Honey the Great Dane

I have been feeling very sad in the last few weeks because my human, Paul, had to go back suddenly to the faraway place called England – and so me & Hsin-Yi have been left all alone… 

Some of you may remember that last year, when Hsin-Yi’s daddy got very sickie and died, Paul’s daddy also got a very bad sickie called “pancreatic cancer”. My humans said this is one of the scariest sickies you can get because it eats up your body really fast and by the time you find out, it is usually too late. 

Well, Paul’s daddy had a big operation to try and cut out the cancer and then he had some special yucky medicine called “chemotherapy” to try and kill the rest of his cancer sickie…he was very brave and kept fighting his cancer sickie for over a year…but a couple of months ago, the Human Vets said that the chemo wasn’t working anymore and so Paul’s daddy started to get really sickie. And then a few weeks ago, they had to take Paul’s daddy to a special hospital for dying people – and they called Paul and told him it was time to go back and say goodbye. 

So Paul quickly came home from work and packed his bags and gave me a goodbye cuddle – and then Hsin-Yi took him away to the place where the Big Flying Machines live – and he got on one and flew away to the faraway city called London. Paul was luckier than Hsin-Yi because he got back in time to see his Daddy and say goodbye – and then he helped with the funeral and stayed with his mummy for a while so that she would not be alone. 

So me and Hsin-Yi have been having a sad, lonely time by ourselves for the last few weeks. 

I’ve had no one to give me extra cuddles or do my grooming or sneak me extra cookies after dinner (Hsin-Yi is a meanie and only ever gives me 1 cookie after dinner – sometimes she doesn’t even give me that if she thinks I’ve had lots of leftover goodies in my dinner already – but Paul always sneaks me extra cookies! ) 

Hsin-Yi has been very busy doing all the house stuff and looking after me and dealing with our computer sickie problems and then learning how to move my blog to its new home - and of course, also doing her writing work – all by herself, in the last few weeks.

So I’m really sorry but she hasn’t had much time or energy to help me visit my blog friends – so please forgive me for not coming round much or leaving any comments! 

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But now Paul’s finally back home! Yay! I was so happy to see him!

He gave me LOTS of extra cuddles and not just cookies but even a whole slice of bread with my dinner!  

So I am happy now and I feel much less stressy now that my pack is all together again! 

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Now – I am ashamed to say that I have been very naughty recently and keep forgetting to post about all the wonderful awards that my blog friends have given me. So thank you to all of you who have given me awards and I am very sorry if I didn’t mention it – I know that there are some awards from so long ago that I can’t remember who they’re from now! But recently – first there was Sprinkles with her 2 Chihuahuas, Chico & Shiver, who gave me the Sunshine Award (and my blog friends, Darwin the Dane and Teal’c in Sydney also gave me this award a while back and I’d never gotten around to thanking them!) … 

…and then Sammy the Cavalier and Lucille the Italian Dane both gave me the Versatile Blogger Award – where I have to share 7 things about myself… 

Well, I thought since you probably all know lots about ‘me now’ from reading my blog, you might like to know 7 Things About Me When I Was A Puppy: 

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1) I wasn’t a very good eater when I first came to live with my humans – if there was any small noise or distraction when I eating, I would stop and wander off and leave my food.  My humans got very worried and stressy and started standing frozen on the spot, holding their breaths, the minute they put my food bowl down – too scared to do anything in case it “spoiled” my appetite!  

Me at 7 weeks!

It got really ridiculous until Hsin-Yi re-read one of her favourite books, ‘Your First Great Dane’ by Angela Mitchell, which is not written by a vet or dog trainer but Hsin-Yi loves it because it is a real-life, honest story by a normal pet owner who has a Great Dane for the first time. In the book, Angela says her Dane, Hovis, was also a very fussy eater when he was a puppy and they were doing all sorts of crazy things to get him to eat – until their sensible Vet told them the puppy was just playing a game with them to get the extra fuss and attention. He told them to only put the food bowl down for 5-10mins and then take it away, no matter what was left in it, until the next meal time – and not make a big fuss. No animal would let itself starve and it doesn’t matter if us doggies miss a meal or two  – it won’t harm us (unlike kitties, who mustn’t go over 24hrs without food). It will just make us more hungry for the next meal and teach us to eat our food when we get it!  

