Don’t put big breeds in a box

He joined the family when he was just six weeks old, almost eight years ago, and, being the people-lover he is, landed idyllically with the right crew.

The Hendersons are a family of six.

Mum Kym, dad Marshall and their four daughters, Tillie, 18, Ivy, 16, and twins Violet and Marley, 11, say their favourite thing to do with their boof-headed beauty — besides everybody’s standard favourite pastime of cuddling their pooches — is take him for zoomies in their property’s paddock or at a nearby oval.

“He just loves to be with his ‘hoomans’; he loves people, and attention, and pats,” the girls all agreed.

Axel is also a fan of sun-baking on a sunny day.

“He likes to grab his cushion and teddy from his kennel in the morning and put them in a sunny spot, and when it’s cold or raining, he grabs them both and tucks them and himself up in the kennel again,” Kym said.

While that might be adorable and impressively domesticated for a creature descended from wild wolves, he does have one less-than-desirable ancestral habit imprinted in his genetics.

“He likes to roll in stuff he shouldn’t,” Kym said.

His penchant for stench and intolerance for cleansing water is the reason Axel spends most of his time outdoors.

“He hates water. He can’t swim,” Kym said.

“It’s a battle every time to wash him and, at 47kg, it’s quite a task.

“He then has to be dried properly before setting him free because, as mentioned before, he will find something to roll in.”

Even though Axel is an outside dog, the Hendersons say he occasionally persuades his way indoors.

“He is quite the sook when it comes to storms,” Kym said.

“So, he guilts his way in when possible.”

Of course, if his family didn’t have bleeding hearts, Axel couldn’t wrap them around his gigantic fur-covered toe anyway.

At present, Axel is the family’s only dog after they sadly lost their little Patterdale terrier Scout by snakebite last year.

They said Axel missed Scout immensely, but now, to carry on his legacy, he had taken responsibility for tormenting the family’s two goats at the fenceline between himself and them.

Besides barking at beasts of the bovidae variety, the Hendersons said Axel got along with any person or animal, because “he’s a big smoocher”.

“He used to love playing with the chickens, too, when we had them, although he was a bit rough given his size, so they were separated pretty quickly,” Kym said.

Now that the girls’ sports seasons have wound up, they’re looking forward to spending more time with Axel at home and down by the river, but not too far away because as much as he enjoys car rides, he gets car sick.

“We’ll possibly consider getting another friend for him with Scout now gone, too,” Kym said.

“He’s been a bit lonely.”

Loneliness will drive some people — and apparently dogs, too — to comfort eat.

Maybe that was Axel’s motivation behind helping himself to an entire freshly baked cake from the kitchen bench when he was inside one day.

Or maybe, at 47kg of canine, his appetite takes a bit to be satiated.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t look like he’s doing much to support his case of becoming a permanent inside resident with cheeky antics like that.

With that big, bounding and boundless energy, those puppy dog eyes, that wide slobbery smile and giant blockhead you just want to scritchy-scratch behind his floppy ears, it would be hard to stay — or even get — mad at this imperfectly perfect playful pooch.

“He’s our big, beautiful dork and we love him so,” Kym said.