Rolling in Pooh

What is it with dogs and their fascination in rolling in the most disgusting things, just to take on the smell?

The Tin has a particular fondness of rolling in gross stuff. During our walks in the park he has rolled in all manner of things - bird pooh (mostly duck pooh), dead fish, dead crabs, and some other unknowns.

He has even once had the opportunity to roll in horse pooh. That day, we actually just missed meeting the horse - they were driving out of the park just as we were driving in. I was quite bummed, because I would have loved to see how Titan and Ash would have reacted to this one animal actually bigger than them.

But off we went on our walk and at one stage we came across the droppings from the horse. I was watching them closely, as I wondered how they would react to the scent of an animal bigger than them, and, in fact, to such a large dropping. I probably should have expected the reaction, but I was still a little surprised when Titan walked up, had a quick sniff and within seconds was rolling in it.

"Boy, NO! Do you have to do that?"

The Tin tends to drop and roll rather quickly, and most of the time I don't get time to react before he is already smeared with whatever smell he was keen on, on that day.

One particular time he dropped and rolled into something so foul I could barely stand walking behind him. Even Asha seemed to be dodging him.

Needless to say, I received an SMS from my ex asking what had been going on because "Titan and Asha smelled so bad that I had to wash them again. And even after washing him, Titan still smelled bad, so I had to spray him with Axe. He'll attract all the girl dogs now!"

LOL

I still have no idea what it was that day. But I watch him like a hawk now, especially since we're going into summer again, and that's when the rolling comes back in full force.

Big boy, baby girl

I'm not sure when I started calling Titan, Big Boy, but he certainly lives up to the name.

As a fully grown Great Dane his shoulders are the same height from the ground as my hips, which is about 95cm. That's tall - even the vet says that he is unusually tall. Titan's weight, at last count, is 77kg. Big boy indeed.

Asha is slightly smaller - a few centimetres shorter, and only about 65kg (we can't get the exact weight as she is scared of the scale). Even though she is only slightly smaller than Titan, she will always be my Baby Girl, probably because she always needs encouragement, particularly with new experiences.

Both weigh more than me. And to think that when we first got them, they were so small that I could hold either of them with just my one arm. And at one stage they both used to sit on my ex's lap, as demonstrated by this picture:

Thing is, I love the fact that they are so big. There is so much more dog to cuddle with, and they love to cuddle.

Sometimes they use their size to their advantage, especially when it comes to sneaking food. And other times they like to act small, especially when it is time to cuddle. Titan still sits on my lap, except these days his bum barely fits, and his front paws stay on the floor.

Unfortunately, their size makes other dogs scared of them. I'm forever telling them "slowly" when we see another dog at the park, because sometimes they run up to the dogs, which just makes it worse. In all scenarios they both live up to the "Gentle Giant" nickname that Great Danes get. They don't fight, and they are gentle.

Titan just doesn't realise that it is his size that is making the other dog scared. All he wants to do is play, and he doesn't understand why the other dog doesn't want to play. Poor boy.