TheBanyanTree: hiking fun

[Sachet]

I was looking over my Great Dane rescue website last week and one of the
older dogs caught my attention. I emailed Jim the link and he agreed we
could meet him as soon as I could arrange it. It worked out that
Saturday was the day. We hadn't really planned on getting another dog
but his situation just touched my heart. (he's a senior dane - 7 years
old and no one wanted him)

I don't know who was more excited about meeting Zeus, Jim
or me! It was love at first sight (of course).

He has settled in beautifully. Cissy (our other 2 year old Great Dane)
can't body bully him like she does our Golden Retriever (Cloud), and
they were beginning to play with each other today. His bark is about 2
ranges lower than Cissy's (and I thought hers was deep!) and when she
annoys him too much he tells her to hush up and she does. I love it!

He let me remove his sutures (from being neutered) with no problems and
also stepped into the shower like a gentleman. He is SUCH a sweetheart!
We need to put about 15 pounds on him, but he is snarfing his food down,
so that won't be a problem.

He is the most beautiful shade of chocolate brown. (Chocolate Merle) I
want to rename him Zen because it fits him perfectly, but Jim likes
his current name of Zeus. Plus, Jim is bonding with him so well.
It makes me glad that Zeus is such a man's dog.

Zeus had a wonderful time hiking on Sunday and has more energy than
the other two who are used to hiking. He was great in the car even
though Miss Cissy tries to hog enough space for 3 Danes.

Another hiker didn't see us stopping to give the dogs a drink and only
saw the back end and side of Cissy as they were coming down the trail. I
heard her exclaiming about the "grey spotted deer". Umm......yeah....the 
rare
Grey-Spotted Deer are only found in the Great Smoky Mountains. <g>

We stopped at Walmart on our way home for a quick minute. We parked in
the shade with the windows all down a few inches so the car wouldn't
totally smell like dogs when we got back in it. There were a couple of
teenage girls sitting in the shade leaning against the building with
their two little dogs. Our windows are tinted so dark that you can't see
anything but the front seat. When we left the store, and as I rounded
the corner, I used my remote to start my car to get the a/c going.
(They didn't see me.) It always beeps and flashes the lights before it
starts.

Both of the girls jumped, totally freaked out, and one of them yelled
"What the hell?!? How did he do that?!?!"

When I got closer I saw why they were so surprised. Zeus was sitting in
the driver's seat looking quite comfortable and very capable. I about
fell over laughing so hard.

In the car on the way home, Cissy was laying down and Cloud
decided to stand over her for some goofy reason and look out
the window. He knows he's supposed to be laying down, too. Well, all of
a sudden Cissy decided to stand up. Cloudy weighs half of what she does,
so it was like watching one of those hydraulic auto jacks lift a car up
into the air. He finally slide off before he hit the roof of the car.
Jim couldn't figure out why I was giggling so hard I couldn't even talk
to explain.

It was a hilarious day.