We went to the Dantry farm this morning to see the Danes and let Echo meet and play with his 'family' again. We haven't been there since the fall, so Echo was about half the size of what he is now.... it Turns out that Echo is BIGGER than ALL of the other Danes! Not as thick as the males (yet), but definitely taller and visibly bigger. Crazy!! It's absolutely amazing how your perception changes to how big these dogs are. I remember our first visit to the farm and all of their dogs seemed so large. NOW, some of them even look SMALL to us. Well, they ARE compared to Echo, but they're not small dogs (obviously). Echo had a blast playing with his sister - who is also huge for a female. I think all of this brothers and sisters turned out big, so he's probably average for his litter, but larger than average in general - and we tried to pick one of the runts in the litter!
Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so we don't have pics with him compared to the others... :(
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Patio Furniture!
Finally, we have found a set of patio furniture that we both like a lot. It's Hauser brand and cast aluminum, so it's a really good quality. It might have been a little over our price range, but we did want something of good quality and these were on a pretty good sale, so we bought them!
Here's us, the first day home with them and Marn's parents enjoying ourselves on the deck and in the sun.
(sorry about the sizes of these pics - i didn't resize before uploading)
Yes, notice the unfinished fence and deck.... don't ask!
Here's us, the first day home with them and Marn's parents enjoying ourselves on the deck and in the sun.
(sorry about the sizes of these pics - i didn't resize before uploading)
Yes, notice the unfinished fence and deck.... don't ask!
Friday, April 20, 2007
May 9
Yes, if anyone has been paying attention, that's Echo's birthday. But it now also represents one other significant event in his life; Getting his boys removed! lol It was kind of fluke that we have his surgery scheduled on that particular day, but that was the day which worked out the best for us. We were looking for an earlier date, but they were booked up.
Less than 3 weeks, Echo, and that's it!
Happy Birthday!
He goes in the morning and gets his blood work and other testing done, then surgery that afternoon and stays the night. We will pick him up Thursday afternoon. Marn's taking Friday off (I'm not sure I am yet) and then we'll be home with him all weekend.
Less than 3 weeks, Echo, and that's it!
Happy Birthday!
He goes in the morning and gets his blood work and other testing done, then surgery that afternoon and stays the night. We will pick him up Thursday afternoon. Marn's taking Friday off (I'm not sure I am yet) and then we'll be home with him all weekend.
Obligatory Start of Summer
About a week and a half ago, we had some nice weather that prompted the feelings of the start of summer in what had been a dreary spring (and has continued to be until about yesterday!). So, feeling in the spirit, I got out the BBQ (ok, so wheeled it away from the house) to grill up a little steak and veggies for Marn and I. Get it all out and checked it over. Everything looked ok, so I turn it on and fire it up - it lights on the first attempt - Sweet! Turn up the knobs to full to let the winter crud burn off, and then prepare inside for our first grilling of the year... About 20 minutes later, the smoke has stopped or slowed and I decide it was time to put the meat on. After doing that I go back inside, and 5 minutes later come out to turn them over.... and wouldn't you know it, we ran out of propane! It must have run out as soon as I put the steak on because the meat was still cold and completely uncooked. hmmph.... we settled for fried steak and microwaved veggies that night.
nice start to summer.
nice start to summer.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Echo and Dinner Time
Echo's eating has gotten ridiculous. He won't touch it most of the time. We talked to the breeder and she rest assured us that it's normal with the breed and his sister had to be "retrained" to eat. For the last few days he won't touch it unless we put some liver treats mixed in, or like this morning, make a peanut butter "gravy" and mix it in the food. I don't think that's helping though... if the food DOESN'T have that extra goodness, he definitely doesn't touch it.
