I Heart Big, Wise Dogs

Anyone who reads Thrive knows that I’m a huge fan of dogs. I love reading about their history and I love watching them learn skill and compete. For me, watching a skilled dog is like watching a well-prepared athlete compete. Anyway, lately I’ve been digging big dogs. I can’t stand toy dogs, and normally my heart is set on the mid weight dogs from 40-60 pounds. But lately, I’ve been really into the big, lumbering grandfatherly kind of dogs like the Borzoi breed and the Irish Woflhound. There’s something about these breeds that remind me of the character Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Something wise and mysterious. And from a practical standpoint, they aren’t big barkers (another reason I hate the toy breeds, as they yip and yap like crazy).