One Last Sniff For the Road!
Papa Atreus is kissing his big boy Angus good bye. Angus will be heading off to Bend, OR. When we humans have little ones it is often the daddy that appears sweetly awkward; almost afraid one wrong move and he'll break the fragile infant. Sometimes you can see a baby's eyes just grow wide in the arms of a daddy.
I can't speak for all breeds, but in watching our giant Dane papas interact with their tiny pups for the first time; the view is very much the same. It is so cautiously tender. If you stop to watch as puppy's eyes start at Atreus's toes then move higher, and higher, and higher until their tiny necks are craned so far back they almost tip over (and sometimes they actually do), you can almost hear the pup's audible voice just go "WOW". Then papa bends down for his deep loving sniff. This picture really captures one of those moments.