Gunther and Cast Iron Sergeant

Finally after several months. It's here. The photo of Gunther and his father. This is Cast Iron Sergeant. He is 5 years old. I think he is amazing and he is the reason why I wanted Gunther. I've known him for a few years now and if I could I'd sneak over to Jay's house and take this dog. He is wonderful. I hope that Gunther grows up to be like him. 

New picture

After I finished doing a little work in the garden this afternoon, GT and Gunther came out with me to play with Gun's tennis ball. When he got done he went over next to my magnolia tree and sat down. After missing so many great pictures of him because I didn't have my camera with me, I learned and this time was able to catch him being cute. 

What a relief

The past few weeks my nerves have been a little frayed. Between the dailey routine, schedules changing, a few work related problems, Gunther's foot and his reaction to the medicine, it's been intense. But, Thursday night was a relief. For me and I think for Gunther. He started his Intermediate Obedience. It felt so good working with him again in that environment. There were 3 other dogs this time (I'm sure more will be there next week) and we had a great time. Gunther did great, I on the other hand messed up, but I have a valid reason, ok, excuse. LOL.

We were working on Sit/Stay then walking about 35 feet away and giving the Come command. Gunther did great, but when I gave the Come command, my 105 pound puppy came running at me with the look in his eye that there was only one thing he wanted. TO JUMP UP ON ME. I turned to the side waiting for the train to collide with me. LOL. So the next time, I did better, not perfect yet, but better. We've been working on it and I'm getting more comfortable with it. The other dogs in the class did so good. It's always a thrill for me to watch dogs in obedience. I personally think that humans always underestimate the ability of dogs.

Gunther's foot is doing better. He still has a little limp only when he trots. Yesterday I noticed that even the limp was some better. The only other news about his foot is that I am taking him to a different vet for a second opinion. Will keep the blog posted.

Something caught his attention

In spite of a small limp and some swelling, Gunther had to get out and run around this morning. Since it had been awhile since I posted some pictures of him I thought I'd grab the camera. It was funny, once he seen me with the camera he stopped running and posed for me. What a ham. He had fun outside but didn't want to stay out as long as he usually does. He did get to bite a tennis ball in half and that I'm sure was a lot of fun for him. Since he took off running after he did it. But, now he's asleep on his couch, laying on his back with a 4 feet up. What a baby.

Toe Update

Everything is about the same. The swelling goes up and down depending on how active he is. Today we've worked really hard at keeping him relaxed and laying down. He has put more weight on the foot today so that is good news.

On another subject, I just found a wonderful site that shows the proper way to use and fit a pronged or pinch collar. There are large, clear pictures with concise directions. I hope you find it helpful. I will also add a link to it in the sidebar.

Injury Update of the Update

Earlier I had posted that Gunther was doing better, and at that time he was. But then this afternoon, his foot started swelling and the limping got worse and so off we went to the vet. She doesn't believe at that he has anything in there, like a splinter, etc, but she isn't sure if it's broke or fractured. So she didn't want to do xrays today, because she wants to give it another week. Sometimes when a toe is jammed really badly it can look like it's broke, so she gave me two prescriptions for him, and told me what to watch for and took my $100. and sent me home with my baby for a week.

The medicine she has him on is Metacam for the pain and Keflex which is an antibiotic.

By the way, he is just shy of 105 pounds now. ;-)

Gunther's first injury

I've heard story after story about Great Dane's and their injuries and have consider Gunther pretty fortunate but last night he got his first injury.

It was about 5:30pm and he had been running through the house with one of his toys, which he is totally normal for him, but he came down the stairs into the kitchen, turned and when he went back up the stairs, lost control of his legs. We heard him yell and then of course the limping started. It was his back, right leg. He immediately let me check him out, and there was no visual injury, (thank heavens). He also was able to bend it very well, then I checked his toes. I was really concerned that he had broken a toe. But that wasn't it, (another thank heavens) When I started looking between his toes and pads I found it, a cut and scrape between the large foot pad and one of the toes. It was bleeding, so we got it cleaned up, looked for anything in it like splinter and then applied an antibiotic cream. You should have seen his eyes through all this, he looked so confused and sad. He had no idea what was happening to him.

Gunther hasn't been a big fan of people playing with his back feet, so this gave us an opportunity to get him a little more use to it. It's been so sad seeing him limp around. The good news is that this morning he is still limping but he's putting some weight on it and has been able to go outside to potty and actually followed me up 13 steps to get the kids up this morning. So I think he will be ok, we are just going to watch for any swelling and infection.

Will keep the blog updated on his recovery.

Another Graduation

Thursday night Gunther graduated from Basic Obedience Class. This past 6 weeks have really been a lot of fun. Gun-man was a little tired last night because I had walked him a lot earlier in the day. He had a huge amount of energy and so we walked, and walked. About half way through class when we had the dogs in the Down Command and let other dogs walk between us. Gunther was just laying there like a blob pretty much given out. LOL. It was funny. But he did well and behaved well with the other dogs. There are still many things he has to learn. I mentioned he is great with other dogs, but he's still a little shy around people. That is a big thing I want to work on, also letting people approach him and touch him. He has to learn that if he's going to be shown.

My daughter, Sara, took some pictures during class, she forgot to put the red eye filter on, but that's ok I am in the process of fixing the eyes. It's pretty funny seeing all these dogs with glowing eyes. Anyway, I have a picture of Greg and Gunther. It turned out pretty good, I fixed Gunther's eyes so he doesn't look like an alien.

In a few weeks Gunther starts the Intermediate Obedience. Greg again will be his instructor. Greg has a wonderful way with the dogs. One of the things I have enjoyed about the class is watching how Greg works with the dogs and the owners. Sometimes there is a fine line in dealing with dog owners, and Greg handles the owners and their dogs very well. I've always felt that the title dog trainer was a little off, it should be "dog owner trainer" lol.

Have a great weekend and I hope you have many long walks with your dog(s).

He's waiting for his latte

It's not the picture I had hoped, but it seems that we are not going to be able to get a picture of Gunther and his dad for a week or so. But, it worked out, because we took him to Starbucks and sat out in the sun and visited with Jay's (the breeder) girlfriend. Gunther always recognizes her and loves her so much.

The other thing that was good about getting him to Starbucks today, was that he has started a bad habit that we are taking care of before it gets out of hand. Gunther has discovered that he has a voice. Wednesday he barked at everyone on the earth. Even though he means no harm, a 99 pound Great Dane barking is a little unsettling. I talked with his trainer and he gave me some wonderful suggestions. One of them was the squirt bottle. When he barks when he isn't suppose to, he gets a little squirt, then when he stops the barking he gets ton of praise. I am happy to announce that he did not bark at one person the whole time we were at Starbucks. So I am cautiously happy that we may be on the other side of this habit.

Several of you have personally emailed me asking me if I would agree to breeding Gunther when he was older, and if I was going to show Gunther. I am in the process of making those decisions. There is a possibility that I may show the Gun-man. The only thing that really stands in the way, is the white markings he has. From what I have been told though, he would really do well inspite of the white. So I'm talking with AKC judges and breeders getting their feedback and will be taking Gunther to be evaluated soon.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Sandra and Gunther the Great Dane 

7 Months

Today Gunther is 7 months. He weighs 99 pounds and 1 ounce. I promise photos are coming. We were suppose to meet up with his dad and get photos of them together, but it looks like that will be in the next day or so. I promise, as soon as the photos are taken I'll post them. ;-)