So that is what my humans did with me too and – hey! It worked immediately! Since then, I have been a very good eater – I always have great appetite, I eat anything that is put in my bowl, including vegetables and fruits (I will chase the last pea around my bowl for ages! ) and I eat it all up quickly and am not fussy about anything (well, except when the scary Upside-Down Bowl Monster appears! ) 

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2) I was quite a skinny puppy and my ribs always showed – even though I had enormous knuckles and paws. When she took me out as a puppy, Hsin-Yi got nasty comments from people out on the streets telling her she didn’t know how to look after me and was starving me, which made her very upset. 

Me & Lemon when we were 10 weeks old...look at all my ribs showing!

Look at the big girl I've become - from that skinny puppy!

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But now that she knows more about doggies and Great Danes in particular, Hsin-Yi knows that those people just didn’t understand anything about giant breeds. 

It is quite normal for us to be skinny puppies and in fact, it is much better for us to be on the skinny side than on the fat side ‘coz we are growing so fast as puppies.  

Anyway, my humans have never been obsessed with measuring my height and weight constantly - like some Dane owners are (Hsin-Yi was always more obsessed with my behaviour than my looks! She thinks “pretty is as pretty does”) - and I’ve still grown into a really big, tall, solid, healthy girl! In fact, my humans have often been told that I am big for a Dane girl. 

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3) I’ve always had a very soft mouth (I can carry a cherry tomato around in my mouth for ages and never pop it! ) and I don’t like chewing on anything really hard or heavy. 

Before my humans brought me home, they went shopping in the pet store and when they said they were getting a “Great Dane”, everybody told them to buy the EXTRA-JUMBO, EXTRA-TOUGH (EXTRA-EXPENSIVE!) versions of everything – like the Giant Black Kong and the Giant Rubber Tyre Tug-Toy and Giant Extra-Hard Nylabone…well, I wouldn’t touch any of them! I hated them and didn’t want to put those nasty huge, hard things in my mouth at all and I just wouldn’t play with them. 

Hsin-Yi got really grumpy because she said it was such a waste of money paper! She had to go back to the pet store and buy all the softer ”smaller doggie” versions for me to play with…and all those extra-tough toys are now sitting in a box waiting for the next puppy my humans get, who might be less wimpy than me!  

Me with my replacement "small dog" Kong - hee! hee!

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4) I had “pano” when I was about 5-6 months old. This is a kind of sickie that a lot of giant & large breed puppies get ( similar to something called “growing pains” in human pups). They usually get it between 6 – 18 months and usually boys more often than girls. It gives us leg ouchies and makes us lame for a short time (sometimes even moving from leg to leg) - and then it just goes away by itself again. The proper name is Panosteitis and nobody really knows why it happens although some people think it may be because of the bones and joints and tendons and muscles growing so fast that it can cause inflammation. There is no treatment for it – other than medicines to make the pain better – and it just goes away by itself after 2-3 weeks. 

Anyway, of all the really serious, scary bone sickies that giant & large breed puppies can get (like HOD and OCD ) - ”pano” is the best one to get if you have to get something, because it is not really serious and doesn’t need treatment and will go away by itself.   

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5) I never destroyed anything as a puppy! Yes, that’s true. Not one shoe or cushion or table leg or anything. I’m not lying. My humans couldn’t really believe it either. They were bracing themselves because everyone kept telling them about the “teething period” when puppies chew up everything and anything and so they kept waiting and waiting for that to happen…and waiting…and waiting…but I just never seemed to get ‘crazy-chewy’ at all. All that happened was that my ears went funny when I was about 4-5 months – they pointed forward in a weird way! – but then they went back to normal and I got all my adult teeth and that was that! 

Of course, my humans did give me lots of chew toys and I did chew those – but I never chewed any furniture or shoes or anything like that. 

