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My friend, Loki the Great Dane and her humans started a group called BrisDanes so that all Danes living in and around Brisbane can meet up and play together. They usually meet on a weekend once a month at The Spit, which is a dog-friendly beach on the Gold Coast.
Me & my friend, Loki... (who is a girl, by the way)
We have been trying to go for many months but either I’ve got a dancing camp or my humans have some other things planned or Paul is on-call that weekend and Hsin-Yi HATES driving long distances by herself in the car machine, especially to a new place…but finally Hsin-Yi said we can’t keep waiting for Paul otherwise we’ll never go - so a couple of weeks ago, me and Hsin-Yi went to the August meet-up by ourselves! 
Of course, since it was Hsin-Yi in charge, we were LATE. Hsin-Yi is always late for everything. She always thinks she still has lots of time and then suddenly she’s rushing around panicking! 
All the clocks in our house have been set so that they are 10mins faster than real time, to try and make Hsin-Yi be more on-time, but she’s still always late! And especially if it’s anything early in the morning…well, you know, Hsin-Yi is just not a morning person…and I’m definitely not a morning doggie! 
Everyone was supposed to meet at 8:30am – but we didn’t manage to even leave the house until nearly 8:30! 
It is a 1hr drive to The Spit so by the time we got there, all the other Danes had already started their walk on the beach. So we had to really hurry to catch up with them.
We had heard a lot of other doggie owners raving about The Spit but to be honest, it was not really our kind of beach. It was so CROWDED! Hsin-Yi was shocked when she saw it – she had never expected a beach like this. There were so many people and dogs, it was like a multi-lane doggie-highway.
This made Hsin-Yi very stressy because she doesn’t like places which are crowded with many strange doggies meeting each other constantly (like small, fenced-in dog parks) - she says it’s OK for puppies and younger doggies who still just want to play with everything and quickly back down but as us doggies grow up and become mature, we also become less tolerant and more willing to stand up for ourselves - so it can be a recipe for disaster.
See, the thing is although I am a pretty sociable doggie and can meet most strange dogs politely, other dogs aren’t so nice to me! A lot of doggies give me dirty looks or yell nasty things at me, even if I haven’t done anything to them! 
Like sometimes I have to stand there politely while they sniff my bum but then when I try to turn around and sniff their bums, they whirl on me and snarl and get nasty. I think it’s awfully unfair - how come they want to be able to sniff my bum but won’t let me sniff theirs? Hsin-Yi thinks maybe because I am such a confident doggie, I make other doggies - that are less confident or less well-socialised – feel threatened.
And it’s not a size thing, in case any of you are thinking that. Anyone who lives with kitties will know that you don’t have to be big to be boss of everything! It’s about personality. Lots of Danes I know are just as big or even bigger than me but they are much more shy or timid and they don’t make other doggies feel threatened – in fact, they often get bullied by other doggies, even though they are a lot bigger. And lots of small doggies I know are very confident and boss everyone around – in fact, my boyfriend, Ombre the Standard Schnauzer was the most bossy, confident doggie I ever met and he was only one-third my size! But everyone listened to him when he walked in the room (or wanted to fight him) !
So Hsin-Yi thinks that very confident doggies give off a “vibe” and sadly, this means most strange doggies I meet don’t react very well to me, unless they are very confident & well-socialised themselves. Some of them even yelp or start crying and whimpering when they see me – before I’ve even gone anywhere near them!
Of course, Hsin-Yi is always very careful and doesn’t just let me go up to any random dog – if the other doggie looks even a bit scared or grumpy, she doesn’t let me approach them…but see, it’s unfair again ‘coz a lot of the times, the scaredy/grumpy doggies are the ones who come up to me! THEY run up to me – and then they scream or get aggressive when they get too close…humph! Well, who told them to come over to me in the first place? And then their owners give me dirty looks because they think I did something bad to their doggies…
I think it’s awfully unfair that I always have to be on my best behaviour but other doggies can behave so rudely to me. But unfortunately, Hsin-Yi says this is one of the Big Unfair Things of being a giant doggie.
