[Shalva]

and a bit over 120 lbs...
She is quite tall and I measured her at 31 inches at the shoulder the other day... Honestly she is a super easy girl and both my husband and I are smitten... over the past month or so the housebreaking has improved but she had a rough spot and had gotten quite sick after picking up a bug at a show... she proceeded to pass it to every other dog in the house... we are just now getting off the antibiotics....

We are showing her this weekend so I am hopeful as she really is quite lovely but has no coat at all.. it has come out in clumps and has alot of growing in to do but she has so much substance we are hoping it won't be an issue...

We have started her on a bit of raw food so at night she gets a raw dinner and she is liking that alot... and honestly the sooner I can get rid of kibble the happier I am... we go through a 33 lb. bag a week as she currently eats a bit over 5 cups per meal and a half a can twice a day... the kibble is getting a bit pricey... as you can see she takes up the entire couch.... honestly she needs her own.... and I am not sure why she has to lay on the table but whatever... if it makes her happy what do I care.... she also likes the cat but I am not sure that the feelings are reciprocated

so thats the update on miss natalie....

 

[Bentley's Mom]

She is so beautiful. I was just thinking about her today. The 2nd picture is priceless.

 

[iansgran]

big girls rule!

 

[Shalva]

thanks guys,,, she is a big girl if nothing else but she is also super sweet... we are showing her this friday and saturday so it should be interesting....

 

[Red the super dog]

she is such a pretty dog! what kind is she? i love her coat, its really cool! great pictures, i love the close-up of her face!
my dogs love the cats too, but our oldest cat doesn't feel the same.

 

[Shalva]

she is such a pretty dog! what kind is she? i love her coat, its really cool! great pictures, i love the close-up of her face!
my dogs love the cats too, but our oldest cat doesn't feel the same.

Thanks for he kind words... Natalie is an Irish Wolfhound.... my first... and watching her grow and change is just amazing to be honest...

 

[magiclover]

Natalie is looking so beautiful. It must be fascinating to see her grow!

 

[CAROLINA MOM]

Beautiful Natalie, so nice to see these new pictures of her-they're great, love her Christmas attire. Love the update about her too, so sorry to hear she has been sick as well as your other pups.

 

[Willow52]

When I see a thread title with Natalie I always pop in to take a look. She's beautiful!

 

[Shalva]

oh she is fine .... just some kennel cough that turned into a upper respiratory .... but they are all fine now...

I just felt so bad for her not feeling well

 

[kwhit]

Natalie is beautiful! I always wait for updated threads on her. I miss having a giant breed in my life. I had Danes, not Wolfhounds, but giants get under your skin for some reason. For me anyway. It's different than any other dog...it's difficult to explain.

I'll always have a Golden, I'm head over heals in love with Chance and I was with Savanah, also, (sorry Lucy, but no more small dogs for me ). It's been 14 years since I've had a Dane and I still miss them soooooo much. I've belonged to a Dane board for almost 9 years just so I can stay "close" to the breed.

Maybe it's their size, or being that big and how they're still so gentle. I don't know if I'll ever be able to have another Dane and just saying that breaks my heart.

Shalva...is it that way for you, too? Does it feel different with Natalie than your other dogs? I don't want anyone to think that I don't love Chance with all my heart, I do. And again, I'll always have a Golden. It's just something about a giant breed, for me anyway. IDK, I'm probably not expressing it right anyway.

 

[Shalva]

Shalva...is it that way for you, too? Does it feel different with Natalie than your other dogs? I don't want anyone to think that I don't love Chance with all my heart, I do. And again, I'll always have a Golden. It's just something about a giant breed, for me anyway. IDK, I'm probably not expressing it right anyway.

I totally understand that. I love all my dogs and you aren't supposed to love one child more but yeah.... I haven't been able to isolate whether it is the hound thing or the giant dog thing but yeah there is something about her... her attitude her size... her fuzzy face... but yeah I just want to eat her up... I honestly can't wait to see her at the end of the day.... I teach a 2:00 class at the U. and by 3:15 i am itching to get going so I can go and pick her up...

Here we will always have our goldens... when we originally got the dogs my husband wanted a golden and I wanted a flat coat.... the reality is that at this point I think we will always have goldens and definitely the wolfhounds... what happens with the flat coats remains to be seen. I am not sure if we will continue with the flats... I love them to bits but the energy level is a bit much at times....

But yeah I get it... there is something about these big giant dogs that just wraps you around their paws... its amazing... and I will never not have a wolfhound ever...

 

[kwhit]

But yeah I get it... there is something about these big giant dogs that just wraps you around their paws... its amazing...

It is amazing. This picture is my very first Dane, Jake, (sorry for the poor picture quality but it was taken about 35 years ago), with my cat Mingo:



Jake was everything to me. He was my first heart dog and I took him everywhere with me. My parents never worried about me when I was with Jake. I used to do landscape photography and went alone to remote areas, (no other human, anyway ), but with Jake I always felt secure.

He was 5 years old when he bloated. I got him into surgery on time but then he died a week later of a heart attack. :bawling: My parents were in the vets office to get his stiches out, (I was going to work), and he was fine...playing with the techs and being his usual goofy self.

They got called into the exam room and his vet said that he'd just remove Jake's stitches while he was on the ground, (too big to lift onto the table). So, the vet got on the floor and was underneath him taking them out when Jake just collapsed on top of the doctor. He was gone in less than a second.

Everyone in the room was literally dumbstruck...his vet was speechless. They pulled Jake from on top of him and started trying to revive him. But Jake was gone. My parents said that at that moment everyone, including the vet, started crying. Jake was a favorite of the office.

My parents told the doctor that they couldn't call me, that if he could. They knew I would fall apart, which I did. I was just leaving for work and the phone rang. I'll never forget it...I had to take a week off of work and to this day, 31 years later, if I see a male fawn Dane in person I'll cry.

Sorry for the long post but for some reason, seeing this post about Natalie brought back Jake's memory stronger than usual.

Here's a painting I had done of him 10 years after he passed: