Before I was a veterinary surgeon, I was simply a Great Dane enthusiast.

I’ve shared my life with Great Danes for more than 25 years, and like many of you, I suspect I didn’t really choose the breed, they chose me. There’s something magnetic about a Great Dane. They can walk into a room with the presence of royalty, then five minutes later forget they weigh 160 pounds and decide they’re lap dogs.

My first Dane, a black male named Zeus, was my constant companion through undergraduate school and veterinary school at Purdue University. Together we navigated the transition to New York City while I completed my internship at The Animal Medical Center. Wow, was that an adjustment for a country boy and a giant dog. Somehow Zeus embraced city life with the same confidence he brought everywhere else. Later he followed me to Columbus, Ohio, during my surgical residency at MedVet, where he became almost as recognizable around the hospital as I was.

After nearly 13 incredible years together, I lost Zeus to progressive spinal disease and chronic kidney failure. That was tough after having him through so many pivotal moments of my life. Like many of you, I learned that one of the hardest parts of loving Great Danes is that we rarely get to love them long enough.

While living in Ohio, I began attending Great Dane specialty shows and had the privilege of meeting Michael Chiles. Through Michael I was fortunate to bring home my next Dane, Porter.

Porter was the definition of a gentle giant. He had an uncanny ability to know exactly who needed him. On more than one occasion, I would walk through the hospital to find stressed technicians sitting on the floor with Porter draped across them like a 150-pound therapy blanket. He never had any formal psychology training, he simply understood people. Everyone who met Porter loved him, and he returned that love effortlessly. We were blessed to have him for just under 10 years before metastatic splenic cancer took him far too soon.

When it was time to welcome another Dane into our family, I once again turned to Michael. This time came Clark. Clark is a mantle Dane named after Clark Griswold from the Vacation movies. Let’s just say he has spent the last five years doing everything possible to earn that name. Every Dane owner knows that moment when you hear a crash from another room, pause for a second, and think, “Well…that was expensive.” Clark has provided plenty of those moments.

I often tell people that living with a Great Dane is like living in a daily Marmaduke comic strip. They’re elegant, athletic, incredibly intelligent, and somehow simultaneously convinced that countertops, couches, and personal space simply don’t apply to them.

So although today I’ll be speaking about orthopedic disease, spinal conditions, and the challenges we face in keeping this remarkable breed healthy, please know that I’m standing here first as one of you. I’ve celebrated championship wins, laughed at the daily chaos, cleaned up more slobber than I’d like to admit from the most ridiculous of places on the walls and ceilings, and experienced the heartbreak that comes with saying goodbye far too soon.

At the end of the day, I’m not just treating Great Danes, I love Great Danes. And like every person in this room, my goal is simple: to help these incredible dogs live longer, healthier, happier lives while never losing the goofy, oversized personalities that made us fall in love with them in the first place.