Marc,
It was really great to talk with you tonight, I'm so glad you called.  How interesting that someone would recognize Princess on the web site and ask about her.  You can assure them that she is well, and happy, and living the life of Reilly here in California.  We also call her Boodle – I can’t tell you where that came from, it just popped out one day and now she responds equally well to either name.  She looooooves to have her butt scratched and will shamelessly back up to anyone she sees with a free hand.  She’s a sun worshiper who spends hours sprawled on the lawn or the Kuranda soaking up the rays, often sprawled on her back with her speckled belly skyward.

She's quite the chew monster, but unlike the other Danes does no harm to the furniture, just the Dane toys.  She's a happy, affectionate girl and loves to cuddle on a couch or with Chris in his recliner but is also in her element when she's gnawing bite-sized chunks off toys (yes, even KONGS) and spitting them out where I have to pick them up before vacuuming.  I swear she knows what she's doing and grins at me.  It’s a hoot to watch her wake up from a snooze on the couch and launch herself toward the toy box, a Woman on a Mission.  She pulls toys out until she finds just the right one, than plops down onto a dog bed to chew it to bits (the toy, not the bed). 

I took Princess to the vet at the end of October for her well-baby checkup.  She passed the usual checkpoints with flying colors including a really thorough exam of her teeth and gums since we think she’s somewhere around the 4 year range (could your correspondent shed any light on how old she really is?).  Her general health is great; cardiovascular functions are good, her blood work is all normal and she weighed in at 128 which is where she should be for her 33 inch frame.  Her teeth and gums look really, really good!  I’ll bet it's all those toys she eats.  The only concern I have is her joints – we both know she’s not very well bred, and she occasionally has to make an extra HEAVE to get up.  We’ll keep an eye on her for hip/joint issues as she gets older and keep her weight real close.  She’s built a little odd – very broad – but the vet agrees she’s not fat; she’s just, um, wide. 

One thing I forgot to tell you when we were talking:  For the longest time I worried about her social skills with humans because she greets us (and all guests) with a deep, throaty, guttural sound that is not really a growl but it’s a very scary sound.  After a year of this troubling sound I suddenly realized what it was, and I figured it out because she was doing it while standing next to Claire who was woo-wooing at me.  I started monitoring when she does it and, of course, this is her version of woo-woos!  Doh! 

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