Gandalf the Black!

by cHudson
(beautiful eastcoast)

Last fall, my little sis showed up at our house w/ her mom. They told me that one of our neighbors had recently aquired a "horse dog", being unfamiliar with large dogs. They said that he was trying to find a home for him, so I went over in the dark of night to the neighbors house and let myself in the gate. I was immediately greeted by a HUGE black beast, jumping on me. I quickly realized he was a VERY shaggy standard poodle! The story goes that he was found by someone on a mtn. hwy, picked up and many attempts were made to find his owners. No one claimed him but due to his excitable nature he made his way down the mtn. through several homes til our neighbors took him. Once again, he wore out his welcome quickly. We had never owned a stnd. but had both always admired them. Taked to my hubby about him for a week and we decided to bring him over to see if he would get along w/ the family and other pets. Well, we finally ended up bringing him HOME for good. We couldn't decide on a name for several weeks. Finally, in a quirky moment, I thought of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings movies. Quirky, because our boy was black and Gandalf in the movie is known as Gandalf the white wizard! So we figured only true LOTR fans would get the irony. So now we have Gandalf the Black! He has been w/ us for nearly a year now. Although he is still hyper sometimes he has adjusted slowly and learned some manners along the way! He is part of our family and he is headed for his second beach trip in just a few weeks! LOVES it btw!!!! When we got him he was about 64lbs, after much nuturing he is now an enormous 80lbs and 27 1/2 in tall! I am so thankful that he landed in our laps! And so lucky, we love him so much! I learned to groom him myself and he looks quite handsome if I do say so myself, much more poodlelike!