Although this might also be because Hsin-Yi always supervised me ALL THE TIME whenever I was loose in the house and if I ever showed any interest in any furniture, she would quickly give me a chew toy and lots of praise for chewing on that instead. 

So after a while, I just always went to find my toys whenever I wanted to chew on something and I never even thought of the furniture as something to chew. 

* Remember – The best way to train good behaviour in us doggies is to never let us learn bad habits in the first place!  This means putting us away in a safe place (like a crate) when we can’t be supervised – but also making time to let us loose to explore under supervision, so that we have a chance to learn the rules. BUT – the key is not just to correct us for doing the wrong thing but also to show us the right alternative and praise us for doing that instead. Lots of humans only punish without also showing their doggies the right thing to do and rewarding them for doing that instead – that is why their doggies never learn. Correction must always be balanced with rewarding the right alternative behaviour. 

But wait – the story isn’t finished! I’m not an angel puppy, you see, because later – when I was 2 & half yrs old – I DID chew up one of Hsin-Yi’s favourite shoes! I also chewed up one of her photo albums. And a corner of the coffee table. She got really grumpy and said she couldn’t believe how I was doing all the destructive chewing now that I was grown up when I didn’t do it as a puppy! Anyway, she went back to supervising me for a week and giving me a Telling-Off whenever I tried to chew anything I shouldn’t – and then giving me a chew toy and praising me for chewing that instead…and I soon (re-)learned my lesson. Since then I haven’t chewed anything I shouldn’t!  

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6) My first toy was a bone stuffie with a smiley face. It was almost as big as me when I first arrived in my new home with my humans and I could barely carry it around…but I soon grew!

It had a squeaky in it and I used to carry it around with me everywhere. 

Me at 10 weeks with my smiley bone stuffie

Then one day I discovered that there was a hole in it where a wonderful white fluffy thing could be pulled out…ooh, STUFFING! After that, the bone stuffie was no more… 

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7) I got carsick and vomited every time I went in the car machine, until I was 6 months old. Yup – I was not a good passenger. Every time my humans took me for a drive in the car machine, I would feel sickie and puke. Hsin-Yi spent a lot of her time cleaning out and shampooing the inside of the car machine!   And she said it never smelled the same again afterwards…YUCK!

Getting carsick happens to a lot of puppies and our humans can help us by only taking us  for very short rides at first until we get used to things – and also not giving us anything to eat a few hours before our car ride. But most puppies will grow out of it naturally.

The vet suggested that my humans give me a bit of “Sea Legs” – a kind of special medicine to help humans stop feeling car sick – but actually, Hsin-Yi found that the thing which helped the most was teaching me to always lie down in the car machine. Because then my “centre of gravity” would be low down and I wouldn’t get thrown around so much when the car machine moved and turned – and then I wouldn’t feel sickie. It is also a much safer way for doggies to travel. (The worst is to let doggies stand up at the back with no dog guard or climbing all over the seats and sticking their faces out the window! )

So Hsin-Yi started teaching me to do a Down Stay whenever I was in the car machine and ever since then, I have been a very good traveller and I always lie down calmly when I’m in the car machine.

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…OK – and finally Happy the Silky Terrier gave me a different Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you very much, Happy! 

For this version, I had to share 7 Things About My Human: 

1) Hsin-Yi’s name is Chinese – “Hsin” means ‘heart’ and “Yi” means ‘wishes’ – so together her name means “Heart’s Wishes“. When Chinese people give names to their human pups, they like to choose something which gives good luck to the owner of the name (like “Get Rich” – ha! ha!) – so Hsin-Yi’s name is supposed to help her get whatever her heart wishes for. 

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2) Hsin-Yi is very good with words and writing – but she is TERRIBLE at maths. Anytime she has to do maths with numbers that are double digits, her brain goes blurry and she starts panicking. She never checks the change she gets in shops or supermarkets ‘coz she can’t work it out and she is too embarrassed if people realise!  Paul thinks it is very funny that Hsin-Yi can’t work out percentages or anything and always has to have a calculator. 

