LittleDog
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2020
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- 2020 Sahara JLU
Now, I'm confused. All great dogs here, but how many are "big"? How big exactly is a "big dog"?
Growing up, I always thought St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, Great Danes, and mastiffs were the "big" dogs. Lassie, Rin tin tin, Labradors, and such were regular old dogs, and Border Collies, Pitt Bulls, and the like were a bit on the smaller side.
Maybe I'm skewed by the Basset Hound we had that weighed 63-72lbs. He was "small" because he was short, but he could steal food off the countertop if you weren't careful. He was deceptively "tall". His favourite hobbies were running away multiple times a day, and knocking over neighborhood kids on their way home from school. He brought back a dollar bill on two separate occasions.
He would scare the heck out of strangers visiting; a fully-grown Basset baying is no joke, they probably thought Cujo was coming down the hall. But when he rounded the corner, and they had to re-aim their eyeballs two feet lower, they usually felt a bit safer. Some would even smile, before the drool hit them. So he couldn't have been a big (scary) dog, right?
He later got a Golden Retreiver buddy that ended up around 75-83lbs. A bit above average for the breed, but still considered him a "regular" sized dog. Neither were fat; maybe we gave them an extra few pounds in the winter.
I didn't realise until many years later that some (most) people would rightly think that an unknown 80lb. dog running towards you is a scary thing.
So how big is a big dog? My namesake LittleDog weighs forty pounds now, but he'd gotten fat in 2020. He's definitely not a big dog, but is he "little"? Was the old Basset "big"? Am I actually MediumDog?
Growing up, I always thought St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, Great Danes, and mastiffs were the "big" dogs. Lassie, Rin tin tin, Labradors, and such were regular old dogs, and Border Collies, Pitt Bulls, and the like were a bit on the smaller side.
Maybe I'm skewed by the Basset Hound we had that weighed 63-72lbs. He was "small" because he was short, but he could steal food off the countertop if you weren't careful. He was deceptively "tall". His favourite hobbies were running away multiple times a day, and knocking over neighborhood kids on their way home from school. He brought back a dollar bill on two separate occasions.
He would scare the heck out of strangers visiting; a fully-grown Basset baying is no joke, they probably thought Cujo was coming down the hall. But when he rounded the corner, and they had to re-aim their eyeballs two feet lower, they usually felt a bit safer. Some would even smile, before the drool hit them. So he couldn't have been a big (scary) dog, right?
He later got a Golden Retreiver buddy that ended up around 75-83lbs. A bit above average for the breed, but still considered him a "regular" sized dog. Neither were fat; maybe we gave them an extra few pounds in the winter.
I didn't realise until many years later that some (most) people would rightly think that an unknown 80lb. dog running towards you is a scary thing.
So how big is a big dog? My namesake LittleDog weighs forty pounds now, but he'd gotten fat in 2020. He's definitely not a big dog, but is he "little"? Was the old Basset "big"? Am I actually MediumDog?
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