Scooby and His Meddling Family

Crate Cover & Some New Pics

2009-07-22T09:24:00.010-05:00

Ruff-lo everybody. As I promised long ago that I would bring you pictures of my crate cover. It was made by my Mommy's Grandma Jean. She did an absolute amazing job. She is a true sewing machine wizard. Though the fabric that we bought wasn't the first choice of my Daddy it has made the kids very happy. The cost of fabric did astonish my parents a bit. It cost over $70 for 7 yards of fabric. That's neither here nor there now, because it is absolutely amazing. It has given me one of the best looking crates I have ever seen.

I also promised the other day some new pics of myself, which I will now deliver.

Aren't I a handsome fella? Bark at you later.

15 Weeks and Growing

2009-07-17T10:26:00.002-05:00

Ruff-lo everybody. It's been awhile since I last barked at you. I've been busy growing, going to puppy classes and the worst of all "the vet." It's has been a busy few weeks, here's a quick review.

My puppy education classes have been going ruff-tastic. I pick up on all my signals very quickly and just love it when my Daddy is pleased with the results. I have the sit, stay, leave it, take it and come command down fairly well. The only signal I have trouble with is down, but I heard a lot of Danes have the same issue. It's just such a long way to all the way down when you are this big. Unfortunately, I had to miss my last class due to being at the vet so long.

My last vet visit I came in it a shade under 33 pounds. Which seems average for my breed. I've been adding 4 pounds per week on average. At this past visit I was put on some medications for what my vet seems to think are little infectious bumps on my face. They don't seem to bother me, but my family and vet don't want them to spread. So I was put on some fancy, light-sensitive antibiotics and a cream to put directly onto these bumps. Other than that I am healthy as a horse and starting to look like one also.

The family life has been pretty hectic also. We are getting ready to move to a new house along with trying to spend as much time as possible outside.

In a couple weeks I'll be getting my rabies vaccine and then I can finally go to the groomer. My nails are in desperate need of a trimming. I'll have new pics posted soon. Bark at you later.

Walk for a Cure: Support JDRF

2009-06-30T16:18:00.003-05:00

This year my wife will be walking to help find a cure for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. Juvenile diabetes is also known as Type 1 diabetes, which my wife suffers from. My wife has dealt with this disease since she was a teenager. While she fights it admirable on a daily basis it is a slowly debilitating disease.

Type 1 diabetics are insulin dependant which means they needs to administer insulin via injection or for through an insulin pump to stay alive. For many years my wife relied on injecting herself multiple times a day until a few years back she was able to get an insulin pump. Though the diabetes does not hamper her life drastically it at times limits what she can and when she can do some things. The disease can also be very dangerous when sugar levels within the body become to low or high which can lead to death. I have witnessed at many occasions my wife's sugar levels drop drastically in a moments notice, causing her to faint, become unresponsive and unconscious.

The disease is most troublesome for her, but it also scares me on a daily basis. I constantly worry if I don't hear from her in a timely manner after work or when out with friends in fear that something has happened to her via her diabetic condition. Low sugars have led to car accidents and other major harmful incidents. We also worry about the disease being passed down to our children. We know how difficult it is for my wife to monitor and control this disease, it is unfathomable to imagine a child having to deal with this on a daily basis.

So in honor of my wife and the millions of others suffering from this disease I ask of you to donate to my wife's cause to help her and many others find a cure. If you choose not to donate please offer your support and best of luck in raising the goal she has set. We thank all of you for your support. Click Here to Donate

A Note From My Daddy

2009-06-29T11:23:00.003-05:00

Hello all, Scooby's Dad here. I would just like to tell all what a joy Scooby has been along with being an amazing addition to our family. We couldn't have asked or dreamed of a better dog. Scooby is smart, easily trainable and is such a fun-loving loyal dog. I am proud to be the owner of such a wonderful animal. Now to the bad part.

To the public, for the humans sake when I'm out with Scooby please don't tell me how big he is going to get. We all know he is going to be a massive canine. Commenting on his paw size, the beauty of his coat or even asking what breed he is just fine and acceptable questions or statements. But to tell me how large he will grow like we have know idea is growing quite old. Before we even considered bringing a Dane into our family we did extensive research to find if he would be a good fit. Scooby has not disappointed and has been even better than any information you can read about the breed. So please for no more comments on large Scooby will grow. If you know of the breed you and we know how massive he will be. I thank you in advance for your consideration in this request.

