Big Dog, Little Baby

I have been super curious to see how Texas will do with a baby in the house. He is constantly 'in our business', which means following us super closely all around the house. This is a terrible thing for a Great Dane to be doing because it means that he is always stepping on our feet or worse, jabbing our achilles tendon with his huge nails. Sometimes his nails will jab you when your on the up-step, and he will get the sole of your foot. It is not ideal, trust me. The other thing that he is always doing, and poor guy doesn't even know it, is whipping us with his tail. It hits about man's crotch level, 'sweep across the end table' level, and 'demolish anything on the coffee table level'. It has been the cause of bruised legs, spilled drinks, and food being thrown to the floor. This thing is an animal in itself, take my word for it!


His size makes him a little bit intimidating for the children that are in our family, and it doesn't help that most of Tim's family is scared of dogs anyway, no matter the size. So when a child asks to see him, he comes at them ready to play, and they start squealing in fear/excitement, which makes him want to play harder. This has led to us pretty much sheltering him from visitors.


Hunter will be at an advantage, though. He will live in the same house from birth, and Tex can watch him grow up. When Hunter is toddling around, Texas will be about four or five years old and will hopefully be a touch calmer than he is now. Also, when Hunter is around, he will be just like Tim or me... we are there everyday and there is nothing exciting about that!


I was so excited to have a chance to test Texas out on a baby last night! We invited my parents over for dinner because we haven't done so in a while, and they wanted to see the progress on the nursery! What better time than to see what he would do to a baby?!


I had Texas in the backyard when they came in so that they could set Isabella down, and avoid all the barking that no doubt ensues when someone approaches the door. She was on the kitchen table in the car seat when I let him in and he was WAY interested. Too interested for my liking, but luckily my dad was there to keep me calm and say, "It's ok, he's totally fine"... I am used to his intrusiveness, but most others are not! He really was sniffing hard, and was super interested in the toys hanging off of her car seat handle. He has a thing about stuffed animals. To him, they all belong to him!


While he never really left her alone, he was never violent (I didn't think it would go that far, anyways), but he also didn't do his playful growl, or even bark. She started to fuss a little bit, and it got his attention back on her, but again it was like he just wanted to smell her!


First time with an infant and he did really well, in my opinion!

He spent a lot of the night circling the
breakfast table, trying to get the best look at her!

He did a great job!

For those wondering, yes we are looking to buy a pub height table, lol! He has never gotten any human food (poor guy has a sensitive tummy), and this has made it to where he doesn't care about food at all! When we did start eating he laid on the tile and watched, there is no begging for food from this guy!