Big boy bites.

Last year in this space I name-dropped Burt Ward, famous as TV's Robin on Batman -- although some people might point out that the late Casey Kasem did the voice of Robin for cartoons between 1968 and 1985, making him TV's longest-running Robin. But Casey never had to put on tights, so I think Burt Ward gets the title. (Tightle?)

(NB: Did anyone ever notice that Burt Ward played Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's ward? Oh, you did? Never mind.)

(Bonus fact: In crossovers with Scooby-Doo, Kasem had to voice Robin and Shaggy, a challenge for any thespian.)

Anyway, Casey may have had a famous fit about a dead dog, but he never made a line of food for dogs. Burt Ward did. And Ward managed to get permission to use old Batman show photos in a very comic-book-like design for the bags.

You can't miss it if the store carries it, These days other dog foods use packaging to make you feel serene and strong, like a proud master giving sound nutrition to his noble canine companion. Gentle Giants bags are an absolute mess.

So too, I imagine, is Mr. Ward's home; click on the link above to see him there with the 50-odd dogs he maintains. It ain't just him and Ace the Bat-Hound; this guy loves dogs.

When Ward was interviewed on the Gilbert Gottfried podcast, he used the opportunity to discuss how he developed Gentle Giants and to promote its attraction to dogs and its health benefits. Well, my dogs are large, especially Tralfaz, and sometimes picky eaters, so I figured I'd get a bag and let them try it. Down to the store and Pow! Zap! got a bag. There's a salmon variety, and also canned food, but our store only carries the dry chicken, so I bought that.

It's a dicey thing, changing a dog's diet, and you have to do it gradually. It also required a switch from a lamb-based food. So I was easing the dogs into it. Or I started to. Little dog Nipper refused the stuff. Shied away like it was on fire.

I'm not blaming Gentle Giants; I think Nipper's just not that into chicken. Big dog Tralfaz liked it just fine, and soon was enjoying it straight. So for him it was a success.

I can't vouch for Ward's claims of tremendous longevity from the food's health benefits compared to those of other brands of dog food, because when the bag was finished I had to switch Tralfaz back. Since we have to keep gigantic sacks of food around to feed these guys, they were not going to each get his own bag. Soon Fazzy was back on the Diamond Naturals, which both the guys like, at least most of the time.

It's too bad, though; if the food had really done them that much good, gotten them in fighting shape, I and the dogs could have started going out at night, busting crime together. Although I guess I would have had to start eating it too. Well, I do like chicken.