Thanks & Puppy Medals

When I started this blog, I did it more for a way to look back and have documentation of Capone being a part of our lives.  And honestly, at the beginning it just felt like I was writing more for myself or even more-so, TO myself. As the months have gone by, it’s been so nice to be getting feedback and great comments about Capone and how much people enjoy hearing my stories about him. I hit 1,000 views the other day and I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I’ve gotten that many people on my page 🙂 So a big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to give us a little visit!

Today Capone turned 7 months (all 80+ pounds of him) and we got a really awesome package in the mail! As some of you remember, we took some Puppy 1 classes a few months ago (here is a picture from that post, look how little he looked!!) at our fave doggy hangout spot A Dog’s Life, that included registration as an AKC S.T.A.R Puppy. Well, we mailed in the paperwork and look what we got!

Capone tried to help open the other parts of the package but all he managed to do was bump my hand and make the shot blurry 🙂

This is what he was after…

Woohoo! Capone’s first medal 🙂

Now that we have the basic puppy training classes under our belt, I’m hoping to get Capone into some more challenging (but fun) training classes, agility classes and finally get him into the AKC Canine Good Citizen program. I’m hoping to one day have Capone be a therapy dog to take him to convalescent homes or to rehabilitation facilities so that he can make someones day a little more goofy 🙂

Now that the weather is getting nicer, it’ll be easier to take him to different places and have him experience more surroundings. Speaking of the weather getting nicer, is anyone else shedding like crazy??

Of course, I don’t mind Capone’s dog hair since its grey and practically blends in with everything (except for his favorite blanket/girlfriend). So as of lately when we brush him, which ends up now being around every other day, we get a halo of hair that surrounds him when he lays down to get brushed! I can make a little toy hamster out of all the hair that I collect after his brushing/massage sessions. I actually use his grooming tool to pick up the hair after I’m done since it almost acts like a magnet on the carpet. That’s why in the picture you see a lot of carpet fluff 🙂

I’m so glad he likes it so much and in fact “reminds” us of it by dropping his Kong Zoom Groom in our laps. Its made out of this really tough rubber that is very durable. He’s used it as a chew toy since we got it the first week we got Capone. He probably sees it as his massage time rather than being just grooming time.

This is what we use.  As you can see he enjoys every minute of it and gives us his best “good boy” sit to get his massages 🙂

Eventually he lays down and almost falls asleep while we do it!

Which works for me because then I get to clean his ears..

And my.. what big ears you have!

We can’t forget the teeth either…

After all of that, Capone is happy to get some snuggles from his favorite little boy 🙂

Until next time and hope everyone had a wonderful Earth Day 🙂

Capone’s New Bed!

Hello blog world! We’ve been gone for a week to visit my in-laws near the Lake Tahoe, Ca area (I’ll blog about that in a few days once I’ve uploaded the pictures) so I’ve been MIA from posting! I was getting withdrawals so now that everything is nicely unpacked and the kids are in bed I can share what’s new 🙂

Capone got a new bed! If you remember, this is what his old crate looked like. Silly us, thought that he would last in this crate for a while. But it only took 3 months for him to outgrow it! Josh and I thought about buying the largest crate available but since Capone is out of his chewing phase and has never destroyed anything related to the sofas and carpets, we thought we would try and just get him a large comfy bed. I even tested it out about a week and a half ago, we took down his crate and I went errand running to see how he would do without it. I told him to be a good boy (put some large ride-on toys on the sofa to deter him from being a couch potato) and came back to a very undisturbed house with a sleepy boy lounging in the sun. Did I also mention that I didn’t want a huge ugly crate in the living room? Of course, if we NEEDED to we would get the monstrous crate but I have confidence that Capone is past the crate necessity months.

So I happily started researching the biggest comfiest bed I could find him. I found a website that makes eco-friendly dog beds from recycled materials and I was SO happy that they made XXXL beds! http://www.dogbedsforless.com is the site and I ordered a 58x 50 inch bed that comes with a suede cover that overlaps a waterproof lining and inside has 100% recycled chunks of memory foam. The site also carries other replacement covers including a denim cover we’ll be buying once the weather really changes to keep him nice and cool! The price was relatively inexpensive ( $92) and it accommodates pets up to 180 pounds.  Most of the reviews are Dane owners so that was a selling point! Poor Capone gets used to a bed and then WOosh.. it gets switched on him, so we’re thinking long-term with this bed this time and hopefully it lasts for quite a while!

Here are pictures of the product…

Doesnt that Dane look comfy?

