From almost the minute Kat and I started dating, she has been talking about getting another big dog. Before she moved to the lake, she had a 250 lb St. Bernard. Her condo association doesn't allow big dogs, so she had to re-home him when she moved. She had mentioned that if she had only met me a few months earlier, I might have been able to keep her dog for her. So as we became more comfortable in our relationship, she would come over and talk about getting a dog together. I would mention over and over that I already have a dog, and that having two really makes it hard to just get up and do things.
In November Kat came over one weekend and said that she had found a Great Dane / Labrador online, and asked if I would go see it with her. I knew what her game was, how would I be able to say no to a cute puppy. We went and saw the puppy, but it turned out they were just guessing at the breed. For his age he was way to small to have any Dane in him, so we passed on the dog. I had softened on the idea of getting a dog though.
There were a couple of good reasons to get another dog. The first was that Juno was still young enough to enjoy being with a puppy, and it would be good for a puppy to have Juno, so it wouldn't be so alone when I am at work. My other thought was that we were going into fall and my hours had been temporarily cut, so this would be the ideal time to train a dog. Kat had suggested waiting until spring, but I said that wouldn't work. That would mean giving up another summer because it would take all the time to train a puppy.
Kat kept looking for larger dogs, and found a web site that was selling Mastidanes or Daniffs, a Mastiff / Great Dane mix. They had a litter of puppies, but they weren't going to be available until the first week in December. I looked at the pictures of the puppies and thought they were really cool looking dogs. They just seemed like a good fit. Kat got in touch with the breeder and made an appointment to go see them in Ohio.
The following Friday we headed to Ohio to look at the puppies. Kat was trying to convince me the whole way that she was just going to look at them, and that if they aren't exactly what she wants, she was leaving. I knew from the pictures that she was going to fall in love with them instantly, and she would put a deposit on one. I was still a little apprehensive, but I knew how much she wanted a big dog, and I figured the timing made sense. I also knew it would mean a lot of sleepless nights, so I wouldn't be heartbroken if she didn't get one. Of course that would also mean, I would keep hearing about it every weekend until we did get one.
Of course when we got there, the puppies were adorable. Kat was worried that they weren't big enough, but I assured her that he was going to get plenty big. She held one for a while, then went into the pen with all of them. She wanted a boy, so she was deciding between a couple. I knew she was just trying to pick out the biggest one. I was trying to pay attention to temperament, but I could see that wasn't going to have any affect. It was all about the size. It kind of reminded me of when I was a kid and my dad would take me to the store, and I was allowed to get one candy bar. I didn't pick the candy bar because it was my favorite, I usually got the one that I thought was the biggest. That usually meant I got a Butterfinger which I do like, and Kat picked out Porter which I also really like.
The drive home was about 2 hours. Porter was not happy being in the car at all. He whined and moved around all the time. He was 10 weeks old, but he was already 27 pounds, so it was a bit of a stressful trip. He threw up in the car, but he didn't have any other accidents, so that made me feel good. He pooped as soon as he got out of the car which also made me think housebreaking might not be too bad, and in general it really wasn't.
The hardest part of house breaking Porter was carrying him down the stairs at night. He was growing at a rate of 5 lbs a week, so in two weeks he was almost 40 lbs. He was scared of going down the stairs, so I had to carry him. We were getting some remodeling done, and the railing on the stairway was off while they repaired the drywall and painted. That made carrying him up and down the stairs kind of tricky. He finally started going up the stairs on his own, but it was still a couple of weeks before he went down the stairs. He still doesn't like stairs much, but at least he does them. There is no way I could carry him now.
Porter is a bit of a nervous dog. We have been taking him to stores and to the dog park to help him get used to people and other dogs, and he has gotten a lot better, but he is still nowhere near the level Juno is. It isn't fair to compare Juno to Porter though. When we got Juno, we still owned the restaurant, so she interacted with people and other dogs every single day. She didn't have any choice but to be social. Porter is doing really well, and every week he gets more and more comfortable with strangers both human and other dogs.
Porter turns 6 months tomorrow, and he is almost 100 lbs. Kat still calls him small, but I just shake my head and walk away now. I would say Porter is about 99.9 % house broken, and other than a few accidents here and there was pretty easy to train. He has been through the first round of puppy classes, and he has learned a lot, but he also has a bit of a stubborn streak in him. He probably isn't as smart as Juno is, but he is more affectionate. At 100 lbs, he still thinks he is a lap dog, and he wants attention all the time. I was really reluctant about getting another dog, but getting Porter was the right decision.
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