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CNN Saturday Morning News

World's Largest Dog Weighs 284

Aired June 09, 2001 - 07:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: They say dog owners and their -- dogs and their owners, I should say, often look alike. Here is a case in point, a 270-pound Massachusetts man owns a mastiff that outweighs him.

Eileen Curran of CNN affiliate WBZ looks at the pooch who eats by the bucketful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EILEEN CURRAN, WBZ REPORTER (voice-over): When John Flynn of Peabody walks his dog, cars slow down and heads turn. Flynn's a big guy, his dog, Hercules, even bigger.

JOHN FLYNN, DOG OWNER: I weigh probably 270.

CURRAN (on camera): So your dog weighs more than you.

FLYNN: Yes, yes, he does. Yes.

CURRAN (voice-over): At last check this 3-year-old English mastiff tipped the scales at 284 pounds. Hercules came to the attention of the "Guinness Book of World Records" thanks to a 9-year- old friend of the family, David Delauri. David was flipping through his edition of the book when he saw a dog that looked like Hercules.

DAVID DELAURI, FAMILY FRIEND: And then I came to this page and I was, like, oh, I thought, Wendy's dog was the biggest dog in America.

CURRAN: The mastiff in the book weighed 286 pounds and was the heaviest living dog. Flynn called the Guinness people and learned the dog had died. And after submitting documentation, he was told Hercules now qualified as the heaviest living dog.

(on camera): So what do you feed a 280-plus-pound dog? Some might say, anything he wants. But actually John feeds Hercules about a pound of dry dog food a day, and this is his dog dish.

(voice-over): The vet says Hercules is healthy but shouldn't gain any more weight. Flynn says he'll walk him more often and just try to avoid causing traffic jams.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That tale brought to us by Eileen Curran of our Boston affiliate WBZ.

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