12 Weeks & Growing

2009-06-29T11:14:00.003-05:00

Ruff-lo all. I've been on this planet for 12 whole weeks now. It has been a great journey so far. Just in a short amount of time I have found a great new family, been potty trained faster than my family's 2 1/2 year old son, started school and of course really started to grow physically.

As of Saturday morning I weighed in at 24.8 pounds, up exactly 4 pounds from my last weigh in a week ago. From what my new family has read, my biggest growth spurts are just around the corner. I would also like to tell you my stool has finally stiffened thanks to some advice of other dog and Great Dane owners. My family tried the pumpkin addition to my diet and it has done wonders for my bowel movements. I would like to thank all who listed pumpkin as a great diarrhea remedy. So keep your eyes and noses peeled for new updates and pics of my impending massiveness. Bark at you later.

I've Got My Backpack

2009-06-24T13:14:00.004-05:00

Ruff-up everybody. I just wanted to let everybody know that I have started school. My new family enrolled me at the puppy education classes at PetSmart. I've been to two classes (two weeks) and thus far I have learned how to respond to the clicker and that it is a very good noise (TREATS!), I have sit down all taken care of (by hand signal and also by sit command) and finally my loose leash walking is greatly improving by the day. Since I'm a pup it can hard for me to resist to not try and run out of the six foot range of my leash. I have greatly improved though.

School has been fun and I really like to try to be the beast of the class. All the other pups in my class are of the smaller breed and you know me, I have to show my dominance. That was until another one of the parents brought in her other dog which just happened to be a Great Dane. His name was Zeus and at 14 months weighs in at 133 pounds and just absolutely towered over me. So once he came into the room I ran between my Daddy's legs for a couple minutes. I don't if I was more scared of Zeus or that I'll be that big sometime very soon. Ruffyways, once I got to know Zeus I found him to be just as big of baby as me. Us Great Danes may look the part, but we are very soft and gooey on the inside.

I very much look forward to continuing my education and making my family proud. Just six more weeks to go and hopefully I can tell you all that I graduated puppy education classes. Bark at you later.

11 Weeks & Growing

2009-06-19T14:48:00.004-05:00

Ruff-lo everybody. Scooby here with a short update. I turned 11 weeks old yesterday, June 18th. I'm growing at a very nice pace. I'm weighing in at a smidge over 22 pounds and have gained significant height. My days have been filled with playing, sleeping and my personal favorite, EATING!

Recently I was over visiting some other puppies at the grandparents' house and I had so much fun playing with them. They were both a little bigger than me, but I quickly shedded my shy exterior to have some fun. Though it seems the stress of the drive back and forth has given me a sore stomach once again. Upon our return home my stool turned to a very loose movement. We have tried the prescription wet food to get me back to a firmer stool, but unfortunately that didn't work. My Daddy has now moved on to a ground beef and rice diet which has seemed to have a better result. I've been eating just that for the last 24 hours and my stool has been a bit stiffer.

Tomorrow I'll be back at the vet for another check-up and my least favorite thing in the world, SHOTS! Hopefully it will be over quick. The last time we were there it took forever and a day. Bark at you later.

We Were Lost

2009-06-16T15:13:00.002-05:00

And now I'm found. Kind of like a born again before they find Jesus. By the way, I never knew he was lost? Anywho, McSpazz is back and with our new laptop. No, it isn't a MacBook, but it is a much nicer PC laptop than we had before. Plus, we doled out the extra cash for a suped-up anti-virus/malware/spyware program and the all important store protection program. You need those kinds of things when your son is as destructive as my family's son (My Son the TV Murderer).

So we ditched the Acer and upgraded to a Toshiba which has a much faster processor, larger memory and a bigger hard drive. What drove us to this decision? It turns out that the OS was bad on the Acer and The Geek Squad said it could be repaired or re-installed, but we needed to get the disc from them (Acer) to accomplish this. After finding out through Acer this would take a week or so for them to get it to us, not to mention the 30 bones they wanted to supply it, we decided to upgrade and never go down the Acer Road again. Really, they wanted us to pay to replace something in their hacked up piece of junk and more than likely that laptop wouldn't have lasted much longer anyways. It might have been the slowest thing since my Commodore 64. The McSpazz clan is back online and Scooby himself is ready to get back to blogging. A week away has built up a huge amount of ideas for posts. So check back often, because I have a lot of updates to bark at you.

I Think My Computer Had Worms

2009-06-09T15:06:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, was an awful day for my computer, at least if you wanted to get online. We ran into a problem first thing yesterday morning. When I turned on the computer everything looked fine, but when I logged on the Internet, my home page would load up with absolutely no content. I tried many different websites and pages, but every site came up blank. My connection was fine, but the Internet wasn't home. We McSpazz's tried everything from running virus scans, going back to default programs and talking to professionals with no luck. My Daddy was sure that we needed a new laptop, but my Mommy didn't want to spend the money. Then another attempt this morning brings a small miracle of sorts with absolutely no trouble connecting to or with the Internet on our current laptop. Has that ever happened to any of you? Bark at you later.

I'm Feeling Much Better

2009-06-05T13:49:00.002-05:00

After a couple days of a prescription bland diet and being removed from the holistic food I am happy to report my tummy is feeling much better. I've had normal stool movement (less frequent and stiffer) for the past three days and the best thing is that I have slept through the entire night for the past two days. Giving me and my Daddy so much needed rest.

It's amazing what a change in diet can do for a young pup. I'm not saying the the Eagle Pack Holistic Large/Giant puppy food is a bad food, just not right for me. So our next attempt like I've said before is the California Natural puppy food. We went and picked it up last night from Dog Patch Pets which has to be one of the nicest, well run family pet stores ever. If you live in the Western Suburbs of Chicago make sure to check this place out. Not only do they have a huge assortment of everything for every kind of pet, their staff is knowledgeable about all of the products that they sell. Dog Patch Pets will be our pet store of chose for the foreseeable future.

Today was the first day I have tried some of my new food which is rather tasty. My Daddy has started me off slow and will build up to the full feeding. So far, so good and my stool has not had any abnormalities today. Tonight will probably be a better measuring stick and I'll be sure to keep you all informed. My Daddy still can't figure out why my new pics won't load up, I apologize for missing my growing cuteness. I'm up over 16 pounds now and getting bigger everyday. Bark at you later!

It's Been a Long Day

2009-06-02T22:54:00.003-05:00

Besides all the loose poop falling out my butt and the entirety of my dinner coming out my mouth, the trip back to the vet was even worse. My Mommy took me back to the vet this evening after they discovered I had thrown-up all my dinner. While at the vet they did more fecal exams and drew blood, because my vet feared I may have the Parvo virus. Fortunately for me, I didn't. Like I said before I a pretty healthy little Great Dane pup. After all was said and done (1 1/2 hours later) at the vet I received some medication to take for the next week and some special prescription only food. I told you in my earlier post today that my new parents were planning on changing my food anyways and now they have the blessing of my vet to go with the California Natural. Only if my stool stiffens up with the prescription food an I don't yack anything else up. My doctor said that if that didn't work that she would suggest Royal Canine. The drawing of blood freaked me out a bit and the more I go to the vet the more I dislike it. If these things don't work the next thing the vet will check me out with is an x-ray to see if I swallowed anything I wasn't suppose to. I was a very playful boy once I got back home. Hopefully, I can get a good nights rest tonight without having to get up multiple times to poop. Bark at you soon.

I Think I'm Going to be Sick

2009-06-02T09:16:00.006-05:00

It's been close to two weeks since the McSpazz's have picked me up and I have been on my new food. If you remember from my earlier post my new family chose Eagle Pack Holistic Dog Food (Large/Giant Breed Puppy Formula). The problem has been my reaction to the new food. It tastes great and all, but my stool is just so loose and frequent that it has become not only an issue for me and my butt, but also for my Daddy. See he's the one who wakes up with me at night and when I have to go two to five times a night it can get really tiring. At first my new family found out that they were feeding me a little too much per day so we cut back on that and then they added an Eagle Pack Holistic Solution that is suppose to stiffen stool movements. It has worked to a small degree, but only for the first couple of movements a day and then back to a lot less firm stool movement. Not to mention the high frequency, from just after lunch all the way until very early the next morning. Then I get a short break and then it starts all over again.

