WifeofGilligan: Fila Brazilerio

Back in November my son, Keith and his fiance Kristen came home for Thanksgiving. When they arrived they had brought their 7 month old puppy Den"Ali", a Bichon and two month old Tucker who at the time they thought was a boxer, collie mix. While visiting, the topic came up about Keith once again deploying in 2012 and the fact that just days after they adopted Tucker, Kristen got a new job that will require her to travel. The concern, what to do with Tucker, since Kristen felt that she could at least take Ali with her when she traveled Tucker being a medium sized dog, this was not an option.

If you know me then you know that we couldn't let them take this cute little puppy back to the pound. Yes, I have the word "SUCKER" written across my forehead. When they packed to leave they were one passenger less, Tucker had a new home in Allen, Texas.

Tucker weighed about 14lbs when he first moved in with us, he and our Rottie, Baylee, got to be fast friends. Baylee who never played with toys prior to Tucker, was now jumping like a rabbit and plucking toys out of the basket every minute she and Tucker were both awake. By Christmas when Keith and Kristen returned for a week, that once little puppy a month previous was now 30 lbs and double in size and his paws about 3 times the size they were just 4 weeks earlier. When we took him to the vet in mid December, our Doc, said he agreed he was likely boxer, but he wasn't collie, more likely he had bloodhound by looking at his face and body structure. By mid January we were in for a big surprise... Tucker was now 4 months old, he gained another 20 lbs in less than a month and was now just an inch smaller in height to our Rottie, how much bigger could he get? We were told at max 70 lbs if he were a boxer/bloodhound, but puppies don't stop growing until 9-12 months and he was already bigger than most mid sized dogs. That is when the doctor broke the news that he was a Mastiff and that little cute Tucker would be more like 110 - 125 lbs. After doing a bit more research we found that Tucker is most likely a Fila Brazilerio, which makes sense as they are thought to be descendants of cross breeding between bloodhounds, boxers and mastiff's.

Did I mention that after we got Baylee I said no more pets?

I can't imagine even after only a couple months what my life would be like without any of my pets - Tucker is ours now and forever.