The Vet and some of my fellow colleagues made such wonderful remarks and compliments over her beautiful soft and healthy coat, muscled and toned body condition and accepting demeanor! WTG FREEDOM DANE BHRR's Adele!

It has been a long path of baby rehabilitation steps for BHRR's Adele and I could not be more proud of her!!!

She plays for over 4-5 hours each day in our fenced in of almost 2.5 acres and she will run, zip, zoom and romp with her daughters and dogs like FREEDOM DANE BHRR's Freedom. She likes her AM romps the most right now. She will play from around 8 AM to 11:30 AM each day and then come in for a nap and then likes to get back up and have a small stroll around 3;30 PM or so and then she will do an early evening romp for about 1/2 hour to an hour.

She is very receptive to me and her obedience has bombed along under a very kind, firm and structured full of routine and patient consistent positive reinforcement program at BHRR and her impeccable learned leash manners would put many other dogs in the world to shame. Amazing how a dog can become the best dog they can be when done right by!!!!

NO one would suspect from her current body condition plus stamina that this was once a very broken, shutdown, emaciated and terrifed Great Dane.

She has a journey still ahead of her and she is going to have a lifelong journey of great experiences in the right matched forever loving home that understands what she needs and accepts her for who she is and does not make her into something she is not and never shall be and does not become frustrated with her. She is not to be manhandled. We do not believe any dog should be manhandled in fact. We have spent many many many months working on her 'shutdown' condition and she is now thriving.

Here is a very short VIDEO of BHRR's Adele taken last night(it is very hard to photograph and videotape her as she is very camera shy) but you can get an idea of how AMAZING she is doing now!!! SHE looks uber fabu!!!

After 15 years of rescuing and rehabbing dogs from her lines from PAWS R US; we understand her very well and we continue to rehab her two daughters at BHRR.

Should all go well, BHRR's Adele could be moving to an adopted status on Saturday May 19th, 2012; and we will update as we can.

She is such a laid back Pyr and the Vet found her very easy to exam and vaccinate! LOL

She enjoyed all the loving she received and had many compliments on her awesome and soft coat!

We continue to wait patiently for her forever loving home to find her.

1) HWT – Negative
2) Relaxin – Negative – so, at this time; it looks like her bladder and a false pregnancy are why she is looking the way she is
3) Urine – full of eastie beasites and we are still awaiting the results of the culture – will take about 10 days to determine if the cephalexin is the right antibiotic to be using.

We are still waiting on full results from her Wellness bloodwork and fecal testing.

At this time, she is scheduled for her spay on May 29th, 2012 barring if something comes up with her bloodwork, if any repeat x-rays plus u/s reveals a pregnancy and if her urine and/or fecal results require a delay.

From there, she will need another vaccine booster(one was given to her by the Shelter) and her rabies and we will continue to monitor those hips and balance. As she receives better nturition and exercise; this will greatly assist her and I will also put her into some Canine Water Wellness Hydrotherapy sessions once she is up and running in health.

I want to re-visit with another exam her eye and perhaps; we can get a better exam on those hips and we might just x-ray those hips when she is under for her spay.

Donations to her growing Vet Bills can be made in the following ways.

Kanata Animal Hospital (613) 836-2848 and they will take Visa, M/C and AMEX over the phone. They will take Debit or Cash in person at 440 Hazeldean Road in Kanata, Ontario

You can also mail donations via a Bank Draft to:

Birch Haven Rescue & Rehabilitation Services
C/O Gwendilin Boers
2425 Totem Ranch Road West
RR#1 Oxford Station, Ontario
K0G 1T0

OR email transfer to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via PayPal(please use the 'gift' option)

BHRR's Emma's ANGELS:      $1,225 donated to date & Bills $1,660.14
Maggie
Anna
Karen
Suzanne
Nairn
Peter
Verbruggen Family

She is also suffering from some mild SA and so, she is having to learn that her own company is ok and crate training is greatly assisting with that. She continues to learn about housebreaking and rules and NO HUMAN couches either!

