What a great story, lovely dog, but confess if i saw him coming around the corner might think twice about patting him on the head, if i could reach that is.
I saw the article when I used your link - but when I saw him in my newspaper last night he looked even bigger.
We used to have a bull-mastiff/GSD and he was a big hound - the Jack Russell along the road used to terrify him and it bit his nose. I am not really keen on little dogs myself.