My furfamily, Sir

Sir, wow, what can I say about Sir. He was majestic. He was a light in our lives.

I went to PetsMart one weekend... for cat food... and walked in to see this wonderfully beautiful Fawn Great Dane up for adoption. I walked up to him and he leaned on me. That was it, I was already in love. I called Ian right then and there, "hon? can we have a dog? He's a big dog" "how big" asked Ian, "well, big... he's a Great Dane".

I learned later, that’s a common Great Dane trait, the leaning, but that was love at first sight, for me anyway.

He was 5, his family lost their home and couldn’t take him to the parents home, that was the story anyway. I wonder now, because he had old stress licking scars on his legs and the foster mom told me he was a house dog. When we got him home, I’m sure he hadn’t been a house dog. He was a VERY good boy. He slept in our bedroom that first night and in the morning he had to go potty, he got up and went to the slider, we weren’t fast enough though, he peed there on the carpet. Ugh. But that was the one and only time there was an accident like that. He’d wait for hours, he stayed in the house while we were at work all

day.

One day he spotted the clock up hanging high on the wall and heard it ticking I suppose, and he
went nuts,barking crazy. We took it off the wall and showed him, he eventually decided the clock could stay.

No, I’m sure he wasn’t a house dog.

He quickly became a happy house dog though. The first Christmas, we brought the tree in, and well, what dogs do with trees? He couldn’t figure out why on earth we’d bring a tree in the house, but… ok. So he peed on it. Again, a one time deal, never did he do it again. He was a smart boy.

I’d never seen a dog nest. Sir liked to nest. He’d fluff and root his bed to make it all cozy, but being so big and having such big claws, he’d nest his bed to shreds, regularly. We’d buy him big pillows and they’d last a while, but eventually they’d shred.

The first winter we had him, we took him to the snow. Ian says “all dogs love snow”, hmmmm.

So, we loaded the girls in the backseat of the Honda Accord, lay Sir on top of the girls and off we went.

We got to the snow, walked a way in and he took off. Now, he was still new to us, so I didn’t know where he’d go. I was so worried he'd run off and we'd never find him... I was yelling at people to grab his leash, no one would grab the leash of a fleeing 150 lb Great Dane. Go figure.

The snow was soft and puffy, so with each step I took I sunk to my knee, hindering my chase. When I finally got free of the snow I found him waiting at the Honda's back door. “take me home, take me home now” No snow for Sir.

We soon bought the minivan so Sir could have his own seat rather than having to ride on the lumpy girls. He loved that.

There was one incident that I happened to hit the brakes suddenly though, poor Sir. sigh... Ally had just said “don’t throw Sir off the... seat” and down he went, between the 2 seats and couldn’t

get back up easily.

He rode everywhere with us, he was happiest waiting in the van. Even when we’d go to my mother’s place or Ian’s folks house, he’d prefer to wait in the van. I guess he knew that was always going home.

He wasn’t supposed to lay on the sofa or the beds, but when we’d come home from work we’d hear the shift of the sofa or the squeak of Allyssa’s bed as he got down to pretend he’d been on his bed all day.

The first day we left him all day, I was first home and came in through the garage to the kitchen door and he greeted me by standing up on his hind legs and wrapping his front paws on my shoulders. He stood several inches taller than me and it scared me to bits. He was just really happy to see me. That too, was a one time thing.

I remember him up on his hind legs springing up and down so he could see over the privacy fence in the back yard. Funny funny sight.

Sir would regularly RUN around the back yard, several laps, and when he was done he’d run full speed in to the house through the slider. Well, one day the slider wasn’t opened and WHAM. Poor guy! He was very careful after than to check to see if the door was open.

Sir loved his stuffed rabbit. It was his friend. Once he got a little too rambunctious with it and tore its head off. Later that evening I was lying on the bed crocheting or reading… and he sadly, mournfully, brought me the stuffed rabbit body, sulked back out of the room, then again, mournfully brought me the head. I’m sure he wanted me to fix it. I did. He was a happy guy

again.

Much later, months probably, after many repairs, arms, feet, head again too I’m sure… it was unrepairable and the one and only time I ever saw Sir dig… he was in the garden digging a hole with the bits of his bunny next to the hole. I’m sure he was going to bury his passed friend.

Now, tell me animals don't have souls or are just "dumb animals". Sure they are.

Sir was the love of our lives. He went on a long camper trip with us and traveled very well. He was such a good boy.

Sir would go for a walk around the neighborhood with Ian every day, very early in the mornings. One day he was out front while Ian was washing a car and off he went, I think he was going to take his walk. He knew the route by heart after all.

Sir didn’t care for dirty, no mud,rain, weather, water… while he would drink from the pool… and did fall in once, he really didn’t like water.

Sir HATED bath time. I can't stress enough, he was a good boy and would very reluctantly let us take him in the shower for a warm bath once in a GREAT while.

When Sir fell in the pool, that’s when we learned that Great Danes don’t swim, they sink. He didn’t even try to swim. Luckily Ian happened to be out there when it happened and led him to the steps and got him out.

He was our giant ball of love.

We lost our dear Sir to Bloat when he was 12. He was quite old, by then his hind legs wouldn’t hold him up for long, he’d sag. 12 is quite old for a Great Dane.

Sir is the reason we adopted Pongo and Purdy. In his honor, we saved 2 more like him.