That is a horse.
Nay
Verbatim what I said out loud
I said what you said verbatim out loud after I also spoke aloud the top comment, wild
Shame about the ears :(
Ear cropping is so pointless.
It’s evil, I love my rescued girl to death. But man I’d like to meet the assholes who cropped her ears in a dark alley.
The good thing is, she almost certainly doesn’t remember or care about it now. But why put her through that then?
They probably fucked up his tail, too D:
Wait, people really do that?
Yes, it’s pretty commonly done to some breeds of dogs with naturally floppy ears. They should look like the big guy’s ears in this picture:
You learn something everyday. My knee-jerk reaction : such a shame to mutilate pets so they look like what we want…
Your knee-jerk reaction is correct!
They do, it’s unfortunate. We had an English springer spaniel growing up, and went to get him as a puppy. They had already docked his tail and didn’t want to give him to us before doing his ears, and we were just like “oh no no, let us pay for that”, they agreed, and then we never spoke to them again and his ears remained lovely and floppy.
He did have to wag his entire butt though because of the tail, unfortunately.
My vet told me to consider it because my floppy eared hound dog gets chronic ear infections.
Can I get a medical exemption on the ear cropping anger please?
Oh my God my o Plott hound’s war was a yeast factory despite medicine.
You too? My plott has a full on biome in her ear
Unfortunately he’s playing with all of our pets on the rainbow bridge now, but my God I felt awful because it seemed like nothing would work to kill the infection (vet meds) and he just had itchy ears…
I can’t wait to adopt/rescue my next stubborn ass Plott
I had to resort to a noflap ear wrap…looks like she’s wearing a babushka. At least that keeps her from scratching it raw
Yes, if there’s a medical reason it’s okay. But in most cases it’s for aesthetic reasons, not medical.
Oath!!
That’s too big!!
A dog that can snatch food off the counter without jumping… I cannot fathom dog-proofing a house for that.
You simply don’t.
This is the dog’s house.
I mean I have a greyhound who can countersurf, you just put baby gates around the kitchen and food. Keeping stuff out of snoot height/range removes most issues.
Part of it is training them that it isn’t an appropriate thing to do. It usually helps that if they behave (and we’re eating something the pup can safely have) they get a bit of food as a treat.
Training is a must and especially with a dog that big you need to make sure they know what is expected and appropriate. Doing that sets them up for success and makes it much easier to care for them overall.
When my aunt had a puppy, she set up a barrier to prevent the dog from going upstairs. It was low enough for humans to step over, but the puppy couldn’t get over it. Amusingly, as the dog grew up, it never seemed to occur to it that it could now step over the barrier without much fuss.
We used to be able to put up a blanket “wall” across two chairs to stop the dogs from crossing. It took them a few years to realize they could simply walk through/under the blanket.
I just put the vacuum in the doorway.
Might as well be the gates to Mordor
I have a neighbor with a giant yellow beast who needs to attend your Ted Talk
I have an Akita that can do the same and is (mostly) very good about asking for permission / knowing he needs to be handed food.
I do feel like smaller dogs generally get minimal or zero training because people know they can just pick them up or otherwise stop them and it makes pet ownership worse for everyone involved.
You just teach your dog not to steal your food. Sounds hard but they do learn that food on counter bad, food in bowl good pretty quick.
You houseproof the dog at that point
I’ve lived with dogs this big. The trick is to train them when they’re too small to see over the tables. When it comes to prepping food, you get used to setting meat further back on the counter or putting them outside
Lol I’ve always had food aggressive dogs but my current GSD is a saint by comparison. She doesn’t really mess with our food and we have left food on our coffee table overnight more than once and she didn’t touch it. Counter food is more than safe despite the fact that it would take her almost no effort to grab it.
The one exception is carrots. If we’re chopping carrots and walk away they’re as good as gone 😭
Training, lots of training. It also applies to you as well!
I think our dog got past 2 years old before we had eaten more pork chops than he had stolen.
He’ll still swipe my daughter’s dinner, if it’s left unattended. At least he will no longer steal it while she’s sat in front of it.
This is an area where size may not matter. Our first dog was an 11 pound mini poodle. He was so tiny, but he got huge air. We also had no way to dog proof.
- My ex was fond of saying he got enough air to have time to slowly scan the counter.
- My story was that he could be sitting nicely, seemingly behaved, but if you glance away, he could be standing on the table from a sitting leap
That’s why you should leave dogs outside
A Great Dane was the only dog that ever gave me a fight or flight response. When I was about 13 years old I visited my aunt & uncle and they were dogsitting a massive Great Dane. When I opened their door he was staring at me at eye level and I thought I was about to die, full adrenaline dump, the whole works. Then he started slobbering all over me and we became friends.
Nice horse. I’m sorry it’s a what?
That Dane sure is Great
If he gets excited his tail would knock things off counters and tables.
I don’t like to say crass stuff like this, but in this case it’s worth sharing: I’ve been tail-thwacked in the testicles by my happy dog, who’s about this size.
That tail’s lethal. We’ve lost drinking glasses, food and all sorts of knick knacks to an excited tail swipe. You learn to put things high up.
put things high up
Weird flex to say you tuck
I had a Great Dane and boy was his tail dangerous! He was the best cuddler though.
Oof I’d hate to have to pick up those poops
Remember to lift with your legs.
Two bags per.
I hope that doggo is well trained, otherwise that jar of peanut butter is doomed.
Bet the house shakes when that one barks.
When got dogs years ago I never wanted anything I couldn’t pick up on my own in an emergency. That dog looks like a team lift situation.
Why pick him up? You could probably hop on and ride away in case of an emergency.
Big dog or small house?
Big dog or small horse?
Why is there a horse in the hospital?
We’re well past that!
“Welcome to my kitchen. Why are you here?”
Some office I had installed internet for had an Irish wolf hound in a room with a California King sized bed in it and the dog took up at least half the bed. Biggest fucking dog I’ve ever seen.
