“Where does an 85-pound dog sit?”
“Wherever he wants to.”
My family decided over the summer that they needed another dog around the house. Not wanting to deal with all the exhaustion and work that goes with raising and training a puppy, they instead adopted an older dog who needed a new home. His name is Brodie and he’s a very sweet dog who loves to cuddle.
Here’s Brodie, 10, and my family’s English Springer Spaniel, Maggie. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that Maggie is insane and has some temper issues. She’s a wannabe alpha dog and my family sort of hoped he’d put her in her place. But it turns out Brodie is much too nice for that. On the other hand, he’s incredibly patient and loves to snuggle with my youngest brother. He really is an old man - he groans and moans all the time. Skinny as a whip, too.
But at some point over the summer, they decided that just wasn’t enough. So they started looking for another rescue Gordon Setter, and recently they found one. Hence the Moose.
Last weekend, my father and youngest brother drove to Virginia to pick up this dog. He’s a “show” Gordon, not a “field” dog, and there is a very large difference in size as it turns out. He’s tall enough to put his head over the kitchen table and eat off plates with no effort at all. He weighs 85 pounds, which is almost as much as Brodie and Maggie combined. When he wants to turn around, he sometimes goes into another room just to have enough space.
My brother wanted to call him Jack, but I think my family has come around to my proposed name: Moose. Here’s why. (I also suggested Clifford. I assume you can see why.)
This isn’t a trick of perspective. He’s actually just enormous.
When this guy drinks a bowl of water, he’ll end up soaking almost the whole kitchen floor. It’s a shame they can’t attach a mop to him. He has jowls almost like a bloodhound. And he drools a bit. His face is titanic, although I guess it’s proportional to the rest of him. It’s a strange sensation being around this dog. It’s like there’s more of him every time you look.
All that said, he seems pretty chill. He is used to getting his own way, I’m sure, and he’s still settling in with my family. He hadn’t seen me before and having this monstrosity bark in your face is pretty intimidating. He doesn’t like to sit still, which may be an issue because he takes up so much room, but he’s not hyperactive. He also seems to like gumming people’s fingers, which I don’t mind, but is a little unnerving when the dog is big enough to eat your hand in one bite.
I’m sorry, but it was the right thing to do. Still makes me :(.
