The big guy

Wow.  We picked up a dog the other day from the rescue society who we work with.  He is part Great Pyrenees, mixed with something else.  We named him Sampson.  I didn't really realize how big he is until we got him home.  The lady who had him has four Great Pyrenees, so he looked normal-sized at her house.  I should have known when he took up most of the room on the back seat of the Saturn on the ride home.  But still I didn't realize how big he is until he got home and I compared him to my dog.  I thought she was a smallish-normal-sized dog.  But she is tiny in comparison!

He is about 85 pounds right now and he is under-nourished.  I can feel all of his bones.  You wouldn't be able to notice just by looking at him thought since he has so much fur.  It is amazing how much fur he has! 

We picked him up on Saturday, so today will be five days.  Today is the first day that he has been left alone.

I have to admit we have had some problems with him.  He has been in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for about a year with no one on the property.  I guess the owner had the farmer down the road feeding him every few days.  I would think that he would be very wild, but really he is very kind.  He needs to learn manners about dog interaction about people interaction, but he learns fast.  He is not house trained, but he has only gone once in the house.  He has learned sit and come.  He walks well on a leash...not great, but well.  He isn't aggressive about food.  We have been putting a doggy diaper on him every time he comes in.  He hasn't been bad about that either.  He gets to listen to the radio all day long.  :-) 

We are not sure if we will be able to keep him or not.  But for now we are keeping our hearts open to the possibilities and giving him all the love that he should have had over the past year and a half of his life.

This picture isn't him, but it is about the size he is.  He has more golden color on his back and a mask of golden, white and black on his face and head.