Thanks for all the opinions. We just had another checkup last night and we are now officially allowed to go out into the world. I'm very excited and I can't wait to be able to start running with him. I am concerned however, b/c he seems to have this hacking almost out of breath thing going on every time he runs around a little. Is this normal? The vet didn't seem concerned, but this is my baby and I'm paranoid. We started using the gentle leader too, it's starting to work a little,but he is still pulling. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post some pics of my big guy fredo. (Mommy and Daddy love the godfather) haha