When is the world’s tallest dog not the world’s tallest dog?
When there’s quite possibly a taller one, but that one’s owner doesn’t get the paperwork into Guinness World Records officials in time.
Titan, left, was crowned the world’s tallest dog Thursday by Guinness World Records officials. But Arizona Realtor Dave Nasser, who has been campaigning to get his dog George, right, named the world’s tallest, says his dog, by some measurements at least, is three-fourths of an inch higher.
After his dog was measured at 42 inches, Nasser got a second and third opinion on his dog’s height, which, respectively, showed George to be 42.625, or 43 inches tall at the shoulder.
Proving, I guess, that the top of the shoulder is in the eye of the beholder.
As a result of all the measurement seeking, Nasser didn’t get the application into Guinness in time to compete with Titan, who is owned by Diana Taylor of San Diego, and is 42.25 inches tall.
“It’s just bad timing. I can’t say anything bad about Guinness,” said Nasser. “We sent the paperwork to them Tuesday and they got it Thursday. The winner had a plaque in hand Thursday. … we were just late to the game.”
Nasser said he wasn’t aware of a deadline, or that Nov. 12 was Guinness World Record Day, Phil Villarreal reported in the Arizona Daily Star.
Nasser said he spoke on the phone Friday with a Guinness representative in London, who said the company was verifying George’s application and that there was no time frame as to when a decision will be made on whether George will displace Titan..
“Guinness World Records received a massive influx of claims after the death of Gibson (the previous world’s tallest dog) this year. The organization is familiar with George’s claim but is still assessing proper evidence before properly authenticating,” a Guinness spokesman told the Star on Friday … Verifying record proposals is a meticulous process that is not done overnight. It could take months for the research team to make the decision. ”
Nasser says he has offered to bring George and Titan together to see which dog is bigger.
Titan, a 4-year-old white Great Dane from San Diego, is blind, deaf, epileptic and requires chiropractic adjustments every three weeks.
He’s also now officially the world’s tallest dog.
Titan’s designation was announced yesterday— the official Guinness World Record Day, the Associated Press reported.
“Titan is magical,” owner Diana Taylor said. “He’s low-key, calm and has a wonderful demeanor about him. He gets along with all dogs, even the tiny ones.”
Titan, as measured by a veterinarian, is a over 3½ feet tall from floor to shoulder. Add in his head, and he’s over 4 feet tall.
Standing on his hind legs — which is something Titan doesn’t do — he would be nearly 7 feet tall.
Titan weighs 190 pounds.
Titan takes the title held by Gibson, a 7-year-old harlequin Great Dane from Grass Valley, who died earlier this year after battling bone cancer.
Taylor was living in Atlanta when she adopted Titan as a puppy from the Middle Tennessee Great Dane Rescue. When he could see out of one eye, she taught him sign language. As he went blind, they learned to communicate by touch.
Owen Wilson has signed on as the voice of “Marmaduke” in 20th Century Fox’s adaptation of the long-running comic strip into a movie that will be a blend of live action and animation.
The movie follows a family named the Winslows as they move from Kansas to Orange County with their dog Marmaduke, a slobbery Great Dane who, as he does in the comic strip, creates chaos wherever he goes.
In the movie, Marmaduke gets involved in a Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf war, woos the purebred of his dreams and overcomes a fall from grace. according to Reuters.
Judy Greer, Lee Pace and William H. Macy play the humans, while Fergie, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Steve Coogan, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans supply voices for the computer-generated characters.
The movie has a June 2010 release date.
I’m not exactly gaga for Lady Gaga. Call me old fashioned but I think the video above would have benefited from a little more of the Great Danes and a little less Gaga. Be that as it may, the reason Lady Gaga — who unfortunately doesn’t come in a decaffienated version — is making her first appearance on ohmidog! is because Rumpus, one of the two Harlequin Great Danes that appear in her music video “Poker Face,” has passed away.
The five-year-old dog — the one on the right side in the video above, who appeared as well in Lady Gaga’s “Love Game,” “Paparazzi” and “Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)” — died earlier this month after a Los Angeles hike.
The dog’s owner, Suzzane Kellher-Duckett, told TMZ the award-winning show dog’s death was unexpected. He showed no signs of injury and appeared to be in good health. Kelleher-Duckett says a necropsy was performed and results are pending.
Rumpus was also supposed to appear in Lady Gaga’s video for “Bad Romance,” but because of his death, his fellow co-star and mother, Lava, will now do the video.