Hsin-Yi can also never remember anything to do with numbers. Sometimes Paul asks her how much or how many something was and she will say, “Oh, it was 300 or 3,000 something…” and he’ll say, “Which one? There’s quite a big difference, you know!” and Hsin-Yi will say, “Oh, I don’t know – it was a number and there was a ’3′ at the front of it…!” 

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3) Hsin-Yi has had the same hairstyle since she was 6yrs old – long, straight hair with a middle parting. She is very boring and has never changed her hairstyle like lots of other humans do (well, except once when she cut it really short like a boy – and then she hated it and wished she never did it – and it took her ages to grow her hair back long again!) She has always desperately wanted curly hair but her hair is very thick, very heavy and very straight – so it doesn’t curl at all, even when she sleeps all night in rollers! 

Then a few years ago, she finally got brave and went to the hair salon where they did something to her hair called a “perm” which made her hair curly all the time – and she loved it! So now she says she will always get her hair permed – although she usually waits 1 yr in between so that she doesn’t hurt her hair too much. (It is now nearly one year so Hsin-Yi’s hair is nearly straight again – so she can’t wait for her next perm! ) 

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4) Hsin-Yi LOVES spicy food – she puts chillis in everything that she is cooking and always orders the dish with chillis from the menu in restaurants. She always let me taste some of it ever since I was a puppy - so now I quite like spicy food too! A dog trainer once told Hsin-Yi that covering stuff with chilli sauce was a good way to stop doggies chewing something (if ‘bitter apple’ didn’t work) but that would never work with me – ha! ha! I like chillis! 

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5) Hsin-Yi loves books like a drug. She always has her nose buried in a book – from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to bed.

She carries her book around with her all the time and reads when she is eating, when she’s watching TV, when she is doing anything (well, except maybe driving the car machine!)…if it’s a very exciting story, she’ll even take the book into the shower sometimes and has worked out how to shampoo her hair with one hand and hold the book with the other!  

If she doesn’t have new books, she will just re-read all her favourite old ones but she can’t ever not be reading a book. Her favourite books are mysteries and crime stories and stories about animals. She can read really fast and can usually finish a 500-page book in a day or two. 

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6) Hsin-Yi is a scaredy-cat and doesn’t like going on anything very fast or very high. She hates amusements parks with the scary rides which go looping around very fast or swing around and make your stomach sickie. She had to hold her 3yr-old baby sister in front of her when they went on rides in Disneyland!  She also doesn’t like going very fast in the car or on a boat – and when she learnt horse-riding, she never wanted to go faster than a trot!  

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7) Hsin-Yi is a useless cook. She never has the patience to measure and follow the instructions in recipe books and always just guesses how much when she is mixing things together and adding sauces and oils and things…that’s why everything always taste funny! She once baked a birthday cake for her daddy and used salt instead of sugar by mistake  - and then couldn’t understand why everybody was making funny faces when they were eating it!  

She is also really forgetful when she is cooking and so often leaves things on the fire or in the oven for too long… 

…for example, here is a roast pork belly that she tried to make because she got very excited after she watched Jamie Oliver in the TV box cooking a very yummy pork belly. She spent ages putting it in a special sauce called a ‘marinade’ and rubbing things on it – and then she put it in the oven and forgot all about it! By the time she remembered, this is what it looked like: 

It was supposed to be a special dinner for Paul and he managed to dig a bit of meat out from the middle which wasn’t burnt black! But he was very nice about it – Paul is always a gentleman and never complains about Hsin-Yi’s cooking. He just says he’s not very hungry…and then later goes to the pantry and sneaks out some cereal! Since they have been married for nearly 13 years now, Paul has eaten a LOT of cereal!  

Well, all I can say is thank goodness I’m on the Raw diet! 

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed learning a bit more about my human and about me as a puppy. I know most of you will have gotten these awards by now but if you haven’t, you’re welcome to take them! And I would love to hear you tell me 7 things about yourself as a puppy – or 7 things about your human!