Meet Tiny (Newfoundland/Black Lab mix but looks Newfie) and Trooper (Great Dane with Rottweiler? - looks Great Dane). Tiny was left on our door step 11 years ago when he was yet too young to even go up the 3 steps to our house. He was the size of a small bear even then. I tried to find out who owned him only to discover little copies of Tiny had been left all over town. We had a fenced in back yard and looked like animal lovers - so we kept him. And we have loved him. He is a gentle giant. He is definitely NOT a watch dog as he greets everyone!

Michael got Trooper as a puppy and then joined the Army a week later so we (the doggie grandparents)inherited him. He's mostly Great Dane. He LOOKS like a Great Dane. He is 2 years old now and weighs 170 pounds (compared to Tiny who only weighs 70 pounds).

Last visit to the Vet for annual check up and shots for the both of them cost us
about $1,000.00 (and that doesn't count the doctor's visit for me to fix the broken
finger which is a whole other story!).

SO when I read this in the news this week:

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=56720&in_page_id=2

I just thanked God we didn't have a Great Dane/Newfoundland Mix!

Oh, and the fence in the pictures - we built a fence to keep the dogs from eating the wiring to the air conditioning (I mean they've eaten every plant in the back yard and the cord to the lawn mower and part of the garden hose and I'm sure I could go on..)..so they ate parts off the top of the little fence. It does not appear to have hurt their digestive systems.
Pax