Princeton looks happy at the park at age 7 months. This is a rare shot of him looking out of his left “ghost eye.”Our Dane pup Princeton saw rain for the first time this week and went wild. He loved racing around the backyard getting wet and barking at puddles. Then the next morning when it was still raining he watched it from the doorway with a puzzled look, then lay down right next to my feet, not wanting to get wet again.
Princeton was neutered 10 days ago and came through surgery just fine. He’s recovered quickly -- you can’t even see the scar anymore. He weighed in at 94 pounds! And he’s 29 inches at the shoulder. I wonder how that compares to his brothers? He's not 7 months old.
The vet also checked his eyes because he acts like he can’t see as well out of his left (lighter colored) “ghost eye.” The vet turned out the lights and shined a flashlight into each eye. No problem with the right eye, but when she shined it in his left eye he kept squirming to get away, then finally bit her! (Not hard.)That’s not like Princeton! He’s usually very friendly and never bites (except in play). So that side is a lot more sensitive to light, but the vet couldn’t see any differences other than the color of the eye. She said we should see a specialist (ophthalmologist) if we want to pursue it. It seems to be a genetic condition because he's a merle color.
My partner asked the vet how big she thought Princeton would get. She said it was hard for her to estimate because they don’t have any other Great Dane puppies in the practice. Then she added, “There’s probably some other clinic nearby that’s getting all the Great Dane puppies.”
“Every profession has its conspiracy theories,” my partner teased, and we all started laughing.
When I walked Princeton in the weeks leading up the neutering, I kept feeling like he was a stallion prancing and resisting as his handlers try to get him into the starting gate for a race. I wonder if he will still be like that after neutering. Our neighbor’s nickname for him is “Bounce” because he’s so bouncy.