Both of these videos are of them on Bleach's 'couch' – which is his security blanket.

VIDEO #1
VIDEO #2
 

we are just leaving KAH now. BHRR's Emma has a bad UTI – her bladder is just huge and that has made the taking of ultrasounds(done twice) & x-rays very difficult. Her bladder is just enormous, the poor thing and that is almost all that you can see; that and her intestines.
So, at this time; we are unable to see babies via u/s or x-rays. Her Vet also discussed the case with an x-ray specialist. BHRR's Emma was also examined by two Vets.
So, she is on a heavy dose of antibiotics – cephalexin for her UTI and we are running a sample of her urine after doing a cysto collection.
She is on Fucithalmic for her eye and we did bw for a hwt, wellness plus we are doing a relaxin test to see if we can determine a possible pregnancy that way. We do understand that if she is really early on; that this test will not read positive.
We shall repeat the x-rays and u/s next week as we could not rule out no pregnancy due to that bladder and if it was super early plus if they were pushed up under her rib cage but no skeletal systems were located in the x-rays done today nor did we see any amniotic sacs in the u/s.
We are aiming to spay her once she has had time to become more healthy and depending on all the results of her bw and the repeat x-rays and u/s next week.
Being slightly skittish of most of the staff made things a wee bit more challenging too. BUT, she was a brave girl!!
She is even very skittish of Sean and when he met me at KAH, he was going to take BHRR's Emma for a pee while I went to the bathroom quickly and when I came back, I noticed that he did not have her and he and another person were trying to keep her off the road. She had pulled out of his hands and he was just trying to keep her off the road until I came back out.
In crouching down and calling to her softly, she came right to me.

Donations to her mounting Vet Bills can be made direct to Kanata Animal Hospital (613) 836-2848

or via PayPal

or via email transfer to gwen@birchhaven.org

Thanks to all my fellow lovelies at KAH as always for being the best of the best out there!!
We are also doing a fecal and deworming her.
She also has a mild hygroma on one of her elbows – lots of soft bedding shall help that
Her panting can at this time be explained by her being stressed, out of shape, uncomfortable due to her bad hips and UTI
 

UPDATE:

Now, that we are home; I also wanted to post that her heart sounded great and once she is more healthy in muscle and settled in with her anxiety; we will re-visit her balance if needed.
She weighed 61 kgs(134.2 pounds) and her growing girth can easily be passed with an explanation of that growing bladder. OR a false pregnancy is very possible.

VIDEO #1 from May 14th, 2012
VIDEO #2 from May 14th, 2012

What she does need to date are:

1) Packing Blankets/Duvets/Comforters as she does have some sores and is weak with bad hips
2) Puppy Pee Pads as she is having some incontinence and discharge
3) She LOVES the smoked knuckle bones
4) Rice
5) FROMM Wet Canned Dog Food
6) Towels
7) Pinesol
8. Leash(she has a collar – thanks to Karen and to HotDogsallDressed Inc.)
9) Donations towards her Vet Bills that shall be substantial regardless if she is pregnant or not
10) Paper Towels

***I will continue to update the list as needed**

BHRR's Emma's ANGELS:      $1,175 donated to date & Bills $1,500 and growing
Maggie
Anna
Karen
Suzanne
 

On February 12th, 2012(when she was at the Shelter before bouncing back on May 2nd, 2012); she was given Bordetella. The reason why she was surrendered back was due to 'no time'.

She is also microchipped through EIDAP and we shall work on transferring the microchip under the authority of BHRR.

I cannot find any record of a rabies vaccine and we shall have this vaccine done at KAH once she has put on some more weight.

She has been fully integrated with all the dogs here except BHRR's Riley and that shall be tomorrow. She is all gooberhead puppy and the boot camp began from the moment she walked into our house.

She is eating and drinking well and has only had two accidents in the house to date; both in her crate. She will get there!

