Gimli, son of Gloin

My wife and I were married in late August of 2002, a few months out of college.  Of course, with no jobs and no prospects, she was ready to have kids.  I, on the other hand, was not.  Instead, I thought it'd be great idea to get a puppy and surprise Maryann with that.

I wanted to get something specific, a dog with "substance" if you will.  No yippy dogs, no dogs smaller than cats, no useless "dress-me-up" breeds.  Something that when it barks, you step back.  When it gets up, it doesn't even need to bark to show it's presence.  Yet, at the same time, a loving gentle giant.  I thought "saving" a dog was a noble idea, and started to look at local shelters.  I also perused the classifieds to see what may lurk there...perhaps someone had a dog but had to get rid of it.  The shelters had crazy rules that I was not going to abide by (like having a continuous concrete rat wall under the mandatory fenced in yard), so I was quickly dissuaded by them.  After some time of looking (not letting Maryann in on the plan) I found an ad in the paper that sounded perfect.  A local breeder of AKC Labs and Collies had their dogs co-mingle by accident, which then had a litter of half and half pure-breed puppies.  These puppies of course were slated for destruction by the owner....I gave them a call, and they had 2 left, both males, and would only be available for the next 2 days (dated destruction).  I decided to run over there and check them out.

I found 2 very playful and cute puppies, both with quite large paws.  I decided to get the bigger one based on my aforementioned criterion, and left the breeder's house with no plan other than to meet Maryann at her job and show her our new son!  I had no provisions for the pup, so on the way to see her we stopped at the pet store to grab him some bowls, a collar, a leash and a toy to start with.  Since the pup had most likely never ridden in a car before, he proceeded to vomit all over mine on 3 separate occasions, which was very helpful of him to break in that aspect of vehicle ownership for me.

Finally, I got to Maryann's office.  After using up a few paper towels, I rushed her out to meet our new pup.  Suffice to say, she was less than thrilled at my baby cover up.  However, the puppy's cuteness and charm soon won her over, and we bantered over what to name him.  At the time, the Lord of the Rings series was just coming to film and thus names from Tolkien were fresh in our minds.  We toyed with Frodo and Gandalf, Legolas and Borromir - but settled that Gimli (the dwarf, of course) was a strong, simple dog name that worked very well for our new little pup.  Gimli, son of Gloin.  He has many nicknames - Gim, Gimmers, Gimmy, Gim-a-lee - and he'll come to every one.

Playing at the beach of Lake Michigan

Gimli was a good pup, but fairly hard-headed.  It seemed that he was quick to learn sit and down, but he was a tough one to potty train, and we quickly learned the huge benefits of crate training.  More than once we were late to a function or date due to cleaning up after his messes.  He was always playful and energetic, catch or tug are his favorites.  He also grew by leaps and bounds.

Canoeing - does YOUR dog do that?

Gimli looking regal on the beach

Very quickly Gim grew tall with a slender, greyhound-esque body type.  He could run for hours if you let him, take a quick nap, and be ready to run again.  As he grew, his body weight settled in at around 80lbs, and his height tall enough to sit and rest his head at the dining room table.  His tail is long and whip-like, which often will swish things off end tables and the ottoman (hold your cup!).  His nose is also very long and probing, and he uses it to thoroughly sniff out everything.  Gimli's favorite greeting is to jam his nose either in your crotch or butt, giving you a good "hello" goose.  He's also very good at sniffing in your face and hair, and loves a good run-by licking.

Gim the jungle-gym

Gimli LOVES Maryann and I, and loves us to be together.  When one of us is gone, he can't sleep well.  He's up, pacing, checking the door and finally resorting to sleeping at the door waiting for the whole family to be reunited again.  We've since had 2 actual children (both boys) that Gim loves just as much as we do.  We worried he'd be jealous or act out, but he never did.  He accepted them as his own, and loves them as if it were his only goal to do so.  He'll play any time with our 3 year old, Seth - unless I come on the scene, and he'll blow Seth off for some time with pops. When the newborn, Evan, cries, Gimli is there to make sure we know.  He'll give him licks on his head, nearly taking his hair out....but with only the love that a dog can give.

Gimmy is now nearly 9 years old (this November), and has settled in to a much more round body shape (just like me).  He no longer looks greyhound-ish, holding on to about a buck-ten.  He can still run with the best of them, but just not all day.  His face and chest have more grey on them than when he was a pup, but that doesn't bother him much.  He's a fantastic dog who can still go all day without messing in the house, and who no longer needs his crate to keep him in line.  Every day, he greets me at the door when I come home, wagging his whip of a tail, crashing over things on the end tables and ottoman, off the fridge, and knocking down Seth to get to me.  Although originally I got him to satiate Maryann, he really ended up my dog - and he knows it.

You can't stay mad at that face

Gim is, for the large part, a very good dog.  He gets passed on, put off and ignored often - it's easy to do with 2 young boys in the house.  But he won't hold it against you.  In fact, he'll make the first move to get your attention again (probably within 5 min of getting told to "go lay down").  With sad eyes and a very waggy tail, he'll shove his giant nose under your hand and force you to pet him.  He makes it awfully tough to stay mad at him...While we imagine our lives pet-free for a while after he's gone, it's tough to think about him not being a part of our family.