Spotlight on the Dog

People have asked me why I gave Lexie a Great Dane if I’ve never had one myself. I have a very simple answer — wish fulfillment! I have always wanted a Great Dane.

I had an encounter with a Dane when I was  little that stuck with me. An enormous gray Dane came galloping down a long driveway barking, skidded to a stop and allowed me to pet him — probably because (1) I was a child, and (2) I had no fear. In fact, he seemed quite happy to meet me. (Obviously) I’ve never forgotten it.

I think one of the (maybe unlikely?) things that appeals to me about Great Danes is is their  size; they’re like horse substitutes. I was a very horsey girl — both in my reading and in real life. (I rode and showed — English saddle — from the ages of about nine to seventeen).

Also, I grew up with dogs, and learned about them from books and from my parents who told me stories of dogs they had.

Dogs are not judgmental. They offer unconditional love. They also seem to recognize that children are different from adults — not just in size — and therefore are worthy of protection and tolerance. Dogs adapt to houses and even apartments, which is not something you can say about horses.

As I am not likely to spend a lot of time with horses in my current life, a Great Dane seems like a decent compromise, but I am not there yet. So I gave Gretel, a Harlequin Great Dane, to Lexie.