We are also working on her 'negative seeking attention' barking and already it is better than what it was on Saturday. Her crate is beside BHRR's Bloom and I see BHHRR's Bloom looking over at her as if to say 'we do not do that here!' LOL LOL

When we got home, in cleaning out the picnic basket; we found a donation for the BHRR animals tucked inside!!! It was an absolute pleasure meeting these two amazing folks and I could have spent hours just chatting!

BHRR's Veteran also was able to visit with a Great Pyr puppy! With all the dogs he saw today; he demonstrated no 'worry' signs of stress at any of them and during the times that I was there; he saw a Great Pyr pup, a Golden Retriever and a lovely black/tan Heinz 57! Apparenlty, there was a lab swimming and other dogs to that he showed only signs of wanting to play! I am proud of you BHRR's Veteran!!!! You are learning to trust more and more and more that all the dogs outside of BHRR are not going to hurt you!

He has put on 40+ pounds since his arrival to BHRR! LOOKING just FABU big boy!

Here is a blurb that they posted on our BHRR FB Page of their special date experience from today:

"Some days are just perfect. Everything just works out great….. today was one of those days. We had our date with Veteran. Perfect drive from Toronto to Kingston, Gwen picked the most amazing conservation area. We meet our handsome guy Veteran at the park, and FELL IN LOVE!!!!
Gwen and her great daughter are 2 of the most amazing people you can ever hope to meet. Veteran loves his mom and we had to distract him with treats so she could drive away. We went for a great hike through the trails and saw birds, turtles, swans, frogs you name it.
There was a couple of times my husband – had 10 bucks on me and the dog ending up in the lake. What a great explorer our veteran is. Every time Carl lagged behind Veteran would stop and wait. I was sure this was a sign of bonding – carl is sure it is cause he had the treats in his pocket.
After about an hour walk – we stopped and had lunch… no wait a feast !!!!! Gwen gave us a beautiful real wicker picnic basket – stuffed to the top with lunch. Fruit, sandwiches, chocolate, cheese, crackers, chips, …. the list goes on.
We ate lunch by the lake – snuck a few bits of turkey to Veteran (don’t tell). Never have I seen a dog take his treats so gentle.. so gentle. I have a lab and her idea of gentle is only eating 1 of your fingers. Veteran took the tiniest crumb so softly.
It is absolutely hilarious when you turn around and his head is resting on the picnic table and you notice that he actually has to bend down to do it.
Veteran is so tall you don’t even have to bend to pet him when you are walking. On the walks he kept rubbing his head on my leg. I kept having to stop and hug him and give him scratches. He likes a good chin scratch. When we stopped for pictures you can’t help but just maul him and hug him.
After lunch – we went for another hike on a different trail, with lots of stops for water and treats. Oh… and a poop that I was sure was done by a horse. No I am not kidding. We used 3 regular dog poop bags. It was the only thing Gwen didn’t warm us about.
After that it was time for a snooze under the tree to wait for Gwen. Oh…. there was a moment when we had him stuffed in the car – thinking of ways to make a run for the border with him.
Thank you Gwen for all you do. For taking all this time to bring these beautiful dogs to people like us – so we can enjoy them. I can’t tell you – how great this day has been because of you. We grinned like silly kids all the way home in the car."

May 13th, 2012 – DOESN'T a GD look great 'on' them!
AND as tall as BHRR's Veteran is; they are a model tall family themselves!

She has had two accidents in her crate; one pee in the night(she was out around 2:30 AM and again at 5:00 AM) and she had a poop inside of her crate today – soft yet fairly well formed.

I meant to take her stomach measurement yesterday for all of us looked at her today and went 'we are sure she is bigger!' but she is eating and drinking better and on that rack of bones body; she would be bigger. She is being fed 5 meals a day right now. I did take her measurement tonight just at the last rib and she is 37" around. We shall see if that changes dramatically over time.

