn't go near. She didn't play ball or any of her other games for a couple of days. Acceptance came slowly. One day I was walking them in the back yard and she got frisky. She ran up and jumped at him playfully. He was ready to play, and they went at it for awhile. He likes to use his forelegs to bat her around, and when he does, she flies two or three feet. She loves it. She's always liked to play rough. This playtime was a big breakthrough, but his acceptance into the pack was finalized when she started snapping at him. She's not afraid of him anymore. She's dominating him. Fortunately, he doesn't appear to care.
We changed his name, as neither of us liked Goliath. We fumbled about with some different ideas until I came up with Big Guy. It sounds similar enough that he already comes to it. Every now and then he gets playful and likes to wrestle or play tug of war. We can't let him play with plush toys though, as he holds them down and shreds them with his teeth. One day I was playing with him and he went to regrip the toy and closed a canine tooth on the middle of my thumbnail. Ow. That hurt for a day. He also batted me in the head with a paw, and it was like being back in karate class.
We let him lie on the couch as long as he's clean.
We took him to the vet for a standard check-up. He's a rather rare breed, and they were all fawning over him and taking pictures. All was good except that his ears needed cleaning. Unfortunately, we had to take him back two days later after he licked his foot to the point of bleeding. He's on three kinds of pills, a foot disinfecting regimen, and wearing a sock everywhere. He tolerates that well, like seemingly everything. We want to get back to regular walking to get him fit.
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