Anyway, one of the suggestions she had for us that she used for his sister was to feed him in his crate and don't let him out until he was done. OK, I though. Sounds reasonable. We put him in, and he just laid down beside the bowl and every once in a while whimpered at us. I put in some extra goodies to help him start and he'd pick through the food looking for them.... This went on for a while. 2.5 hours, to be exact! We finally let him out at 11pm as he finished almost all of it. Most of the time, he seemed to be content laying in there, rather than pining to be out with us? I happened to be on the phone with the breeder at the time as she had called for something else. So I let him out, and brought his bowl downstairs to it's normal spot. Well, didn't the little stinker finish the rest of his food!
I hope he returns to normal soon, as the slow-down at feeding time was nice, but this is crazy!
I did the peanut butter gravy mixture for him this morning, and he finished it all, no problem. I'm sure he's now expecting something "special" for every mealtime, though.
We also took him to our new backyard neighbour's place on Monday night for a visit. They have a 2 year old Labradoodle, Denby, that seemed to be pretty big from our back windows. She's not - Echo TOWERS over her! lol They said the same thing, Echo didn't look so BIG from back here!
We it turns out that this dog is NOT spayed... which is not good news for us and Echo. That was the reason for the breeder calling us because I had posted something about this to the website. Given some of his recent behaviour changes at the dog park and now with an intact female dog behind us, she thought it might be a good time to get him fixed, and to do it now before he becomes a problem. It's pretty close to the suggested time anyway (12-14 months), and she was pretty certain that it wouldn't affect his structure or "look" much as most of his growing is done now. When they met, I had him on leash, and he pulled so hard to get at her that he broke apart the snaps on his collar - 1 minute later he was trying to mount her... and had a pretty good grip! If that had happened on the streets, who knows what could have happened? They haven't spayed her because they had intended to have her as a breeding dog, but they've since changed their mind about it. They seem really nice, and it'll be fun (once Echo and her are fixed) for our dogs to play together.
Echo is 11 months old on Easter Monday and 150+ lbs!
Anyway, one of the suggestions she had for us that she used for his sister was to feed him in his crate and don't let him out until he was done. OK, I though. Sounds reasonable. We put him in, and he just laid down beside the bowl and every once in a while whimpered at us. I put in some extra goodies to help him start and he'd pick through the food looking for them.... This went on for a while. 2.5 hours, to be exact! We finally let him out at 11pm as he finished almost all of it. Most of the time, he seemed to be content laying in there, rather than pining to be out with us? I happened to be on the phone with the breeder at the time as she had called for something else. So I let him out, and brought his bowl downstairs to it's normal spot. Well, didn't the little stinker finish the rest of his food!
I hope he returns to normal soon, as the slow-down at feeding time was nice, but this is crazy!
I did the peanut butter gravy mixture for him this morning, and he finished it all, no problem. I'm sure he's now expecting something "special" for every mealtime, though.
We also took him to our new backyard neighbour's place on Monday night for a visit. They have a 2 year old Labradoodle, Denby, that seemed to be pretty big from our back windows. She's not - Echo TOWERS over her! lol They said the same thing, Echo didn't look so BIG from back here!
We it turns out that this dog is NOT spayed... which is not good news for us and Echo. That was the reason for the breeder calling us because I had posted something about this to the website. Given some of his recent behaviour changes at the dog park and now with an intact female dog behind us, she thought it might be a good time to get him fixed, and to do it now before he becomes a problem. It's pretty close to the suggested time anyway (12-14 months), and she was pretty certain that it wouldn't affect his structure or "look" much as most of his growing is done now. When they met, I had him on leash, and he pulled so hard to get at her that he broke apart the snaps on his collar - 1 minute later he was trying to mount her... and had a pretty good grip! If that had happened on the streets, who knows what could have happened? They haven't spayed her because they had intended to have her as a breeding dog, but they've since changed their mind about it. They seem really nice, and it'll be fun (once Echo and her are fixed) for our dogs to play together.
Echo is 11 months old on Easter Monday and 150+ lbs!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Echo is Huge
Alright, before I start, yes I know Great Danes are big dogs (even though we're used to his size and every other dog looks puny to us now). Echo is a week shy of 11 months old. I brought him into work with me on the weekend while I did a server and database migration. He's pretty good as he, for the most part, just lays there and falls asleep beside my desk.
