Wednesday, June 1, 2011

MEET THE WORLD'S TALLEST LIVING DOG ! GRIANT GEORGE

Weighing in at over 245 pounds and standing 43 inches tall, MEET GEORGE, the Guinness World Record Holder for Tallest Living Dog & Tallest Dog Ever.
  • 5 years old, born November 17, 2005
  • Great Dane
  • AKC Registered
  • Sleeps on a Queen Size Bed ... alone
  • Consumes 110 pounds of food every month
  • Has to bend over to drink out of the kitchen faucet (see photo)
  • Sits on a chair like a human
"In my 45 years of experience working with giant breed dogs, without question, George is the tallest and largest dog I have ever seen."   Dr. William Wallace, Buena Pet Clinic, Tucson Arizona.

"He is certainly the largest dog I have ever seen." Dr. James P. Boulay, Veterinary Specialty Center Tucson, Arizona.

what is george upto ?
Everyone is always asking "What is going on with George?" so we thought we'd share some highlights:

 MARCH 2011 

 George and the team have been busy at work with his book publisher, Simon & Schuster London, making the final touches to the book. George has been very selective on pictures to add, including a few no one has seen yet.

JANUARY 2011

George was picture perfect at his photo shoot for the cover of his book, being published by Simon & Schuster London set to be released August 2011. Watch for more updates.

DECEMBER  

George is getting ready for the holiday season. How about you? George wrote a letter to Santa but won't tell anyone what he wrote.

SEPTEMBER

Big exciting adventures in the month of September. Guinness World Records has asked George to help launch their 2011 record book. You can check out all the trips adventures on the New York Trip page.  Oh, and help out by buying Guinness's new book. I'm in it!

JUNE

It has been a hot start to the summer so George is taking a break and catching up on his sleep!

MAY

George headed to the local Channel 9 KGUN TV station to be part of the "Morning Blend" program.  He is learning to face the camera with his best side.
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George enjoyed a morning at a local elementary school getting a lot of pets and hugs.
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Hola! To all our Spanish speaking friends in Madrid. George's Dad was just interviewed for a Madrid Newspaper in Spain.
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It was the Japanese's turn to get to know George. They brought out a camera crew to film George at home for a Japanese TV show.
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APRIL

Lights, camera, strut ... George participated in the Southern Arizona Humane Society Puttin' on the Dog! fashion show event, which is their biggest fundraiser of the year. Guess who was the finale of the show! See pictures on the Giving Back page.
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George attended the ribbon cutting cermoney for the expanded Pima Animal Care Center in Tucson, AZ.
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Inside Edition, the national TV show, came to town to film George doing his thing. The segment should air in May.
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Coming all the way from Brazil, a TV crew was here to film George for Brazilian TV.
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George suprised Makenzie Hawkins, a Kindergarten student and her class, with a visit to Show & Tell. Makenzie had sent George an e-mail to see if he would make an appear since we was going to do her Show & Tell about George. The surprise was filmed and showed on the local news as well as on NBC Today Show.
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George and Dave were interviewed  for the Sunday-Times UK and related magazines.  We don't know the publication date yet.
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George just finished an interview for "Creature Companions" a magazine publication in India.  Due to publish in June.
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Want to see George walk the fashion runway? George will be struting down the runway at the Southern Arizona Humane Society's Puttin' On the Dog fundraiser event on April 30 in his home town of Tucson, Arizona.
MARCH
Check out some new photos of George on the Photos page.
George needed new pictures so we were lucky to get photographer Erin Barnes to take some photos. It might be hard to tell, but George has a full-sized football in his mouth. He seemed to be enjoying himself, he paraded around with the football in his mouth and wouldn't put it down. Then he found the soccer ball which he enjoyed batting around the set. That is until he knocked the ball into some of the backdrop equipment, and then he wasn't so sure about the ball.
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If you want to see Erin's work check out her two websites:
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George enjoyed two days of filming with the three person film crew from the Korean TV show SBS TV ZOO Korea. They wanted video of George's life. Let see ... eat, sleep, dog park. He got to show them his queen-size bed, go for a joy ride in the golf cart, take them to his favorite dog park and let them meet a bunch of his human friends. We hope to get a copy of the show to post.
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George was interviewed by Readers Digest for the June edition. Watch for his article.


GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
Guinness Details:

On February 15, 2010 Giant George was awarded two titles from the Guinness Book of World records.

  1). "Tallest Dog Ever"
  2.) "Tallest Living Dog"

Getting to this point was long and time consuming because Guinness is extremely stringent on their verification process.  After two separate and independent Veterinarians verified the measurement, Guinness sent their own representative to Tucson to verify the measurement for themselves.

