A close second to my love for horses, is my love for dogs. Especially big dogs! I must have got that from my dad, who loved Mastiffs and Danes. My mum too, loved big dogs. When she was younger she had a lovely Alsatian (German Shepherd ) I can remember her showing us pictures of him. Ricky was his name. My dad had a Bull Mastiff named Pat. He was very proud of his big dogs.

One day when I was about thirteen, he took the family for a drive to see some Great Danes at a kennel where they bred them. He was looking at one that had been brought back to the breeder, as he was unmanageable. He was around a year old already, a deep fawn colour with a black mask. He was the most beautiful dog I�d ever seen in my life. And huge!

His registered name was �Determined of Harverdane� but we called him �Henry�, Soon he was �our Henry�, just like one of the family.
To say Henry was hard to handle, was an understatement. He was so strong willed and massive, that he dragged us all around, even my dad, who soon lost interest in working with him. Not me though, this dog had my name on it. He put the 'Great' in Great Dane.

I was already walking several dogs in the neighborhood, and most of them were big. There was Brint the boxer, he was really fun but got run over one day. I went to take him for his walk and his owner told me what happened. I ran home crying, as I loved Brint.
Then there was Shandy the liver spotted dalmation. He was very big and strong but I loved him too. There were several others that I can�t remember the names of, and all were big dogs, but none as big as our Henry, He turned heads. I was so proud when he took me for a walk!

He probably helped make me the horse trainer I eventually became, as I had to use every ounce of brute force to control him. My dad couldn�t even do it! He got away from him several times. Once he got away from him and ran after a herd of cows, chasing one and jumping on it�s back! The farmer was going to sue my dad, as the cow apparently aborted her calf over the experience. Dad was at his wits end with him and threatened to get rid of him. Oh my god, that would have been the end of my world. I now had to make Henry behave for his own good, so we worked every day. We became so close that I could walk him off the leash and make him lie down and stay while I went and hid from him. He wouldn�t come to find me till I told him �come on then�. He got so crazy when he found me.

There were still times that he would almost get away from me, like if he saw another dog. That was it- he was off. But I learned to anticipate him and just did what had to be done to stop him. I had to hurt him to get his attention, but it worked.

When I left home, he was still living with my family and had escaped out the front door. He ran into the road and was hit by a car. He didn�t break a bone, but the car was in bad shape. Again, my dad was threatened with a lawsuit.

My mum thought it would be a good idea to get him a girlfriend, so Katie joined the family. �Brownrock Bonniface�, was her name. She was a real love and the total opposite of our Henry. She outlived him and was a great comfort to my mum who adored her.