Man's biggest friend: Devoted owner Dave Nasser with George, the world's biggest dogThe first time we saw George, our beloved Great Dane, he was no more than a tiny, cowering ball of fuzzy fur.
As my wife Christie opened the door of the crate he’d travelled in, he teetered to a standing position and looked out at us, moving his head slowly from side to side, taking in the wonder of it all.
Finally, as if weighing us up and deciding we were acceptable, he tentatively pushed his little nose forward and gave Christie her first lick.
A doggone miracle: George the Great Dane with the Nasser's daughter Annabel at home in ArizonaThough it didn’t really register, George’s paws were comically large even then. But all we saw was this cute puppy.
We certainly never dreamed he would one day become the biggest dog in the world, standing nearly 4ft high at the shoulder, 7ft long and weighing nearly 18 stone. Right now, he just looked bewildered.
He came into our lives in January 2006, just a few months after we had married and set up home in Arizona. We both had busy jobs, Christie selling medical equipment while I was a property developer, but she had always planned that, once she had a house of her own, she would also have a dog.
Puppy love: A young George with Dave's wife Christie. Even as a pup he had comically large pawsNo matter how much we reminded ourselves that he had every home comfort (warm dog bed, warm blanket, warm kitchen, squeaky bone), each whimper created a picture in our heads of a tragic, abandoned pup, desperate for his mother.
Eventually, we gave in and shunted George’s dog bed into our bedroom. In the coming months, Christie really threw herself into being a mum to George. As well as a photo album, he had a growth chart — we were soon reading it in awe.
At five months he still acted like a puppy, chasing his tail and playing games of fetch and tug-of-war with his favourite bit of rope. But he was already the size of a fully-grown Labrador.
He was putting on more than a pound a day and he bounded around like Bambi, skittering on our wooden floors and hurling himself at everything he fancied, including us humans. His displays of affection could leave you pinned temporarily against a wall or a piece of furniture.
Magnificent: George measures more than 7ft from nose to tail and weighs 18st
Paws for thought: George's giant feet dwarf Dave's hand
With size comes problems: George the giant barely fits in the back of his owner's SUV
source: dailymail
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