Whenever I think of a giant puppy, the first thing to pop into my head is Clifford the Big Red Dog. Now I'm sort of curious if all of Saja's people are just naturally that much larger, or if they increase in size when transitioning onto earth. Probably just large by default as evidenced by the existence of other creatures her own size.

Alex going into Saja's world through some misadventure could be a startlingly dangerous plot hook.