Gibson meets Guinness

It's official.

Gibson, a 3-year-old Great Dane, has been named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the planet's tallest dog.

Guinness representatives flew across the pond from England and landed Tuesday at Chicago Park's Happy Apple Kitchen to rightfully give Gibson, 42.2 inches tall at the shoulders, his place in history.

A small group of people waited for more than an hour, sipping coffee and hot chocolate in front of the tidy restaurant before Gibson made his appearance.

He arrived in a two-decade-old Buick Skylark, his head and paws peeking out from the rear passenger seat.

And when he stepped out, it was all owner Sandy Hall could do to keep the Harlequin Great Dane from bounding over to meet his fans.

"He's beautiful, just beautiful," said John Palmer, who had heard of but never met the massive 170-pound pup but was having coffee at the restaurant. "He's everything he's billed to be."

And so, the therapy dog, which has appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," barked for morning drive-time audiences and wowed the hosts of "Good Morning America" will now be in the definitive compilation of superlatives. The 2006 edition should be in time for Christmas shoppers.

Hall, a former touring musician who gave it up to raise dogs two decades ago, said she had little doubt of Gibson's potential when he was born three years ago.

"I've never seen anything like him," said Hall, who created a Web site, www.gibsondog.com, so fans can keep up with the popular pooch.

Neither had the Guinness folks, who came to Grass Valley as part of a swing through Northern California on Tuesday.

"I'm impressed," said Betty Halvagi, who runs the picture media desk for London-based Guinness. "He's very big. It's very good to meet some of the record holders in person," she said in an affected British accent.

The Guinness folks, who have been publishing their book of records since 1955, were expected to travel next to Sacramento to meet other record holders, including:

• Mark S. Allen, a Sacramento man who holds the record for eating the most jalapeno peppers (11) in one minute;

• Jed Harris of Ventura, who holds the record for most randomly memorized objects recited (100) at one time;

• Gregory Dunham, a Stockton man who built the tallest ridable motorcycle (11 feet, 3 inches at the handlebars).



<I>To contact staff writer David Mirhadi, e-mail davidm@theunion.com or call 477-4229.</I>