We have a excellent pet store (Dog Patch Pets) in the area that has given my family great tips and ideas and even free samples to try. They suggested if the lower food amounts and the holistic solution powder doesn't work that we switch foods again. This time to California Natural. It looks as if my new family is leading in that direction, even though I am gaining weight and growing at a normal pace the overly frequent stools is putting a damper on good nights sleep. For both myself and my Daddy. If any of you have any suggestions for my new family and me with what and how to best proceed for me we would greatly appreciate it. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the food or a combination of both. Bark at you later.

I'm 8 Weeks Old, Now Time for Some New Pics

2009-06-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it? I turned eight weeks old this past Thursday. Time is really flying bye, I almost feel like my puppy years are almost gone. My new home and family are absolutely wonderful. My potty training is coming along famously. No back to what you really want, some updated pics of me. Scooby McSpazz, the most adorable little Great Dane this side of the Mississippi. My Daddy is having issues with Blogger and uploading pics at the present moment. So this will be the only new pic you'll be able to see this post. Hopefully he can get it figured out soon so I can astonish you all with my cuteness.

As of yesterday at my last vet visit I am at 14.80 pounds, up exactly four pounds from the vet visit a week ago. I growing fast and I just love to eat. I do the cutest little doggie dance and song show whenever my food is being prepared. I'll try to get Mommy and Daddy McSpazz to video my routine for you all to see soon. I was a little scared at the vet yesterday, because I had to get a shot and a loop down to check for worms and all that. All my tests came back A OK and I'm healthy as a little Dane should be. I get my last worming tonight, thank goodness that part will be over. I'll be back at the vet on Saturday for more shots. I even heard my Daddy talking about training classes for me soon. Great, just what I need. School! I guess it will be good if it will make life better for me and my new family. Bark at you soon.

I'm Home

2009-05-26T13:50:00.004-05:00

I have finally arrived home with my new family. Really we got back very late Saturday night. The car rides, outside and the exchange to my new family was nerve racking, but my new family is awesome. They have showered me with love and attention and our very understanding of my little puppy ways. I do have to say I have been really, really good with the housebreaking. Since my family has picked me up, I have had only two real accidents inside. That includes the hotel rooms we stand in and my new house. I was sad to see my old family go and the trip as a whole kind of messed with my stomach and has given me diarrhea the first few days. I went to my new doctor on Sunday and she said I was in good health. So maybe it was the over 900 mile drive, the switch to my new family and or the conversion to my new food. All and all I am super puppy happy and I can't wait to grow with my new family. I can now officially say I am Scooby McSpazz. Now a word from my silly new Daddy. He really likes to play with me.

Scooby is everything we could have asked for and more. When we finally arrived in Texas for the pick-up on Friday you could tell the exchange had Scooby nervous. He quickly adapted to us and did so well that first night in the hotel we stayed at. It was almost as if he was an adult dog already. The loose stools started late Friday evening and has continued through today even. The vet said Scooby checked out just fine and his stool was A OK. So we have slowed down on the conversion to his new food and added a little rice and ground beef to his diet. It has thickened up today, but looser than I think it should be. As far as fitting into the family, he has been learning his place within it. He is very playful with me and understands I am the Alpha male and treats all the girls like little princesses. He has been a little dominating over our youngest Happy. Since Happy is the smallest and closest in age with him, Scooby wants to give him some brotherly scuffling. He has done very well with his crate and loves to lay his head on pillows. So I went out and bought him his own today. He has been a minimal chewer, more of a puppy nipper. He would rather play and nip his family members than our belongings. Scooby plays well with his toys and is very alert on walks, always making sure our whole group is together. Next weekend will introduce him to some other dogs that reside in our family for some canine interaction. I apologize for no new pics I forgot to grab the camera out of my wife's purse to upload the ones we have taken. I'll have Scooby update them ASAP.

