As I head out for Poland, I leave you with a video of the late Zeus, THE WORLD’S TALLEST D*G. Zeus was a Great Dane in every sense of the word, and he has his own Wikipedia page, which says this:
Standing on his hind legs, Zeus stretched 7 feet 5 inches (2.26 meters), and when measured in October 2011, Zeus was 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 meters) from his foot to his withers.
But it also says that Zeus died in 2014 at the age of six. Big dogs tend to die young, and I’m not sure why that is. Chihuahuas, on the other hand (and I’ll stifle myself here), seem to live forever.
Anyway, enjoy a big d*g! If you’re a canid lover, be sure to check out Wikipedia’s “List of individual dogs.” Zeus actually seems to be the tallest d*g of all time, beating out “Giant George” by an inch.
Isn’t the reason big dogs die young the same as why extra-tall humans like the late and sorely lamented Douglas Adams died young? The architecture of the circulatory system has difficulty in pushing blood all the way through a bigger body without producing pressures which cause earlier deterioration of that system?
Why the D*G spelling? Is that a snide dig at the Jewish practice of using G*D instead of God? Seems G*Ddamn silly, if you ask me. 🙂
Yes and yes. It is a joke that evolved spontaneously long ago for the reasons you surmised. But we like silly when ever possible.
It’s not a snide dig at anything. And if you find that practice goddamn silly, I suggest you read other websites.
I guess you didn’t read the posting roolz on the left sidebar, and I suggest you go read them again, especially rule #13:
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/da-roolz/
It is curious that there is an inverse relationship between dog size and longevity, considering that between species comparisons generally show a positive relationship. Wonder why. Telomere size?
I suppose that the body mass overloads the heart, as in obese humans..
When the larger mass is the norm for the species, evolution apparently adjusts the heart to it.
RIP Zeus.
The tallest d*g I’ve personally encountered was a labmate’s English sheepdog. The first time I saw her d*g Toby, he ran up right to me, put his front legs on my shoulders, and was a head taller than I am. I’m 1.8 meters (six feet) tall. This d*g simply scared the hell outta me, but my labmate said Toby was always very happy and very friendly. Like Zeus, her large d*g also died young.
RIP Toby.
It’s so unfair. Super-large dogs are gentle and sweet-tempered but only live a few years. Super-small dogs are vicious yappy insects and live for decades on end, unless they’re in A Fish Called Wanda.
Small dogs have ailments peculiar to them, including heart valve issues….and don’t live all that long. Kipling has a poem about the sadness of the shortness of dogs’ lives.
My small d*gs are both mostly Chihuahua and very sweet and kind with people, though one of them–he’s got about 30% Jack Russell Terrier and about 40% Chihuahua–can be a bit barky if he doesn’t know you. My vet said that they’re the only Chihuahuas that have never bitten him, though. Never even tried to bite. One is 11 and the other 6 and I hope they live forever. 🙂 Before them, I have always had large d*gs and most lived to 11 or 10 though a medium sized d*g I had lived to be 16. Every one was a rescue and so you can never tell what happened to them before you get them, unfortunately.
We have friends in Virginia who raise Irish Wolfhounds—giants among dogs. They have a very short lifespan. Our friends have several at any one time of various ages. Because of their age structure, at any one time one has invariably just died, leaving our dear friends in perpetual mourning.
My god! You’d need some kind of truck to follow him around!
THIS, NYC apartment sized dog is only 20 lbs but just as good.
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2020/06/10/photos-of-readers-93/
D.A.
NYC
Do you have any public activities (like a lecture for instance) scheduled during your stay in Poland?