Giant George is  thankful and proud to have achieved such an honor form the Guinness organization.  

And we would like to thank Dr. James P. Boulay and Dr. William Wallcce, our independent Veterinarians for their time in helping us with the verification process.

My Trip to New York City:  September 14-16, 2010

To Launch the 2011 Guinness World Records Book

September 14th -

It's very early in the morning when Mom and Dad load me into the truck, it is still dark outside. I don't care, I get to stick my head out the window and let the breeze blow my ears.

We are at the airport, not sure about this, but I know I've been here before. The sign in the waiting area says Chicago/New York. I heard someone saying something about the big apple. Sounds good to me, I like apples!

Here's pictures of me on the plane. Not too bad. We had the front bulk-head seats so I have room to lay down. We had a lay over in Chicago so we got out to stretch our legs. Everyone wanted my picture, I'm not sure why. Haven't they seen a dog on a plane before?

September 15th -

Early the next morning we headed to the Regis & Kelly Show. Here we are before they start filming to show me where I need to stand and where I should look, like I really need help with that. Wow there are a lot of lights in this place.

Well rumor has it some guy name Ben Affleck was suppose to be on the show, but they had taped him a few days earlier. I didn't care, but Mom seemed to be disappointed. But I met a really nice lady named Meredith Vieira, and we got our picture together.  They say she is from the Today Show. I haven't been on it so I don't know what it is.

Next stop was Central Park.  One big bathroom for me! We arrived to a bunch of people standing around with cameras and video cameras.  Something about a press/media photo shoot to announcement the launch of the Guinness Book of World Records 2011 release today staring me and Boo Boo!
We had lunch at the Guinness World Records office. Thanks Jamie, Sara, and the rest of the team for all your hospitality. Guess what they had in their conference room???
A life-size picture of moi!  I have to say they didn't catch my good side, but it was better than having a blown-up poster of a cat!



After lunch we went down to a dog clothing store, I bet you could of guessed they didn't have anything in my size. Though Boo Boo's Mom Lana was sure having fun shopping.  We were there to do a video shoot for the local NBC network LXNY.  It was fun until they thought I needed more hair!

Then our last stop of the day was the New York Fire Department museum for a Meet-and-Greet. That's Boo Boo trying to ride me like a horse ... NOT! 

September 16 - 

Time to head home to Tucson. We jumped in the limo and headed to Times Square. I needed a picture of me and all the lights. Funny, there is almost no one down there at 4:30 a.m.

OPRAH SHOW

In the midst of our quest for the Guinness World Record for Tallest Dog, we were contacted Oprah Winfrey Show with regard to a feature they were doing called, "That's Incredible."

Oprah's staff learned about Giant George thorough FaceBook and YouTube...they were insistant on having him as a feature on this show;
regardless of the Guinness World Record. As fate would have it, the timing with Guinness World Records and the Oprah Show came together flawlessley.  On Monday February, 15, the Guinness representative came to Tucson and conducted the official measurement;  Triumphantly, Giant George earned the Guinness World Records for "Tallest Dog Ever," and "Tallest Living Dog." 

With this great news, we began the seemingly endless and hectic process of coordinating the logistics of transporting a 43" and 245 pound dog to Chicago.  Imagine transporting a lion or tiger...this is the comparable size of Giant George.  After much deliberation and discussion, American Airlines stepped to the plate and offered to fly Giant George to Chicago.  He would not fit in a first-class row, so he got three of his own seats at the bulk-head...This meant that Giant George would be in the fuselage, like a regular passenger.  Needless to say, this was cause for much commotion on the flight. Throughout, many of the other passengers came up to take photos and pet him...he was a total Rock Star!.  There were so many people coming to the front of the plane, the pilot ended up illuminating the "fasten seat-belt" sign to get everyone to sit down. 


When we arrived in Chicago, we were shocked by the number of people who were wating for us in the arrival area at the airport...With flashing cameras and video rolling, more than one-hundred people saw Giant George strike a pose as though he was on a red carpet. Needless to say, they ate it up. 