Change in Plans & New Pics

2009-05-19T13:40:00.005-05:00

From what I've overheard from the humans on the phone it seems there has been a change in plans when it comes to my new family picking me up. Now not only is my new Mommy coming to pick me up, but so is my new Daddy. Plus, two of my newest, bestest friends will be along with them, Happy and Brooke. I'm so very excited it's only a few days away until they'll be here. My other two bestest friends, Cailee & Caitlin can't make it due to school, but I'm super excited to get back to my new home to give them love and kisses. I've added some new pics that were taken last week when I was 6 weeks. Can you believe it? Where does the time go? Now a word from my new Daddy.

Yes, it is true. Myself, my beautiful wife and two of our kids will be traveling to Texas to pick up our little Scooby. This decision was made in part of my fear of my wife driving all that way by herself and my desire to see our newest family member. Our two older girls will be staying in town for school. They only have a week left and need to be there for all the year end activities that are so fun. Make sure to stay tuned for trip posts and picks. From the looks of these new picks Scooby sent us he is going to be a very big boy.

See you soon Scooby!

Anticipation

2009-05-15T12:24:00.003-05:00

It's getting so close until my new Mommy will be heading from Illinois to pick me up in Texas. This time next week I'll be headed up North to see my new home for the first time. I am so very anxious to meet my new family, but I'll be sad to leave my canine Mommy and my two sisters who are here left with me at Colossal Danes. The anticipation is really getting hard to bear, but I just have to make it one more week. Now a word from my new Daddy

All of here at the McSpazz ranch are counting the days until Mommy McSpazz heads down to Texas to pick up our little Scooby. The little ones are marking each day off the calender, while the older kids read books about Great Danes and effective puppy raising. I am so very proud of the effort and preparation put in by all of us to ensure Scooby will have an easy transition to his new home. Here is my check off to the one week mark until Scooby becomes an official member of the McSpazz clan.

Read more of Daddy McSpazz at Touchdown Dance & McSpazz's Musings

To Crop or Not to Crop

2009-05-08T14:26:00.011-05:00

That was a question troubling my new Mommy and Daddy. See my new Daddy is against it since it's purely a cosmetic operation. Since I'm a "family member" and not a stage piece he felt strongly about leaving my ears natural. My mommy who didn't want it to hurt me, but because she like the way it looked stood on her position for cropping. After much debate and looking at pictures of grown Great Dane puppies like me along with careful research and reading of positive and negative stories, they came to a decision. I'll let my new Daddy tell you what it is.

We have decided not to crop Scooby's ears. Here are our reasons for that:

Completely cosmetic surgery
Only 1 vet in the area still performed cropping
Painful for Scooby
Painful for the family (care, being extra careful)
Cost

I've seen pictures that I loved the way the grown Dane looks with the cropped ears and then we have also seen others that have gone horribly wrong. Either way the Great Dane is a majestic looking animal. Keeping Scooby from suffering pain and overall irritation from cropping his ears and then the necessary healing process was are determining factor. I just hope he isn't a vain little pup like his new Mommy is. LOL! I would never criticize anyone for having their dogs ears cropped as it is any owners final decision. We have just decided as a family together to leave Scooby's ears the way they are.

My New Doctor

2009-05-08T13:50:00.005-05:00

Ruff-lo again. Now that my new family has our home ready for me to come and join the clan. It is even more important to find me a good doctor. From what I've been told I'll be looked after by the veterinarians at Banfield Animal Hospital located inside our local PetSmart. My new family did lots and lots of research of different vets and pet insurance available for me. Finally making their decision to go with Banfield which boasts a comprehensive Wellness Plan developed just for puppies like me. I sure hope I get a doggie lollipop when I'm done with my visits at my new doctor. Now, a word from my new Daddy.

After careful and thorough research of veterinarians in the area, which included face to face meeting with the final three on our candidate list. The final decision came down to the Optimum Wellness Plans offered by Banfield which we feel exceeds any supplemental pet insurance that we researched. All the basics are covered in the plan including office visits, vaccinations, necessary exams and checks, vaccine warranty and even the neutering. It's seems that a lot of vets have converted to a seven day a week format and such is the same with Banfield.

On a personal note of a slightly different matter. I know it's convenient for a lot of people to have businesses open 7 days a week, but whatever happened to family and friend time. Over the years, stores have remained open on holidays and some that are open on Sundays that never were. This just rubs me the wrong way. I can't stand to see stores open on Thanksgiving, Easter, Memorial Day and even Labor Day. These days were meant for time with our family, friends and fun. I know we will never get back to that point, but I can still complain and reminisce.