Of course, the real problem is if another doggie starts getting aggressive to me and attacks me. See, I’m no pushover. I never start anything but if another doggie gets stroppy with me, I can give as good as I get! 
I won’t roll over and act submissive or run away like a lot of other doggies will – if you want a fight, you’ll get one!
Except that Hsin-Yi gets really upset with me when that happens and Tells Me Off. I think that’s awfully unfair again! 
If the other doggie gets grumpy at me, why shouldn’t I get grumpy back? But Hsin-Yi says fighting shouldn’t be used to solve anything – and besides, she says the bigger doggie will always get the blame again, even if we are just defending ourselves…
…so that is why she gets very stressy when we have to go to crowded places with many strange doggies, because she is worried they’ll pick a fight with me and then everyone will blame me. It’s not that she can’t control me – ‘coz of my training, she can get me to do anything, even with lots of strange doggies around – but it means that she then has to keep me “on very short rein” all the time - she has to constantly call me back to her and keep giving me directions of where to go and not let me interact much with other doggies…she doesn’t dare just let me be myself and run free…so it’s no fun at all! That’s why my humans like to take me to less crowded places so they can just relax and let me have fun!
Owners of more timid doggies can’t understand why Hsin-Yi gets so stressy – ‘coz their doggies always run away and never fight back – so they never have to worry. So they don’t mind going to very crowded places and they all just think Hsin-Yi is being paranoid. But since we had our very bad experiences back in NZ with people blaming me unfairly, Hsin-Yi has decided it’s better to be safe than sorry – and if people want to think she is paranoid, she doesn’t care! It’s more important to keep me safe. Besides, it’s not nice for me to have to keep dealing with grumpy doggies all the time . Lots of doggies have had their nice temperaments ruined because they have been attacked too many times by other doggies and learnt to fight… and Hsin-Yi says she doesn’t want me learning to use aggression as a way to deal with things. It’s our human’s duty to protect us doggies by not putting us in unfair situations where we are forced to get grumpy.
But anyway, back to The Spit – well, there was nothing to be done since we were already there - so Hsin-Yi took a deep breath and we just had to plough through the crowds. I met lots of doggies but Hsin-Yi just kept me moving on so that they didn’t have time to start getting any funny ideas (!) …until finally, we saw the other Danes!
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Wow – there were so many of them! Most of them were young pups and teenagers (4 months to 2 yrs) although there were a couple of senior Danes like me. There were blue Danes, black Danes, merlequin Danes, mantle Danes and lots & lots of merle Danes…!
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…and yes, even a fawn Dane like me!
It was nice to meet another fawn Dane at last since every other Dane I have met since coming to Australia has either been a merle or blue or black! My humans were always told that fawn is the most common colour…but I guess not in Queensland!
But wait! What’s this? She told me that her name was ‘Honey’ too! 
That’s MY name! How could she be “Honey the Great Dane” too? She’s an imposter!
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Hsin-Yi was laughing and said this was the fresh, young “Honey” whereas I was the old, grey version…humph! How rude!
Well, I’M the original and we all know that the original is always the best! Huh! So there!
The younger Honey sure was bouncy – she just bounced around everywhere, wrestling with everything and charging through everyone. She was a bit of a terror, to tell you the truth, compared to the other gentler, more timid merle Dane pups…
…but Hsin-Yi says I shouldn’t talk ‘coz the younger Honey reminded her of me when I was that age – over-confident, super-bouncy, a total rough tomboy and completely fearless!
(Er – actually, Hsin-Yi says she doesn’t think much has changed! )
What does she mean? Humph! I think she is talking rubbish – I am obviously the older, wiser, calmer Honey!
…Er…well, OK – maybe sometimes I can get a bit carried away! Don’t they say it’s always good to remain young at heart?
The other Honey is actually from my Mummy’s breeder, who lives here in Queensland, so I guess we’re distant cousins or something! I sure showed her a few new moves to continue terrorising - er, I mean playing with the other pups!
Anyway, it was getting near lunchtime now and quite hot so we all started walking back up the beach to the carpark… The beach was EXTRA crowded right by the carpark so Hsin-Yi put me into “Heel” which means I have to walk next to her, with my shoulder in line with her knee, and ignore everything around me. This keeps me safe. I’m very good at Heeling and I can even do it without the leash – as you can see in the video!
Oh – there was a really cool “doggie bar” for thirsty doggies as we came off the beach. I don’t have any pictures but you can see it in the video…weren’t we all so polite, waiting in line for our drink?
Some of the other Danes and their humans were going round to the other side of the peninsula to the bay, where the water is quieter, to have a picnic lunch but me & Hsin-Yi couldn’t join them ‘coz we had to go back to Brisbane, where Paul was waiting for us.
He was on-call that weekend and couldn’t come with us ‘coz he has to stay within 15mins of the hospital when he is on-call and he has to go in and do his “ward rounds” on Sat and Sun mornings…but he would be back home by now so we wanted to go back and spend some time with him.
But Hsin-Yi says maybe next time, if we come to a BrisDanes meetup again, we might just come later and join everybody on the quieter side for the picnic. There will be fewer doggies and nicer calm water to play in (and it’ll also be later which means we might actually get here on time!). Hsin-Yi doesn’t really want to take me to the main Spit beach again ‘coz it was so crowded that she just couldn’t relax and so she didn’t really enjoy herself at all. And I have to say – I didn’t really get to run and play properly either!
But never mind – the best part of the day was yet to come! On the way home, Hsin-Yi stopped in a special Petrol Restaurant to feed our car machine and because it was so hot, she bought me an ice lolly! YUM! I love these!
What flavour?
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Oooh - 'Tropical Crush'...my favourite!
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(slurp! slurp! slurp!)
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Oh no! All gone already!
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Well, between running up the beach, meeting all those new friends, fresh air & sunshine – and the ice lolly! - I was completely shattered by the time we got home! I quickly found my favourite spot in the afternoon sun and settled down for nice snooze….ahhhh…..it had been a big day!
...zzz...ZZZ...zzz
Thank you Hsin-Yi and Honey for your lovely comments on our blog. That beach does look scary with all the other dogs packed into one place, we are like you and try to avoid places like that, as other dogs are scared of Arrow being so big -- he is lucky tho coz he has Snoopy, he treats her a bit like his ‘security blanket’, so she says hi to other dogs (very excitedly) before Arrow gets too -- but that is only coz we don’t let him off the leash much, since we are working so hard training him with his recall.
Helen, Snoopy & Arrow
PS -- you look very dignified with your silver muzzle, next to the younger Honey
Oh and your dane walk looks like our Greyhounds as Pets walks that we go on! they are such fun!
The new site looks terrific! and so does the great dog meet-up!
wooooooooooooooooooooooow Honey !!!
you make sanne very very very happy!!! she love great danes! (well you knew that)
it seem you had a lovely day
a other honey!!!! well that cant be true!! but we know that you are the original
Kissslobbers
El’bow & Hauwii
That was a Honey wanna be. Yuh. I bet her name used to be Fifi or Princess until she heard about you and then she was all, “change my name so I can be just like Honey!” So you should be honored. I agree, better to wait until all the cracker party dogs get things out of their systems and quiet down before you insert yourself into the pack. Much less stressy.
Slobbers,
Mango
Oooohhhh noooo! Honey has a boyfriend! I wanted to be her boyfriend! I am going to cry.
Slow tail taps,
Brodie the jealous… I mean Yellow Lab
Haha you always come up with the funniest things -- petrol restaurant, I love it!!! That beach looks incredible, so so packed, I can understand why you weren’t so thrilled. Although I’m so jealous of your sunshine. You would not believe how wet it is here -- rain rain rain rain and MORE RAIN! arrrrggggg! Will it ever end? Taking Pepper for a walk means I have to get her to tow me through mud no matter where we go. Its hideous
Em & Pep
The beach did look very crowded, which would be a difficult place for my Oreo. We’d prefer a quieter beach too.
How fun to get together with a bunch of dogs of your own kind though!
I thought it was neat to see the city looming in the background.
That BrisDane meeting sounds like a lot of fun! I can only imagine how fun it would be to have that many Cavaliers at one place! (I can also only imagine what it would be like to go to the beach, because Missouri is in the middle of the U.S., so I have never been to a beach). That other Honey was really cute (but not as cute as the orginial Honey the Great Dane!), and seemed like a lot of fun!
P.S.- That ice lolly looked really good! (I have gotten a taste of one of those before, although Tonya called it a popsicle.)
Whoa Honey -- You have an imposter? I didn’t see any Tucker Danes there, that must mean I don’t have an imposter yet. I’m really jealous of all the danes I rarely see any Danes here.
woof -- Tucker
Hi Honey, truly stunning pics of you and your friends on the beach! We had forgotten what terrific pics you have.
The video was lovely too, you were just so nice and gentle with every dog and human you met.
love and kisses
Martha and Bailey xxx
Wow! It looked so much fun to meet al thoose great danes! I wish I could meet that many afghan hounds at the same time. But Helena says that she understand Hsin-Yi when she couldn’t relaxe with all that dogs around. I have been attacked by evil doggies sooo many times, that nowadays I only are allowed to play with dogs that we (read: Helena) trusts. The tricky part is that us affies have to run free as often as possible to feel good and healthy, and since we are such hunters we need a fenced dog park or a really big field och beach or something. Other wise it is illegal to let me loose, since I will hunt any wild animal that comes along. Anyway. That fenced dog parks are really full of strange, angry doggies. And humans too! :O And even though I have a good language when talking to other dogs, some males just wants to fight me. So now, I act like you. I fight back. The first two years I just screamed, but they didn’t care. They just tore my fur off.
That is why we only go to fenced dog parks early in the morning or late at night. And we always wait for our turn. Atleast if there are big dogs there. The small ones can bark and tear my fur as much as they want, I don’t care. But I can get scared of big doggies, since it always are big dogs that attack me. One time there even where a lady human that had her american staffordshire bullterrier in a long wire when me and Zoria ran free. She said that her dog needed to practise to play with other dogs, but since the dog was mean to other dogs the owner wanted to be able to stop her if needed. She said that me and Zoria are so fast that the dog never could hurt us! Helena was chocked. First of all, what would happen if the dog got hold of our legs or something? And second, in our speed it is really dangerous to have a wire all across the dog park. What if we get tangled in it? And our coat easily “grabs” a line like that. It ended up with us asking her to leave and wait for her turn. 
Anyway! We have tons of “stupid storys with stupid humans” to tell, that is why we really understand the unpleasant situation on the beach. One can never trust other humans and dogs, it is sad, but it can be very dangerous. We are glad that everything went well this time, and that you had a great time. With the great danes. For the greatest Honey.
Our human doesn’t like to take us to those doggy parks with the fences either. She took Sasha to one a few years ago and the dogs just ran wild all over the place. She likes places that we can really walk in. Plus it makes it easier when people want to meet Drake, instead of 20 at a time, you get them one or two at a time!
As much as I hate crowded places, I am so jealous that you guys have a real big dog beach. All the dog parks here in Seattle with access to the water are small and get super crowded and there really isn’t room to run. Boo.
Looks like a fun Dane meet-up! I love watching Danes play together!
And Honey, you are the original big Honey dog… no one can compare!
I love that beach! The buildings in the background are pretty as well as the water. I’m sorry Hsin-Yi couldn’t relax but I hope that you had a fun day, Honey! I love that you found your doppelganger!
Having a meeting for all the Brisbane Danes is such a cool idea! There were so many beautiful dogs there -- and can you believe you met another Honey? The beach may ahve been very crowded but it sure was pretty! Glad Hsin-Yi was brave enough to drive the two of you there and hope you get to go to lots of other Brisdane meetings!
What a great meet up. My mommy says the same thing about being in over crowded places…
Thanks for coming over to my blog for the Give-A-Way!
Licks,
Kylie
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so I’d be very flattered if I was you meeting the imitation Honey. I mean, nothing is EVERY as good as the original. We were very impressed with all the pictures of the Great Danes!!! (Although it sort of sucks to be blamed for things just because you’re super-sized…). Although, Mom doesn’t like to be in super crowded places, either.
*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Mutant Puppy
WOW! Lots of long legs in this post!
Great paws in the last pikh BTW!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Hi Honey, sounds like you had a great time. How cool to have your very own Dane’s club! By the way, we have an award for you
A Great Dane meet up? Wow, all other people who happened to be there on the beach must have been surprised to see so many Danes! The blue sky in the photos is so beautiful!
OMD what fun! I looked for a meetup labbies in my area (or even danes… maybe Moose could sneak in!) but there are not any. I know Darwin goes to them all the time and we are very jealous! Strange doggies can have strange ways of saying hello and such. You doggies always seem to work it out but the humans are the ones who have a problem with it and that is very stressful. Here in the states there was recently an incident where doggies were greeting and it was maybe not going well or at least one of the owners did not like how it was going and he pulled out a gun and fatally shot the other dog. At least you don’t have the worry that the other dog parents have guns where you are. I am now a bit stressy about meeting situations too.
Tons of doggies on the beach should be fun but I agree it would worry me. At least in the dane group you have people who are not biased against big dogs and the temperaments are more similar. That is why I would love a lab meetup. I also think owners who bother to seek out something like that are likely more informed and aware about dog behavior than some of the dog park visitors. I think going to the picnic part sounds like a great idea- much more low key!
p.s. I am not a morning person and always late too… I often end up leaving the house about the time I should be arriving… sigh!
Oh Honey! Beach time is so much fun! We don’t like to be around lots of people too! Ana says it is to much information at the same time for us! But one thing I can guarantee you, we are the most beautiful of all Danes!
Honey, what fun your beach visit looked even though Hsin-Yi felt stressy. I would totally stress out with that many dogs around me. You are right about people thinking because you are big, you are the meanest. We walked once and a lady picked up her little fluffy dog (or duster) i’m not sure but it had legs. I hadn’t even gone near it or made a growl. Geez. Anyway the beach adventure looked fabulous!
Slobbers, Brucey.
Hehe, I know exactly what you mean about cats ruling the roost even though they’re smaller. Although, to be honest, there isn’t much of a size difference between Iris and I (and she’s got a mean uppercut), she’s clearly the boss. And she likes to help me remember now and again.
My human thinks Hsin-Yi is right to be careful with putting you in situations with lots of unknown doggies. It must get annoying when everyone thinks you’re a big bad doggie just because of your size, but the stereotype goes both ways. A lot of big doggie owners sniff their noses at little “dusters” like me. It’s all about the individual dog. Actually, I’ve been hurt on two occasions by big dogs. Once was just accidental and happened while playing but the other time was on a walking path. A big doggie ran up to me, grabbed me by the neck and started shaking me. My human nearly had a heart attack because I was on a leash but the other dog was not and his owner was far away. I probably would have died if my human’s dad wasn’t there to save me (I love him). As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more and more scared of other doggies, even small ones. So it’s definitely better to prevent those traumatising experiences.
We wish we were in Qld right now, it’s so cold and rainy in Melbourne! I would absolutely love to do some zoomies on the beach.
Love, Oscar and the gang
Our Meowm squealed so loud at those pictures, our ears hurt…and we haven’t even watched the video. She has alwyas liked Danes and so she is in Heaven with all these pictures.
We think you had a great time and are a bit envious…we would love to see and smell the ocean!!!!!
Such a shame that in a country that takes up half the planet and has such beautiful beaches that you have to cram up into a space the size of a handkerchief. Thats way too crowded for my two critters. Had to laugh at the two Honeys standing over that dog on the beach.