Was going through some old photos on the computer and thought you might find this amusing... Connor is the Irish Wolfhound and the Twins are Thor and Shiva, two Fila Brasileiros, some of the most feared, respected and loyal canines in South America. This is when they were pups---they're about 4 months old, Connor is a bit older by almost a month. A few stories about living with these three massive and totally awesome animals. ************************** We lived in our house for about two years and didn't really run into the mailmen too much. The dogs sure looked forward to it. though. Connor and Thor would start mock fighting each other, sounding extremely ferocious, barking and snarling and bouncing off the wall while Shiva would "collect" the mail. We had a mail slot that came through the wall, into the house and dropped the mail on the floor. Shiva liked to grab it while the mailman was pushing it through the slot, though. One day I answered the door to sign for a package. It was easier to go outside rather than try to move almost 400 pounds worth of curious and protective dogs out of the way. While was signing the slip, the girl delivering the mail had that spooked horse look around her eyes...she very softly said "Can I ask you a question? What do you have in there?" I told her three large rambunctious dogs, 2 Brazilian Mastiffs and and Irish Wolfhound. I asked her if she wanted to meet them since they DID have manners when it was enforced. She said she would like to see them, but not really meet them. So I opened the door, hollered at the beasts and showed her the dogs. She said our house was a "legend" at the post office, and all new mailmen got assigned our street in the first week of working there. They nicknamed us The Addams Family House mainly because of the way "Thing" would get the mail, but also because it scared the crap out of new mailmen. It's not every day you find out your an unwitting hazing and torturing tool for sadistic government workers... ***************************** One day for some unfathomable reason I decided to take all three of the "Hounds of the Haskervilles" with me to run to the bank and the post office. We had a SUV with dark tinted windows...so I parked at the bank and ran in to the lobby. When I got done I went out to the parking lot and almost panicked---there was a crowd gathering around the truck. When I got closer I could see there wasn't REALLY a problem...but the dogs had spotted people outside and they tended to get rambunctious. The truck was rocking violently back and forth and what sounded like the hounds of hell were barking and snarling ferociously. The crowd had gathered because it was just crazy looking. One man looked at me and asked me: "Is that YOURS?? What the hell do you have in there?" "Filas and a Wolfhound..." sigh... It was kind of embarrassing, really. Anyway---thought some of you might find it amusing... CYA!! Laura