Savvy gets a drink of water with a little help from Randy's 3 1/2 year old granddaughter, Eva, at a softball game.
Despite my initial anxiety over my big dog being around children, (he wasn't really socialized with many kids from a young age) Sav has surprised me considerably by being a perfect gentleman around Eva. I still get nervous when he's zooming around acting crazy, but Eva has learned to give him commands and he seems to understand that she is more vulnerable than the rest of the us. He will even walk gently on a lease for her (being constantly supervised, however), which he refuses to do for me! Instead of just tolerating her, he seems to be actually forming a bond with her as she grows older and is able to better communicate with him.

My Canis Major (big dog) is spending his days while we're at work stretched on the couch in front of the fan. Like all of us, he slows down in the warmest weather, though we still go for our runs in the evening hours.
I'm careful, as always, to limit his intake of water after exercise to hopefully decrease the possibility of bloat (gastric torsion or gastric dilatation-volvulus) which is a life-threatening medical condition that may affect deep-chested breeds including Great Danes, who are at greatest risk. This is one of the unfortunate truths about our awesome breed. I allow Sav only a few gulps of water right after a run, and then refill his water bowl after his panting has slowed down a little, intending to spread the intake of water over a longer period. I have also heard that room temperature water is better than cold in regards to avoiding bloat, so the only really cold water Savvy gets is straight from the lake, in which case it's a little harder to control how much he drinks. He literally submerges half his head and gulps water as quickly as possible when he's extremely hot.
In other (great) news, Savage's allergies have now pretty much disappeared, at least partly due to the tablespoon of emulsified fish oil he gets at each of his two meals a day. I've been searching for a safe treatment to what I have assumed are grass allergies and sensitivity to black fly and no-see-um bites for a couple years. The problem is that once these allergies start bothering him, or insects bite him, my poor boy attempts to soothe himself by licking the affected area, which only serves to irritate it more. This causes his belly and the inside of him legs to erupt in angry red welts, and no amount of aloe I've rubbed on them will eliminate them completely. He was briefly on a steroid medication that solved the problem, but added some scary side effects. Following the prescribing vet's advice I started him on liquid fish oil and haven't looked back.
As long as he's doing well I'm content. You can see the lighter-colored marks on Puppy's belly where his bug bites had caused little scars when they healed, resulting in a change in the pigment of the fur that grew back. I sincerely wish I would have tried supplementing his diet with fish oil when I first noticed the allergies; I think it would have saved him a lot of irritation. Incidentally, fish oil has been recommended by vets for a wide range of conditions, including heart and joint health, because of the omega-3 fatty acids in it. I attribute fish oil to helping my dog, but if you are considering this treatment, please talk to your vet about dosage amounts, and keep in mind that most fish oil contains at least a measurable amount of toxic contaminants, including mercury and dioxins. You can buy so-called "ultra-refined", "cold-pressed", and "purified" fish oil. My budget allows for an emulsified (water soluble) product that is "screened to avoid toxic chemicals and metals". You may want to weigh these considerations before supplementing with fish oil, but it has worked for Savage so far, and I'm thrilled about it.

Having just drank a big dish of water on a hot day, Savvy is having some trouble getting his big, slobbery lips back in position, and is looking a little rumpled.
Incidentally, if you look closely at his bottom lip you can see a light pink spot of scar tissue - a souvenir from his run-in with a trap back in 2006.

This is how Savage reacts to the beeping noises from the depth finder in the fishing boat....

Last weekend I took Savage camping with some friends. Of course he loves being outdoors, and spent a lot of time laying in the grass in the sun. He circled the campfire at our tent site, begging for fried fish. He rested on his dog bed in the front of the boat while I fished, and barked at loons calling out on the lake late into the night.
It was very warm during the day, and I forced Savvy to swim in the lake by leaving him ashore and calling him from the boat. He obviously doesn't like this arrangement at all, but he cools off and stops panting so much. The nights were cold, this still being quite early in the season, and temperatures neared freezing. Savvy slept next to me on his dog bed, and I draped my jacket over him to hold in some heat. Hauling the dog bed, plus his raw food in a cooler, and dealing with the big puppy climbing all over the boat, is a little bit more stressful than going camping with humans only. However, it's all worth it when I see him licking marshmallow toasting sticks at the campsite, curled up in the boat sleeping with his head on a paddle, or just relaxing by the lake in the morning sun.

Savage lost a good friend last week. My parents' springer spaniel/husky mix, Brisco, passed away after a long and happy life with them. Brisco, or "Biscuit", was a quiet, good-natured boy whom my mom called "a perfect gentleman". In his younger days he loved nothing better than leaping off their dock and paddling around in the lake, biting at the waves. He followed my parents when they went trapping, cutting firewood, and visiting other homeowners on the lake. Brisco was a favorite of the neighbor's children, who he grudgingly allowed to dress him up in shirts and a sun bonnet.
In the summer Brisco rode in the bow of the boat, his velvety black ears flapping in the wind, and in the winter he sat contentedly in the box my dad built for him on the back of his snowmobile. As he grew older, they towed a plastic sled behind the snowmobile so he could comfortably go out ice-fishing with us.
Biscuit was more than a pet; he was a constant companion to my mom and dad, and friend to all. He was laid to rest in the forest on the island near our family's other beloved pets that have made their last journey.
Run free and in peace, little "cow-colored" dog. We will always remember your life with us as a beautiful gift.

This was once a pillow...

Spring has sprung! It's been a mild winter and an early spring in Northeastern Minnesota. The snow has all but completely disappeared, and the ice on the area lakes is getting thinner every day. Still, we are finding opportunities to go ice-fishing, and Savage finds it fun to run alongside the snowmobile, though the fishing itself doesn't impress him much. He licks the freshly caught trout and eelpout, but will only eat them if they are filleted and preferably lightly steamed. He does enjoy being around my family, where I spend most of my ice-fishing time, and climbing on me and Randy if he thinks we're not paying enough attention to our Baby Dog.