A 170-pound Great Dane from Wisconsin is inducing belly laughs across the internet for his habit of leaping into laps despite his massive size.
Retail business owners Ken, 42, and his wife Beth Kempen, 40, live with their two kids, Maddie and Colin, and two Great Danes: Joe and Larry.
Larry, who is currently 4 years old and weighs 170 pounds (approx. 77 kg), has grown popular for clambering with his long limbs onto the Kempen family’s laps.
“It really is a Dane thing,” Ken told The Epoch Times. “I would say a lot of Great Danes just think they’re lap dogs ... they'll always try to sit by you. Larry, on the other hand, has to sit on you.”
When Larry wants some lap time, his tactic is to “stick his face in your face” or “put up his paw and tap you,” Ken said. And the gentle giant does not care if his targeted person is busy.
Ken said: “With Maddie our daughter, she’s 13, Larry is super gentle. He will slowly crawl up and if she goes, ‘Ouch!’ he‘ll jump off and do it again. With my wife, same thing. With me, I would say about 90 percent of the time he’s gentle, but there is that 10 percent where he’s like, ’I’m coming, you better watch out!'”
Before Larry joined the Kempen family, Ken owned an English bulldog and Beth had a Yorkshire terrier. But Ken loves big dogs so when a customer mentioned that their Great Dane had given birth to puppies, the couple couldn’t resist. They planned on adopting Larry’s brother, but little Larry stole their hearts.
To ease Larry’s transition into his new home, Ken and Beth brought home a blanket with a familiar smell of his mom, dad, and siblings. They lay on the blanket before Larry was taken home. Ken believes this sparked Larry’s “obsession with blankets.” Today the dog has seven and routinely steals from other people, even from his dog brother and best bud, Joe.
Besides his penchant for cuddles and sitting on the family’s laps, Larry’s other quirks include smelling mouths whenever people come home.
“I think he wants to make sure that you didn’t eat somewhere without him,” Ken said.
Larry also scouts for snacks and still has his first-ever toy, “Mr. Croc,” which he sleeps with. Although the hilarious dog enjoys pulling loose stuffing from the couch, he has never destroyed anything on purpose.
In the last four years, Ken and Beth have been through five recliners, four sofas, and one bed owing to Larry’s massive weight. But while the Great Dane may be rough on the furniture, he knows to hold back with small friends, such as Ken and Beth’s 2-year-old twin granddaughters, Ken’s mother’s dog, and Larry’s corgi friend, China, whom he lets climb all over him.
“I think he knows when he’s bigger than other dogs, he’s got to be gentle. But as far as cuddling with us and sitting in our laps, he really thinks he can fit,” Ken said. “We make it work, because who doesn’t want Larry-loving, you know?”
Larry is also a very smart dog. Sharing a funny anecdote, Ken said: “He watches and observes ... I think he just sat there and watched us push the button to open the microwave door. My son one time put a ham sandwich into the microwave and went to the bathroom. The microwave beeped, nobody’s thinking nothing of it.”
“I saw Larry run from the kitchen to his bedroom and my son comes out, ‘Where’s my sandwich?’ We’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’ and then, of course, we look, and there’s Larry with a sandwich in his mouth!”
Since Larry can reach the top of the fridge, the family has resigned themselves to the fact that there’s “no place safe” from his snuffling snout.
Larry shares an “inseparable” bond with Ken who tries to take him wherever he goes. He enjoys truck rides and walks with Ken and doesn’t have any sense of personal space when it comes to him.
Although he’s a very well-trained dog, there are times when Ken said they just let him do what he wants to do.
“The only way I can describe his personality is amazing,” Ken said. “He knows when we’re sick so he’s super gentle, he knows when we’re happy and he gets happy ... he’s just awesome.”
