Harlequin Great Danes

As he lifted his leg, I watched, enviously

Sniff, sniff, not a reference to me noisily crying, but the theme last Saturday at Toronto’s annual Woofstock gathering at St. Lawrence Market. Arpad and Maya were fairly indifferent about going but they climbed into the minivan with an air of cynical resignation, the specialty of Hungarians of any species. “It’s Woofstock’s ninth year,” I told them, “and there will be more dogs there than anywhere else in North America.” (I’m not certain that was true but the lady on the Weather Network had pronounced it with the same certainty she announced thunderstorms that afternoon, which fortunately was also wrong.) Actually, neither of my dogs is particularly interested in socializing with anyone but each other and me—a characteristic of kuvasz that makes even my intact male welcome at dog parks—but I wanted to go so they took me.

The atmosphere was a little cheesy, a bit like the Easter fun fair on Hampstead Heath, with lots of foul-smelling fast food. I dragged them into a Kijiji booth to be photographed for the Internet. “Would you fill out this release form?” the chirpy young lady asked, flourishing a clipboard. This immediately registered her as a non-dog person. I have two hands. One had Maya (42 kilos and underweight) and the other had Arpad (50 kilos and growing). If I could have put them in a handbag, which I was not carrying, her request would have made sense.

You can see how the ordinary becomes extraordinary through the eyes of a master filmmaker like Fellini or an artist like Brueghel. Lots of two-legged people of varying shapes and sizes gathered to talk while their four-legged companions made their own commentary. A tiny manicured toy poodle quietly lifted its leg and urinated on the hind leg—well, ankle, really—of a Great Dane as their owners chatted unaware. The harlequin Great Dane, being a gentle giant, simply looked around, sniffed and turned away. If only nations could react so wisely to such provocation, I thought. Well, no, I didn’t think that. I watched enviously and wished I had the bloody nerve to lift a leg and do the same thing on a long list of humans.

A young woman had a pit bull in a papoose-like contraption on her back. The poor dog was all muzzled up to satisfy Ontario’s bigoted breed-specific laws—genocidal laws actually—and perhaps in sympathy, its owner had camouflaged her own face with studs and rings everywhere. “You can kiss it,” she said, meaning her dog, not her studs, and I leaned forward and the little tongue came out of the muzzle and licked my face. Clayton Ruby and Olivia Chow are fighting the laws, she said, naming two of Toronto’s lefty activists, and I thought, well, I’d sign on to that, which only goes to show that dogs make strange bedfellows. A few minutes later the dog peed copiously in the papoose and the young woman was drenched.

Great Dane - Axel - Extra Large - Young - Male - Dog | Knoxville ...

Axel is a stunning one year old male harlequin Great Dane. He is still a total puppy in a big Dane body! He is a very sweet boy and does well with other dogs his size. He loves to play rough with other Danes. He has not met any smaller dogs just yet. So far he is very curious about cats, and we are teaching him to respect their space. Axel is learning to walk on the leash with the gentle leader and is doing well so far. He is cratetrained and is learning about basic manners and commands with his foster parents. Axel is still a puppy and he can be mouthy, he needs a firm and consistent owner that will continue his training. He is a stubborn boy, that coupled with his extra large size makes him quite a handful. Therefore Axel will only be adopted to a Giant Breed experienced owner. Axel has had a Gastropexy as well as surgery to correct his eye problem along with his neuter. His eye will heal up just fine, and he will have no additional issues from the procedure. Are you this playful boy's forever home?

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