Since I posted about the Pillowhound, I thought it only fair to post about Big Dog. Big Dog is, like his brother, a golden retriever. The difference is that he has a different mother, and he was the largest puppy of both litters.
Fig. 1: King-size puppy.
Big Dog is huge. I don't mean fat, he is not over fed and gets lots of exercise. He is just BIG. The average golden is supposed to weigh about 80 pounds. Big Dog is well over 100 pounds. Add that to the lap-dog mentality, and you have the makings of some quite painful and amusing events.
Fig. 2: Big Dog, older.
His name isn't really Big Dog. He is my mother's dog and she is a huge fan of Harry Potter. To wit, his name is "Gryffindor Seeker", or Gryffin for short. So much does she love this dog, that dad bought her a vinyl window cover for the back window glass of her car with a golden on it, and she has personalized plates... "MYGRYFN". (Though the picture looks more like Data.)
Fig. 3: Goofy Portrait of a Big Dog.
The most remarkable thing about him is his coat. It almost like he has no overcoat, or the hard fur layer that most large breeds have. His fur is extremely soft, his coat smooth. Every square inch of him is covered in this wonderful softness; he is a joy to pet or cuddle with.
The fur, however, is a curse. There is a lot of it, and he and Data leave it all around the house. Mother has to vacuum daily. We wore out one vacuum with dog hair. Mother and father invested in a Dyson vacuum, which are so great I got one, that picks up even more fur. But, vacuuming is still a daily chore. It doesn't help matters that the house has no central air and it is sealed tighter than even recommended in this day and age, so there is little air flow to help control some of this stuff. Hair sticks to everything. I regularly have to disassemble their big screen TV to clean the mirror, projector lenses, screen and circuit boards because of the dog hair.
One of the cutest things about him is his whiskers. The left side of his face the whiskers are white. On the right side, towards the front of his snout, many of the whiskers are jet black. He also has a black birthmark on his tongue just like his father. I refer to him as defective, but I really think that these things are adorable.
He is also quite lazy. While Data is a very active dog, and little Murphy runs the whole show, Gryffin would rather lay back and do nothing. Well, not nothing...he'd like to get petted and loved on. If we are in the kitchen, he will lay quietly at mother's feet under the table. He is big enough that if we don't wear shoes to the table, he can keep all of our feet warm. When it is quiet time and they are all laying around the house, they will not move when you walk by. We have to step around or over them. We've gotten used to that. Gryffin, though, is the king of laziness. I tell mother to poke him every once and a while to make sure he is still alive.
He's quite smart, too. He knows how to shake hands, and will desire to do so without even being asked. He will present his paw, like the Queen of England, to anyone that stops to pay attention to him. When he doesn't want to do something, like go outside to potty, he won't. If you try to make him, he will sigh, turn over and give you his paw as if to say "piss off!"
He is definitely my mother's dog!
Fig. 1: King-size puppy.Big Dog is huge. I don't mean fat, he is not over fed and gets lots of exercise. He is just BIG. The average golden is supposed to weigh about 80 pounds. Big Dog is well over 100 pounds. Add that to the lap-dog mentality, and you have the makings of some quite painful and amusing events.
Fig. 2: Big Dog, older.His name isn't really Big Dog. He is my mother's dog and she is a huge fan of Harry Potter. To wit, his name is "Gryffindor Seeker", or Gryffin for short. So much does she love this dog, that dad bought her a vinyl window cover for the back window glass of her car with a golden on it, and she has personalized plates... "MYGRYFN". (Though the picture looks more like Data.)
Fig. 3: Goofy Portrait of a Big Dog.The most remarkable thing about him is his coat. It almost like he has no overcoat, or the hard fur layer that most large breeds have. His fur is extremely soft, his coat smooth. Every square inch of him is covered in this wonderful softness; he is a joy to pet or cuddle with.
The fur, however, is a curse. There is a lot of it, and he and Data leave it all around the house. Mother has to vacuum daily. We wore out one vacuum with dog hair. Mother and father invested in a Dyson vacuum, which are so great I got one, that picks up even more fur. But, vacuuming is still a daily chore. It doesn't help matters that the house has no central air and it is sealed tighter than even recommended in this day and age, so there is little air flow to help control some of this stuff. Hair sticks to everything. I regularly have to disassemble their big screen TV to clean the mirror, projector lenses, screen and circuit boards because of the dog hair.
One of the cutest things about him is his whiskers. The left side of his face the whiskers are white. On the right side, towards the front of his snout, many of the whiskers are jet black. He also has a black birthmark on his tongue just like his father. I refer to him as defective, but I really think that these things are adorable.
He is also quite lazy. While Data is a very active dog, and little Murphy runs the whole show, Gryffin would rather lay back and do nothing. Well, not nothing...he'd like to get petted and loved on. If we are in the kitchen, he will lay quietly at mother's feet under the table. He is big enough that if we don't wear shoes to the table, he can keep all of our feet warm. When it is quiet time and they are all laying around the house, they will not move when you walk by. We have to step around or over them. We've gotten used to that. Gryffin, though, is the king of laziness. I tell mother to poke him every once and a while to make sure he is still alive.
He's quite smart, too. He knows how to shake hands, and will desire to do so without even being asked. He will present his paw, like the Queen of England, to anyone that stops to pay attention to him. When he doesn't want to do something, like go outside to potty, he won't. If you try to make him, he will sigh, turn over and give you his paw as if to say "piss off!"
He is definitely my mother's dog!
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