Alayne took this photo of Claude, our Great Dane puppy, and Bailey the miniature Dachshund, sharing a dog bed on our living room floor. To be honest, Bailey and the rest of the short-leg crowd are not very fond of "Clod," as they refer to him. He’s huge, he’s mostly blind, and he’s a puppy, so he’s clumsy as heck.
Claude has microphthalmos, or shrunken eyeballs, and they’re also pointed downward, so his vision is pretty much limited to seeing the difference between light vs. dark. We think sometimes he also may be able to see large shapes … but that’s about it.
Thus Claude doesn’t see the little guys ‘way down there,’ and he often inadvertently walks over them. This leads to a lot of Doxie growls of "Look where you’re going, you big oaf!" But Claude is learning to be more careful around the short-legs, and they’re learning to skee-daddle out of the way when they hear him coming, so peace is (almost) at hand.
And, as you can see from the photo, they do just fine together when they’re in dreamland!
(Click on photo for larger image.)
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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