It's hot down here all ready

I have no idea what the temps are today, but I'm sure it close to 90 degrees. Gunther and I went out to walk the yard and check on some of the new things I planted in the garden yesterday. The nice thing is that the sun was in a good place to get a few new pictures of Gunther. (I can't get enough ;-) )


May 20th, Gun and I started his training for Rally. It's going to be so much fun. He started wagging that tail and getting all excited when we pulled into Doggie Daycare. He knew what was a head for him. He loves it.

There are 4 of us, 3 newbies and 1 lady who is all ready beginning to compete with her collie. I think its going to be something that Gun and I will be able to do for a long time.


June 1st, Gun will be 10 months. It's hard to believe that time is flying the way it is with him. He has brought so much happiness into our home, and been the life of the party. There is never a dull moment with Gun around. 

It's been awhile

My apologies for taking so long to update Gunther's blog. Life for some reason always gets in the way of good intentions. (grin)

When I first got Gunther I thought it would be fun to document his growth against one of the biggest things in my house. My 62" large screen tv. So every Monday or every other Monday I took a picture of him in front of it. The past couple of months I haven't been able to, but this week I did. So this is the latest picture of Gun's growth. (I think I may soon be looking for something bigger to compare him to)

The picture below was taken New Year's Day. You can see how much he's grown since then. WOW


And this was the picture that started it all. He had been with me 5 days here.



Last Wednesday I attended my first meeting with the Great Dane Club of the Mid South. It was great. I had such a wonderful time and met some terrific people. I'm looking forward to the next meeting all ready. At the meeting I finally got to meet Connie Adams. We had been emailing back and forth for a little while and so getting to sit and talk face to face was a lot of fun. By the way, her office at Georgia Tech is beautiful.

Also last Wednesday Gunthers certificate for his Canine Good Citizen came in the mail. We now have 4 certificates for him, 3 from obedience classes and then the CGC. Now we are going to start Rally training.

Speaking of Rally training. We have actually been working on many of the different commands, so I am hoping that he will do well with it. Right now the only problem he has is when he sits front he doesn't get close enough to me. His official training starts this Saturday.

Here is an interesting timing for you. Gunther has two sisters that are in the area that are taken to work with their owner everyday. He is an attorney in the area. Last night one of my new knitting students works there in the office with "those large puppies." I've wanted to go see them for some time and compare then to how Gunther's has grown and she said I could come by any time. That's pretty cool.

He's a big boy

I only have a few minutes but I wanted to really quick post Gunther's new weight. At 9 months he is 115 pounds and is 32" at the shoulders.

Pictures coming soon!

He's all smiles

Gunther is all smiles because, HE DID IT. Last night he passed all 10 requirements for his AKC Canine Good Citizen certification. Gun of course did fine, I was the nervous one.

I'm going to miss our Thursday night classes. They were always a lot of fun and Greg is an excellent trainer. Two other ladies in the class and myself had also been in the Basic Obedience class so we formed wonderful friendships. Hopefully we are all going to be joining the Rally class, so we can "hang out" again.

Ok, enough of me. Gunther news. Along with his certification, the Gun-man had come up with a few more little cute things. I believe that I've all ready mentioned getting the ice cubes from the freezer door, and the sticking his head in the sick when the faucet is on to get water, if not, consider yourself up to date on Gun. LOL. Now for the new stuff. In his crate he has a blanket, and on his chair he has a blanket. Lately he will get one of them, sometimes both and lay it out on the floor, to lay down on. What's funny about it, is he doesn't just drop it, he lays it down and then kind of spreads it out, then lays on it. Then when I tell him to go lay down, he goes to that blanket and lays right down. So no matter where we are in the house, if I give him that command he goes off to his blanket. The other new funny he is doing, is the blanket that is on his chair is small, so I've caught him walking through the house carrying the small blanket with him. Sometimes he will sling it over his back and walk around the house "covered." I'll try to get pictures of this. LOL.

Monday is his day to get weighed so I'll post that as soon as I get the info.

Have a great weekend!

Ok, so I gave in.

Well I couldn't resist. I did good to hold off as long as I did. ROTFL. We don't know if we should call him the "Easter Gunny" or "Gunny Bunny". LOL. 

New Friends

Gunther and I have some new friends. ;-) Connie A. is the new President of Georgia Great Dane Club of the Mid-South. She has some beautiful Danes. Rosie is 11 years old, then there are the sisters, Sierra and Gracie, and the princess, Abbi, (who will be breeding this summer, I will definitely be watching this litter. She's a fantastic Mantle), and last but by no means least, Wilson. One look at Wilson and you are hooked on Danes. He looks like he is the type of guy that will always bring a smile to your face.

I am so looking forward to meeting everyone at the next Mid-South meeting and learning everything I can for Gunther. The timing is so perfect because I'm signing him up for Rally classes and their next topic with speaker is on Rally. I just can't wait.

Unfortunately I couldn't go to the big show in Perry, GA. over the weekend. I was so bummed about it. I kept looking at my watch and was telling people around me, "well the Danes are showing now." etc. I know people around me had to be avoiding me at times. LOL. There was a seminar on breeding that had so much information I wanted to hear and of course I have a ton of questions.

Gunther did have a wonderful Easter. I refrained from putting bunny ears on him and taking tons of pictures. He did get a few new toys from the Easter Bunny and had a great time with ripping out the squeaky parts. He's pretty good about bringing me the insides and then taking off with the actual toy part. It's almost like he knows he can't have them.

Hope your Easter was fun too.

Some times no news is...

Gunther has been wonderful over the past couple of weeks since my last post. I on the other hand have been so busy that it took a migraine this week to slow me down and boy did it. It hit Tuesday morning, I woke up with it and today I still have a little pain. But everyday has gotten better. On my worse days Gunther stayed right by me and at a few points where he needed to be out of the room, he stayed at the door. This was my first really bad headache since I got him.

Last night we got back to his obedience class. The week before my son turned 17 so of course we had to party and celebrate. Gun did pretty good. I think he liked being back there. We have two more classes and then Gun will test for his Good Citizen Certification. That will be cool. I hate that we won't be working with Greg after that. He is a wonderful instructor and reads Gunther really well. Of course we all know, Gunther has his act together, it's me that needs the training. LOL. I was thinking on the way home from class last night that it's been 10 years since I worked with any dog in training, whether it was basics or schultzhund. I'm rusty.

I'm a little bummed because it looks like I won't be able to go to the HUGE dog show in Perry, GA. This weekend. There is just way too much going on here. It will be ok, I'll get over it. Everything happens for a reason.

This morning I found this link to Pet First Aid. I hope you never need it but if you do it's a wonderful resource of information.

Take Care,

8 Months Today

Gunther is 8 months today. I think he's beautiful. (of course)


This morning (in the rain) I traveled a little south of where I live to see a dog show. Actually I went just to see the Great Danes show. It was pretty interesting. I seen some young Danes show for the first time. That was funny because one of them didn't behave too well. LOL. None of the dogs had natural ears, which is accepted in the AKC. There was one female Harl, one Black, 2 Brindle (they should have placed better but the handler wasn't too good), 2 Blue and about 5 Fawns. Of course they were in different groups and ages, etc. But I learned a lot. It was an opportunity to talk with different Dane owners and find out whether the Gun-man would be able to hold his own. I'm going back tomorrow with Gunther, I confirmed a couple of appointments with long time breeders/handlers to look at my boy.

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. ;-)

What a Joy

Last night after his obedience class Gunther curled up in the back of my PT Cruiser and slept all the way home. (about 20 minutes) Actually he "crashed." The minute I closed the door he laid down. It was so cute. I'm always amazed at how compact he can get. LOL. But, I realized how close Gunther and I are getting, especially since we are going through his training. Ever since the day I brought him home, Gunther has been with me, except on the trips to TN. We have been close from day one. I've worked a lot with him before he started Basics, but taking this class is bringing us on the same page even more. And that's good for me in many ways, but especially since I miss so much the relationship I had with my German Shepherd. I could just look at him and he knew what to do.

We have worked on the basic commands, and he is doing pretty good. Last night when we worked on the Come command, he did come, but instead of the sit at my feet facing me he jumped up and put his paws on my shoulders the first time. Ok, it was cute to me, not quiet what I was looking for. Did I reward him for doing it with a kiss on his nose and rubbing his neck a little. Oh hell yes. I'm not perfect. LOL. But, after a while he did start to get the idea. Greg, the instructor, took the Gun-Man and showed me what I was doing wrong with the lead, and Gunther again did not sit in front of him, this time, he went to a sit at Greg's left side, like he is suppose to do when he Heel's . Gun and I have been doing that Sit Command since September that's all he knows, learning a new Sit will be fun. It's always been a fascinating thing for me to see an animal, in this case a dog, think and remember what it's suppose to be doing. Gunther tries really hard for me when we work and when he gets it he is so proud.

Dogs are amazing animals. ( I have cats too, and they have their amazing times, LOL) What a dog can bring into your life is such a gift. Not only is there the unconditional love and trust, but they help you realize things about yourself. I know that not everyone understands that, but I wish they could. They are missing out on such a joy.

Just for fun

For those of you who know me, you know that I'm an avid hand knitter. I even teach knitting at a local yarn shop and teach privately. Well I recently completed a fairly technical pattern on a scarf for my son, GT. Also if you know me, you know that GT HATES having his picture took. I mean would rather do just about anything than have his picture took, so to avoid a disturbance in the family I used this photo to display the finished scarf. LOL.

Gunther was more than happy to get out in the backyard and do a little modeling for me. LOL.