She seems most comfortable with me and is already responding to her name and Sean and I worry a lot about her balance. She is not steady on her feet and she also seems to have some trouble lifting her head straight up. She clearly is lacking muscle tone in her hind end and her back legs are weak plus her hips are not great. Her front end is stronger(just as our Kona's was) and she is a very pretty soul.

She will growl a bit in fear at Sean or even Mason at night and the light is behind them and she cannot see who they are. She settles done well and I have both of them feeding her some of her meals and talking to her and around her in normal conversations while passively ignoring her.

She has been integrated with BHRR's Gretta and BHRR's Peanut and BHRR's Jetta. She seems mostly indifferent overall to them yet; did a mild grump at BHRR's Peanut when she was having a drink out of one of the communal water bowls and BHRR's Peanut came up to also have a drink. She will learn to share and she was softly corrected with words and she calmly just looked at me and then drank some more sans more grumping.

Tonight, she has grumped at any of the dogs that she feels is getting too close to me; for she has 'claimed' me as her own in her own way and will come to me when called and also on her own volition. She will lean and almost try to sit on me. So, we will be working on the 'sharing' as well. She is a strong girl and as I have said many times over; these survivors of hell have backbones and wills of steel. She is not overtly dominant, yet more subtle with a look and soft growls/grumping. You can tell that she has had to take a stand or two in the past and she just wants to have space and not worry about the other dogs taking things from her or hurting her.

I do worry about how quickly she can begin to pant and her legs will begin to shake if she stands too long. We will be doing bw including a hwt. Her right eye appears to be weeping a bit and we will also check into that.

I LOVE how she lays in her crate! Her front legs crossed. She is very quiet and she just LOVED the smoked bone she was given as a treatie last night. She chomped and munched on it and this is only going to benefit her teeth and body. Her teeth are in quite good condition, surprisingly enough and she has been very accepting in allowing me to touch and feel and hold ears, tail, feel, mouth etc.

I have to be really honest; this girl has just grabbed deep into my heart with those eyes; yup! THOSE eyes again…. LOL and I am looking forward to Tuesday and to seeing if we can obtain a better determination re: any possible pregnancy.

I know some are not going to want to read this part; but; if she is pregnant and if it is; early enough along; we shall spay her if BHRR's Emma's own health shall not be compromised at this time with a spay. There are enough puppies in this world born and not enough homes for them; let alone the parents and the breeding of dogs should be taken very seriously. The health and behavoural issues that comes with byber and puppymiller dogs is also very paramount in the minds of those of us in Rescue.

It is not just the cost to the Rescue that shall be incurred; for we committed to her welbeing; with the awareness that she could be pregnant and we will do right by her should she be pregnant and it is not safe to spay her due to her own health or if she is too far along to do it safely.

We are going to take this one step at at a time and for those wanting to donate to her cause; she has an account set up at:

Kanata Animal Hospital (613) 836-2848 and they will take Visa, M/C and AMEX over the phone. They will take Debit or Cash in person at 440 Hazeldean Road in Kanata, Ontario

You can also mail donations via a Bank Draft to:

Birch Haven Rescue & Rehabilitation Services
C/O Gwendilin Boers
2425 Totem Ranch Road West
RR#1 Oxford Station, Ontario
K0G 1T0

OR email transfer to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via PayPal(please use the 'gift' option)

What she does need to date are:

1) Packing Blankets/Duvets/Comforters as she does have some sores and is weak with bad hips
2) Puppy Pee Pads as she is having some incontinence and discharge
3) She LOVES the smoked knuckle bones
4) Rice
5) FROMM Wet Canned Dog Food
6) Towels
7) Pinesol
8. Leash(she has a collar – thanks to Karen and to HotDogsallDressed Inc.)
9) Donations towards her Vet Bills that shall be substantial regardless if she is pregnant or not
10) Paper Towels

***I will continue to update the list as needed**

BHRR's Emma's ANGELS:
Maggie

PLEASE READ THE BLOGS FROM THE BOTTOM UP – They will answer most of your questions re: age, history etc.