So after a few days, it showed up on our door! I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of us opening it. Needless to say it was VERY vacuum packed and once I made the first cut of the package it started to swell up like a balloon! Capone didn’t know what to think of it and was very scared so we opened it while we gave him a little snack outside so that he wouldn’t be afraid of it and not even want to lay on it! Once I got the very comfy suede cover on it and put it in the same spot as his other bed we let him in.

Its half the size of our sofa!

Sniffin out the new bed

He needed a little encouragement from Josh!

I’m still not sure!!

Finally settling down

I’ll pretend that I like it, okay?

5 minutes go by and he’s still on the bed.. so far so good!

Even though for the first 30 minutes he was kind of apprehensive about the new fluffy big thing that was in place of his old dog bed, he finally settled down and just rested. I thought everything was going well until bedtime came around and Capone kept pacing and pacing, moving from location to location trying to get comfy. I knew something was up, so I went to the car and got his old memory foam bed and put it on top of the new bed to test my theory. And voila..

Sometimes you just need a little piece of what you know to move on with something new. Nite nite everyone!

Growing Up!

It’s vet day and Capone had an appointment for his last round of shots. Dr. Kureshi at Cupertino Animal Hospital is really amazing and is always so attentive. I picked him because he had experience with large breed puppies, was an advocate of a raw diet and can always squeeze a patient in if need be.

Its always nice to have pleasant experiences at our vets office and Capone has never showed any fear or anxiety to go see his doc 🙂 Which makes me a very happy camper.

Waiting patiently for his turn

Getting love before the ouchies come!

What ouchies? I’m too busy eating these “cookies”!

Of course, as usual, Capone didnt even feel it! Well, maybe he did, but he wasnt letting on 🙂 What a tough guy! And after tipping the scales at 62 pounds, we were on our way home. Here is a look at an average Great Dane growth chart. Even though its not something you should follow to a “T” (every dog is different and grows in his proper way) its a nice way to get an idea of how much and how fast these beauties grow on average.

Birth weight: 1-2 lbs
Week 1: 2-3 lbs
Week 2: 3-5 lbs
Week 3: 4-7 lbs
Week 4: 5-8 lbs
Week 6: 12-20 lbs
Month 2: 18-27 lbs (13-17″)
Month 3: 30-45 lbs (17″-22″)
Month 4: 50-65 lbs (21″-25″)
Month 5: 65-85 lbs (25″-30″)
Month 6: 70-100 lbs (27-32″)
Month 7: 75-110 lbs (27-33″)
Month 8: 80-115 lbs. (27-34″)
Month 9: 85-120 lbs. (28-34″)
One year: 90-135 lbs (28-36″)

Full grown: 100-190 lbs (28″-38″)

For males, 140-170 lbs. & 33-36″is typical
For females 110-140 & 30-33″ is typical.

Capone even lost a tooth this week! I couldnt find it, he had been gnawing on a trachea that morning so I know its probably long gone. But here is a picture of the hole 🙂

Check out my pearly whites!

Until next check up!

Woof, Woof 🙂

HEARTBEAT!!

Since we got Capone, Ive been so surprised at how fast and how much his heart beats even when he’s snoring! The expression, “beating out of his chest” puts new meaning when captured in a video! I’m still in awe at how big and massive everything on his relatively new body is 🙂

 

New Bed/Training Mat

So Capone is now officially in his Puppy 2 class! One of the requirements is to bring a soft mat that will be comfy and welcoming in order to teach “park”, “stay”, “on your mat”, etc. But silly me thought a doormat would be enough. Poor Capone didnt even have enough room to stretch out let alone have a mat that would be comfy and inviting enough to want to stay on. So I set out to find the most comfy mat (that could grow along with him) that I could find. I visited my local dog boutique (because we like to support local businesses). Its called For Other Living Things and its a wonderful store! Here is a short video of their dog section.

Capone loves to go in and select his own pig ears, tracheas and bully sticks for the week. Its one of our favorite places to visit since they always have a new treat for him to try. Well, we found the biggest mat/bed we could find but unfortunately it is a little too square to fit into his new crate. I couldn’t resist picking it up so that we could use it for his puppy 2 class (of course he’ll have the biggest mat in the class) especially since poor Capone needed a big one that we can use for more than a month! So I ordered one to fit his crate and we took the bed home.

I think he likes it!!

So much so, that he fell off of it because he was snoring so hard!

We’ll see how he does with it tomorrow at his Puppy 2 class! Maybe he might even share it with some of his smaller classmates.

Speaking of sharing, or lack thereof…. I think sharing Lily’s comfy chair days are over because she was NOT happy! Hee hee!!

Until next time! Woof Woof!