30 Week Measurements

100.1 lbs, 31.25" tall

G'maws & G'paws house

As some of you might know, I'm on a vacation. Well, not really...but Mom went up to some place called San Hose-eh to visit her sister and my new human cousin. Sophie KitTON stayed at home with our favoritest pet sitter Elissa, and I got to go to G'maws and G'paws house for the week.

Mom's called a few times to see how I am doing, and I think I overheard G'maw and G'paw tellin her I'd been naughty. I might have to agree with them. Its hard here though...there are LOTS of fun things to get into! Can I help it if all the bark around the yard tastes so yummy? I'm not swallowin it, I swear! Just chewin on it a bit...it seems a bit oversized to me and I think it would look much better if it were in smaller pieces.

Oh, and that zipper pull on the dog bed? It was loose. I swear. I was just tryin to put in back on correctly when it fell off in my mouth. I swear.

And can I help it if I was standing here minding my own business when the couch snuck up behind me and knocked my back legs down? Sheesh, I get blamed for everything.

p.s. Mom said there will be no weekly measurements this week, cuz she is too busy playin with my new human cousin. Stay tuned for next weeks growth!

28 Week Measurements

28 weeks, 95.5 lbs, 31" tall

Happy Birthday Sophie KitTON!

Over the weekend it was Sophie KitTONs birthday! I woke up on Sunday morning and tried first thing to give her a birthday kiss, but she would have nothing to do with my big slobbery dog lips.

Mom said she is 17 years old! Wow, that's old! Mom got her when she was just a wee little kitTON. Her and her brothers were found abandoned near the train tracks when they were only about 2 weeks old. Mom took all 3 of them and bottle fed them until they were old enough to eat regular food. Mom kept Sophie, and the other two boys went to a friend's grandparents.

I think Sophie doesn't know she is a kitTON, I think she believes she's a great dane! Mom had her first Great Dane, Bristol, when she rescued the kitTONs and Bristol was such a good doggie she used to try to nurse them.

Bristol, 1991 - 2002

Sophie grew up crawling and jumping all over her and another big doggie named Judd...he was an Old English Sheepdog/Irish Wolfhound mix. Mom says he was one of the nicest doggies she's met, but boy was he dumb! heeheee!

Over her lifetime, Sophie has held an important job as a doggie trainer. She's had the opportunity to train a few more of Mom's past doggies. The 1st doggie she trained was Tyler, another Dane. He was a pup when Mom got him, so he needed lots of swatting. He finally got the hang of things though.

Tyler, 1995 - 2003

Then she trained Hannah, Mom's last dog before me. Hannah was a Ridgeback mix, and loved to try and play with Sophie.

Sophie would have none of that though, she's too 'mature' for playin. I should know. She's scratched my nose quite a few times, prolly cuz I have a thick head and keep forgetting the last lesson she taught me! She really likes quiet, mellow dogs. I'll have to work on that.

Sophie kitTON & Hannah (2003 - 2009)

I think she looks kinda silly in the picture with Hannah. Mom sometimes shaves her during the summer cuz she's got super long and fluffy hair. One summer, she even gave her a mohawk! Mom said it was so she could be tough, to beat the cancer.

I'll tell you more about that evil 'C' word in a bit.

I think I'm kinda growin on her though...as long as I remember where to put my big feet when I'm walking! I sometimes forget and step on her tail by accident. Boy does she get mad!

Mom says we are super lucky Sophie is still with us. Almost 3 years ago, she was diagnosed with Feline Lymphoma. Mom says she was super sick and we almost lost her. Mom took her to the Betterinarian, and a Special List did all kinds of tests on her. Luckily they found medicines to give her that have helped make her healthy again! November will be her 3 year anniversary of diagnosis!

I'm really happy she's still here, she's got such good experience as a dog trainer that I feel super lucky and priveledged to be trained by her. I just know I'll make her proud.

She also hates it when I play with my favorite squeaky toy. A few times, when I was doin nuthin but mindin my own business...sqeakin, sqeakin, squeakin my toy, Sophie suddenly when crazy and started growlin and hissin and chasing me around the house!! Sheesh...if she didnt like the squeaky noise, all she had to do was ask me to stop!

Maybe I'll give her my squeaky for her birthday. What do you think? Seriously...how could she not love a face like this?