I took the opportunity to put him on the skid scale here to see how much he weighs. The last weight we got was a while ago at the Vet's when he was there to get his eye checked out (it was red and pussy and looked infected, but cleared up in three days with some drops). He was 130 lbs then. We thought he was about 140, maybe 145? Well we were wrong. He's topping out at 150 lbs right now! But he still doesn't LOOK 150 lbs!!
Every once in a while we'll look at him and think... WOW, you're a big boy!! I was talking to the breeder about a week ago and told her that he was about 140 lbs, and thought that he seems to be done growing height-wise, but should fill out some more -- at least we hope! She corrected me saying that Danes can grow until 2 or 3 years old, and is definitely not done growing. He's about 36" now at the shoulder! There was a male Dane (Fawn) at the park the other week, who was almost exactly a year older than Echo and Echo looked bigger....
She said that that breeding produced some fantastic dogs, who are all pretty big compared to others. Echo has two siblings who are doing the show circuit, and they are both winning best of breed, and best puppy, often competing against each other in the finals, so that should tell you how nice and successful his family is. We still get a lot of comments on how gorgeous he is, even if he's at the park with foamy slobber all over his face.
As far as feeding goes, he's done a complete reversal. He now takes 10 minutes to eat, at least, instead of diving his face into the bowl spilling it out all over the place, choking it down, and finishing in 30 seconds flat. He's really a different dog in that department, and it's kind of nice, but hard to believe if you ever saw him feed as a puppy. The breeder said that it's typical at about 10 months for Danes to just "settle" when it comes to food. Some are picky eaters as puppies, then reverse as adults. Most others like Echo are the opposite.
I wish he'd learn to drink with less mess, though. It's quite disgusting as the whole kitchen floor is wet with drippings. He'll take a huge drink and proceed to walk all over the house with water dripping everywhere -- yuck!
I think we're going to clean and scotch guard the carpets this summer because of him...
I took the opportunity to put him on the skid scale here to see how much he weighs. The last weight we got was a while ago at the Vet's when he was there to get his eye checked out (it was red and pussy and looked infected, but cleared up in three days with some drops). He was 130 lbs then. We thought he was about 140, maybe 145? Well we were wrong. He's topping out at 150 lbs right now! But he still doesn't LOOK 150 lbs!!
Every once in a while we'll look at him and think... WOW, you're a big boy!! I was talking to the breeder about a week ago and told her that he was about 140 lbs, and thought that he seems to be done growing height-wise, but should fill out some more -- at least we hope! She corrected me saying that Danes can grow until 2 or 3 years old, and is definitely not done growing. He's about 36" now at the shoulder! There was a male Dane (Fawn) at the park the other week, who was almost exactly a year older than Echo and Echo looked bigger....
She said that that breeding produced some fantastic dogs, who are all pretty big compared to others. Echo has two siblings who are doing the show circuit, and they are both winning best of breed, and best puppy, often competing against each other in the finals, so that should tell you how nice and successful his family is. We still get a lot of comments on how gorgeous he is, even if he's at the park with foamy slobber all over his face.
As far as feeding goes, he's done a complete reversal. He now takes 10 minutes to eat, at least, instead of diving his face into the bowl spilling it out all over the place, choking it down, and finishing in 30 seconds flat. He's really a different dog in that department, and it's kind of nice, but hard to believe if you ever saw him feed as a puppy. The breeder said that it's typical at about 10 months for Danes to just "settle" when it comes to food. Some are picky eaters as puppies, then reverse as adults. Most others like Echo are the opposite.
I wish he'd learn to drink with less mess, though. It's quite disgusting as the whole kitchen floor is wet with drippings. He'll take a huge drink and proceed to walk all over the house with water dripping everywhere -- yuck!
I think we're going to clean and scotch guard the carpets this summer because of him...
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