Where I'm Sleeping

2009-05-08T09:19:00.005-05:00

My new Mommy and Daddy have a new place for me to sleep and it will be my very own den. It a super huge, ginormous, fabulous new crate made by Midwest. It's the biggest crate made and once I'm full grown I'll use every inch of my new special place. They also told me that they are getting a special new bed to put into my new den and my new Mommy's grandma is going to sew me cover made out of Chicago Bears fabric. Which just happens to be my new Daddy's favorite football team. Now a note from my Daddy.

Finding a new crate for Scooby wasn't that difficult since Midwest is the only manufacturer that makes one of this size. We thought about the 48" inch unit made by other companies, but we wanted to be sure that Scooby had a enough room to completely grow into it. The only thing that really bothered me about the crate was that Midwest includes a divider panel with every other crate they sell, but this one. Is this for profit or is it thinking that most giant breed dog owners are not purchasing this crate until their new dog is almost fully grown. Whatever the case is, it still bites. We don't see much sense in buying a smaller crate for Scooby just for him to outgrow it and then have to throw another $150 down to buy the 54" unit. We have found the divider panel offered at other websites I just hate ordering things off the Internet. I'd rather just be able to purchase it along with the crate at the store. We've just about have everything set-up for Scooby, now we're just waiting for his arrival. The next two weeks are going to be very anxious time for the McSpazz clan. I'll post pictures of the crate cover once we get it and on the crate. My wife's grandma Jean does amazing work with the sewing machine along with being an amazing grandma and friend.

What I'm Eating

2009-05-08T08:57:00.004-05:00

It seems that my new family has come to a decision of what food I'm going to eat when I get to my new home. They have chosen Eagle Pack Foods Large/Giant Breed Puppy dry food formula. From what I know it is a holistic food that is reviewed as a decent food (4 star). The drawbacks of the food is it's low meat content and what some websites and reviewers call questionable filler (beet).

My new Mommy and Daddy have had some disagreement on this, but came to a compromise on using this particular brand and monitoring the websites and news for more information about Eagle Pack. With the lower meat content they plan on adding some other meat to my diet, but haven't decided on exactly what yet. Whatever it might be I'm positive that they will make the best choices for me as I grow and change my food if necessary. The new food will be changed slowly as I am on a different brand of food at my current home with my canine Mommy and Daddy. Now a note from my Daddy.

Who new that some dog foods could be so expensive. The Eagle Pack is fairly reasonable priced for a Holistic dog foods. My wife and I researched many brands and decided that the Eagle Pack would both fit our budget and Scooby's needs with adding some more meat along with the dry food to his diet. This is all subject to change if we find out that anything is causing him physical ailments or our vet suggests a change in diet plan. If anyone has any suggestions or comments we welcome them all. The McSpazz clan wants to give Scooby the best life possible.

The Begining: Scooby's Journey with His New Family

2009-05-07T11:16:00.004-05:00

Well we decided to add to our family once again. Who you ask? The McSpazz clan, which consists of Daddy, Mommy, Cailee, Caitlin, Brooke and Happy. Will now add our newest member, Scooby.

Scooby of course is a Great Dane pup. After careful research of a pups that would be compatible with our family we decide on the "gentle giant". Not because of his size or stature, but simply because this breed of dog seems to fit our family to a "T". We searched high and low for the perfect pup and finally found the cute little rascal in Texas. The breeder is a lovely family whose been great to deal with and very helpful, Colossal Danes. He was born on April 2nd and will be coming home on May 24th. Which happens to be his new Daddy's birthday. My wife is going on a road trip to pick up Scooby, a 2000 mile trek for our newest baby. We are all so very excited for our newest member to come home and grow with us. We have all put a lot of work into the preparation for his arrival for both the long and short term.

This blog will be dedicated to Scooby and his new family. Watch him grow in size and as a new family member within the McSpazz clan. Daddy McSpazz will chronicle his life and try to capture the essence of having a Great Dane as a family member. Along with reviewing products and services we use for Scooby. It would seem to be a great adventure so come back often for updates pictures.