Here are some more of Mom's favorite pictures of Sophie KitTON.

Great Dane Meetup at the Dog Days of Summer - Cardiff, CA

Today there was a doggie festival going on in Cardiff, CA. That's about 20 minutes from our house by car, according to Mom. A small southern Californian town, right on the coast. What a great place to live.

This doggie festival was something else. I've never seen so many well behaved dogs! I definitely tried to be on my best behavior, and I think Mom was proud of me. This doggie festival had lots of dogs present. Big dogs, small dogs, itsy bitsy dogs, and medium dogs. I met my first Wolfhound...boy was he tall! A beautiful brindle boy though...very handsome. There were lots of vendors, but it was pretty crowded so Mom found it hard to shop since she had to keep me close by. Prolly a good thing, since she has a spending habit she is trying to control.

The Great Dane Meetup decided we would take over the festival, so about 25 members showed up. Mom got a good picture of a lot of them, it was getting hot by the time we took this picture so some doggies had already gone home.

There's me & Mom...2nd doggie on the left. Right behind me is "Mr. Wilson", a "Dantiff" (Great Dane Mastiff mix). He is one big boy at about 250 lbs. The 3rd white dog on the right is "Titan". He's challenging the "tallest dog in the world" record next week. I hope he wins!

I got to meet 3 pretty girls who are just 1 day younger than me. They were all part of the same litter born on January 29th, 2009. Bonnie, Lakoda & Cheyenne. Lakoda and Cheyenne live together, while Bonnie has a different human Mom. I was quite a bit bigger than any of those girls! I think Mom said they weighed about 72lbs, while I am hitting the scales at a svelte 92 lbs.

"Mr. Wilson"

There were all kinds of other doggies at the festival. This was one cute little guy who didnt like me so much. All I wanted to do was say "hi" but he would have nothing to do with me. He even tried to eat me!!

The festival also had a few contests for the doggies. One was "Best Dressed". We only caught the tail end (no pun intended!) of that one, but we got to see the 1st & 2nd place doggies.

This pretty Labradude-ette had a nice hat on. She got 2nd place.

1st place went to this little bumble dog. The costume was bigger than the doggie!

They also had a contest for "Best Looking Adult Dog". There were lots of really good looking doggies in this one. 38 entries total! Mom signed me up, and I was really trying to make her proud. Here's some of the other doggies I was competing against.

A boootiful Golden Retreiver!

2 more handsome danes, and a visla

A King Charles Spaniel, super fluffy Great Pyranese doggie & a dalmation

Several newfies and a cute Australian shepherd named "Scout"

but no one could beat the Murph-meister! I got all kinds of compliments and ended up getting the blue ribbon!

Mom was so proud! Our prize was a nice doggie-bag (boy am I full of the puns today!) with doggie cookies in it. We also got to pick a nice 'dog carrier' full of fun things like tennis balls and frisbees. Mom picked out a nice pink one, cuz I told her it would be perfect for Quiche Lorraine...my favorite Papillon neighbor dog. Mom gave it to our favoritest neighbor Adele when we got home and they loved it! It was perfect timing, as they are going on a road trip tomorrow and Quiche is going to be stylin!

Cutest Dog Competition

I can SO win this! Don'cha think?

Mom entered me in a contest for the cutest dog. That means I need LOTS of votes. Please help me out so I can win! I just know I can do it!

27 week measurements

27 weeks, 92.2 lbs, 30.5" tall

Sunsets in San Diego

Summers in Sandy Eggo sure are nice. This week has been really hot and sticky though, and today we even had some thunder clouds and rain showers in parts of the county. Mom said that's pretty unusual for here, normally its the same weather day in and day out.

Monday night we got to go to a bbq after a friends softball game. Mom didnt take any pictures there cuz she forgot the camera in the car and was too lazy to go get it, but it was a lot of fun. There was a super nice bulldog there named Bella. We hit it off right away...I had SO much fun playing with her! Did you know I can fit an entire bulldog head in my mouth?

There were lots of big poofy clouds in the sky, and on the way home we even saw a few funny colored clouds! Mom said they were called rainbows. I think I like rainbows.