A limo whisked us to the Governor's Suite of the Omni Hotel.  It happened to be snowing in Chicago that day, and Giant George had never seen snow before;  It felt funny on his paws, but he was such a trooper, it didn't really even bother him.  In the suite, he had his own twin-size mattress on the floor and slept off the jet-lag.
The next day was showtime on Oprah.  The limo took us to Harpo Studios promply at 8:30 where Giant George had his own "green room" complete with  very soft bedding on the ground for him to lay down.  There was a sign on the door that read "Unless you are part of Team Giant George, please don't ask to see him until taping is over."  However, the sign didn't work so well;  we were told that Giant George was more popular among the staff than many A-list super-stars who had appeared on Oprah in the past.  Everyone wanted to see Giant George, and he was happy to see them all.  Everyone on Oprah's staff was so nice, warm and friendly. What a great group of people that work for the Oprah show!  Finally, it was time for Giant George to go out on stage and have Oprah announce his Guinness World Records for Tallest Dog Ever and Tallest Living Dog.  Without question, this was one of the most memorable moments for all of us. Oprah was super friendly and the segment was trouble free.
 
Next was getting back to the airport for the return flight.  American Airlines took Giant George to a private suite to relax before the big flight.  When Giant George began the four legged walk to the gate, once again, there were more than one-hundred people waiting to take photos of Giant George;  It was surreal to see all the people wanting to get a glimpse of Giant George.

Team Giant George, and Giant George himself, want to especially thank the staff of Guinness World Records, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and American Airlines for being so great to him.  It was truly an unbelievable experience!


IN THE NEWS

Life Magazine Wonders of Life. "The Biggest Frog, the Biggest Dog".  Display until 10/2010. page 81.

In Touch Magazine. "There's no dog too small - or big - to love". September 27, 2010. page 58.
Reader's Digest Magazine.  "Best Big Dog". June/July 2010.

Creative Companion. "The Great Dane. Husge Pleasure." May-June 2010.  A pet care magazine from India.

May 2010. Press Release. BREAKING NEWS: The international publisher Simon & Schuster is partnering with Giant George on his memoirs.
IN THE NEWS


NBC Today Show and MSNBC. April 9, 2010.

MSN Latino video. March 2010. by Gary Williams Photography.  http://video.latino.msn.com/watch/video/en-arizona-esta-el-perro-mas-grande-del-mundo/g98q2t9l


Arizona Daily Star. "Record-setting Great Dane Set to do Tucson Proud on Oprah." February 22, 2010. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/article_adc8a1b9-7141-5b38-a8b1-005e5cbac5f5.html

Snopes.com.
January 28, 2010.  "Giant George". http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/giantgeorge.asp
In Touch Weekly Magazine.  page 57. "Great Great Dane."  January 11, 2010.  See article on George's facebook page.

The Nation - Pakistani newspaper.
"7-ft long 'Giant George' could be world's tallest dog." December 24, 2009.  
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Entertainment/24-Dec-2009/7ftlong-Giant-George-could-be-the-worlds-tallest-dog

People's Daily Online - English version from China. "Will 7ft-long blue great dane be the world's tallest dog?" December 24, 2009.
MailOnline. uk. "Meet 'Giant George' the 7 ft-long blue great dane who could be the world's tallest dog."  December 24, 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1237727/Is-Giant-George-worlds-tallest-dog-The-7ft-long-blue-great-dane-claim-title.html

News4jax.com Jacksonville, Florida. "Is 'Giant George' World's Tallest Dog?" December 23, 2009.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/22043857/detail.html

Mirror.co.uk. "Greatest Dane". December 23, 2009.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/12/23/greatest-dane-115875-21917555/
Metro.co.uk. "Is this the world's tallest dog?" December 23, 2009. http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/807029-is-this-the-worlds-tallest-dog

Arizona Daily Star. "Wrong dog has his day, thinks George, the 2nd Great Dane." November 14, 2009.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/317568
L.A. Times.  A Newcomer to the 'World's Tallest Dog Race' : Giant George, 245-pound Great Dane. October 19, 2009.  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/10/george-worlds-tallest-dog-great-dane.html

George on YouTube. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCwAW7m4GTc

Christian Broadcasting Network.  "Great Dane Seeks Top Dog Honor." October 12, 2009
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2009/October/Great-Dane-Seeks-Top-Dog-Honor-/


FAN CLUB
George loves to hear from his fans. If you want to drop him a note, send it to:
        Giant George Fan Club
        P.O. Box 32200
        Tucson, AZ 85751-2200 
        USA 

WRITTEN BY ABHILASH .P. 

I GOT THIS INFORMATION IN THE WEBSITE http://www.giantgeorge.com/

Want a free autographed picture of George?

Send a self-address stamped envelope to the Fan Club address.
    Best size envelope 9" x 12"
    USA postage $1.08


George LOVES Teachers! 


Would you like George to send a free autographed photo to your class. Just send us an e-mail to: