Dog Park and Drool

After getting Remus weighed at the vet yesterday (a solid 68.7lbs) I took him to the dog park, again hoping the weekday trip would be less crowded. This time there was never more than four dogs in the enclosure at a time, including Remus. The biggest was a beautiful white with black spots Great Dane. Dane's usually have pretty blocky heads, but this one was marvelously proportioned and only weighed 130lbs. We went to say hello, Remus surprised me by being far more eager to great other dogs, although still fairly timid. The Dane, as lovely as he was, had big ropy drool hanging from his floppy lips, I managed to avoid getting beslimed anymore than a tiny part of my t-shirt, but it firmly reminded me why I don't want a Dane, or Mastiff, or Saint Bernard. When a boxer came to the park a little later, she also has the drooly jowls-though being smaller it was far less copious-but after the Great Dane went over to greet her, she had Dane slobber all over her. Gross! I hurridly checked Remus and was happy to note he had managed to avoid being drool baptized, and petted the Dane with cautious respect for his flapping lips.

The Dane owner said she was considering rescuing a wolfhound. She had had several Danes and stated that Danes were originally the result of mixing Mastiff and Wolfhound. Makes sense, Danes got the height and longer bodies, slender legs and arched back from the wolfhound, and enherited the short hair, blocky heads, slightly more muscled frame and drooly lips from the Mastiff. I'll take a Wolfhound any day...

I will say the Dane didn't seem all that big to me, the other dogs just seemed small. I see no reason why a dog shouldn't be that size. I can't wait till Remus gets to be that large :)