Gus

Ok so I am two weeks into Great Dane ownership and much like any new parent, I am now sure I know everything. All that really means is that I knew jack shit before I started down this path (note to pregnant friends- be humble now lest your child make you eat your words!).

Anyway, things I never knew about Great Danes:

1) Did you know jowels are actually food storage devices? They can hold lunch until you are near a clean person or piece of furniture.

2) Great Danes cannot do two things at once. Walking and listening ends in walking into walls. Walking and eating ends up in choking dog. Seriously, they are smart but they are NOT multi-taskers.

3) Great Danes are seriously freaking big. Most of you will say that I ought have known that, and in truth I did. However, one cannot really appreciate how freaking big they are until you take them to puppy training class and they are literally 4-5 times bigger than every other puppy even close to their age.

4) Danes actually do grow right before your eyes. In the first four days we owned Gus he gained 5 lbs. Impressive, yes. Frightening, indeed.

5) Seriously, they are so cute it could kill you or at least cause you to loose serious amounts of productive time. Gus is so sweet and just a total love. I could smushy him for hours.

6) You tend to feel like a bad ass walking a dog that is going to outweigh most people. Seriously, who's going to mess with 160 lbs of mama's boy? ;)

7) Having a puppy and little kids is definitely not for the faint of heart but is sooooo worth it! There is definitely a lot of training going on. Training Gus how to play boy games. Training the boys why not to play puppy games (hint- you will lose with a great dane every time). It's a ton of work but watching Jake tear around the yard with Gus, or Atticus and Gus laying on top of each other which they somehow manage to enjoy at the same time.

All in all, I love having another big blob of boyness around.... not that there was a shortage here. :)