Since the sky was so pretty with the clouds, Mom thought the sunset was gonna be a good one. Instead of going home, she decided to take a detour to the bay to see if we could get some good pictures. Boy was she right! The sky was the prettiest shades of pinks and blues, and as the time went by it even got to be really red looking!

Here's a pretty picture of Mission Bay, looking north-east.

and here's an even nicer view (dont I look handsome?)

There was a nice looking black labradude playing ball with his human...Mom wouldnt let me go say hi to him though. All I could do is watch. She said I'm gettin pretty good at my down-stays.

Here's a nice silouette....boy, I sure have grown up from that little pint of a pup that I used to be! What a nice profile, if I do say so myself!

Mom took this one of the moon. I couldnt tell if it was made of cheese, but it sure was pretty!

These last pictures were my favorite. The sky is so red! Mom said that happens frequently in October & November cuz of all the brush fires that seem to occur in those months, but I've never seen nuthin like that!

Tuesday night, Mom had an appointment after work so I had to stay in my crate extra long. Its getting a little cramped in there, and she's workin on getting a bigger crate or something called an x-pen, but until then I am stuck using the crate I have. I sure wish she would just leave me alone in the house! I dont understand why she doesnt trust me. I cant help it if those papers she left laying on the coffee table fell on the floor and accidently got shredded by my teeth! Oh, and that pillow from the couch? It just rolled on my bed and happened to land in a big puddle of slobber, I swear!

Anyway, Mom felt bad for me so she decided to take me to dog beach. Boy I do love that place. We've been there often enough that I almost know the way there and when we turn down the last street I just cant hold my excitement in. I'm tryin to be quiet like Mom asks, but its so hard!

Right away I ran down to the water and found a fun dog to play with. There was a big Labradude mix who had a ball, and he didnt seem to mind if I chased him so it was tons of fun. Boy could he swim! His mom kepts throwing the ball far out into the water and he'd dive right in to go get it.

I got pretty brave and almost went swimmin a couple times, but luckly my legs are long and I was always able to touch the bottom.

Look how deep I went in!

I got to run around for about an hour, and boy was it fun. The sky was pretty again tonight, but there werent as many clouds so the colors were more yellow & orange.

Mom said the pointy thing in this picture is called a sail boat. I think I'd like to try that one day!

Can you see me running and chasing Kramer? Wow, did we have fun! It was a good Tuesday.

New Rules & Yard Work

Mom says I'm not allowed on the furniture. I can't even sleep in bed with her anymore! I dont think that's very nice. Ever since I was a wee little pup, one of my favoritest things to do was to cuddle up against Mom in bed.

She said she loves it too, but now that I'm not so wee anymore I have become a bit of a bed hog. Hey! Im not trying to push you out of bed, you just happen to be in my way when I stretch out all four of my legs! Its not my fault if you sleep close to the edge and have to hold on so you don't fall out!

Anyway, its been so hot here in San Dee-eggo that there were a couple of nights where I was just too dang warm to get into bed. When I did, all I did was pant and pant and pant! I found it much cooler to sleep on the wood floors. Especially right in front of the fan.

Well, Mom decided to take advantage (no fair!) and make a new rule. No dogs on the bed. I guess she doesnt like it when I'm all muddy from gardening (see video below) and then run in the house and fly up on the bed. Sheesh. She's no fun!

Well, tonight after a fun romp at dog park with Baloo (another beautiful blue great dane!), I was pretty pooped. I think its safe to say I am NOT on the futon though, dont you? Look, my front feet are still touching the floor!!

I have also discovered that I really enjoy doing yard work. Another favoritest thing for me is digging, errr..uh...preparing the soil for a beeeautiful plant!

For example, there was a small, sickly, pathetic lookin tangerine tree in the front yard. I KNEW it was never going to make it, so one day I decided it had to come out. After diggin and diggin and diggin...sure enough, it was loose enough for Mom to pull right out of the ground! Well, I overheard her talking to the neighbor later that day and sayin she wanted to replace the tangerine tree with an apricot tree. Does any one know what the heck an apricot tree is? I guess I havent been around long enough to be familiar with all the different plants Mom likes. So, here's the video of me diggin. I think I do a really good job!

Mom sure was mad, but luckily she saw it my way and now we have a new tree in the family!

I think once, it grows up a bit, its gonna be a really nice place to lay and relax!