BHRR is a federally registered NP organization and requires an application/contract to be filled out, personal references including a vet reference if applicable and a home visit to be done before being invited to visit any BHRR animal to best determine if approved to adopt. We also require that at the time of meeting any BHRR animal (after completing the application process up to that point) that the whole family + any other currently owned animals are brought to the locale of the animal in question for at least one meeting to take place. BHRR only places per best matched personality fit. We also require that within four months of having adopted your new addition that at least one full round/session of group classes of obedience (they can range from 6-18 weeks) must be started and upon completion; proof (registration + completion) must be submitted to BHRR's attention at BHRR and with having your signature on the adoption application/contract; you will be in a legal breach of your contract should this not be done. The animal involved will have to be returned promptly & safely to BHRR at your own expense.

BHRR's Shiva – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE September 9th, 2008 *Great Dane

BHRR's Dana - AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE May 21st, 2009 *Great Dane

BHRR's Hailey – AVAILALBE FOR ADOPTION SINCE January 19th, 2011 *Great Dane

BHRR's Maggie May – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE July 28th, 2011*Great Pyrenees

BHRR's Goliath - AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE October 19th, 2011 *Irish WolfhoundX*ADOPTED – New Home – June 15, '12

BHRR's Cobalt - AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE January 3rd, 2012*Great Dane

BHRR's Riley – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE January 3rd, 2012*Great Dane

BHRR's Veteran – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE January 3rd, 2012*Great Dane

BHRR's Adele – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE January 3rd, 2012*Great Dane*PENDING ADOPTION May 6th, 2012

BHRR's Journey – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE April 16th, 2012*Great Dane*PENDING ADOPTION April 16th, 2012

BHRR's Kyo – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE April 17th, 2012*Great Dane

BHRR's Freeze – AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION SINCE May 9th, 2012 *DEAF Border Collie

BHRR's Peanut - NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – PRU "FREEDOM DOG" NEW ARRIVALOctober 2011*Great Dane

BHRR's Gretta – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – PRU "FREEDOM DOG" NEW ARRIVALOctober 2011*Great Dane

BHRR's Freedom – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – PRU "FREEDOM DOG" – NEW ARRIVAL Dec. 6th*Great Dane

BHRR's Bloom – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – NEW ARRIVAL December 16th, 2011 – *Great Dane

BHRR's Rambo – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – NEW ARRIVAL March 31st, 2012 -*Doberman

BHRR's Jetta – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – NEW ARRIVAL May 12th, 2012 -*Great Dane

BHRR's Emma – NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION – NEW ARRIVAL May 12th, 2012 -*Great Dane

Until such time as we have more approved temp foster homes and/or approved adoptive homes, BHRR IS FULL!

Unfortunately, though the person who had her was given our information and us theirs; they had placed her with a shelter in the Montreal area for they were just not equipped to take on a Giant Breed; let alone one with her needs and we then had to wait until her hold period was up to bring her to BHRR. One of the wonderful employees at the shelter, knew me from our time together on the first seizure done last September from PAWS R US and she contacted myself directly to ask if I would be willing to take her in.

We stayed in regular contact and today; finally we were able to bring BHRR's Emma(the name suggestion on our fb page thread just really seems to suit her!) today.

While she was at the shelter, we did ask to have vaccines held off as it is suspected that she may be pregnant yet; it appears from the paperwork that she was given DHPP & Bordetella.

We cannot thank the Shelter enough for keeping us updated, walking her and giving her baths(diarrhea) plus doing her nails(they were extremely overgrown). She is thin, appears to also have a UTI(incontinence and a smell) and she is scheduled to come with me to KAH on Tuesday for an exam etc. After such a long and stressful day; I want/need to give her a little time to just settle in and begin to relax. Bloat/Tort is very much a risk right now for her. She did not eat any supper offered her way yet did drink a little. If she was in critical state, we would have had her go to the Vet today.

In looking her over closely, I would say she is about 4 years old max, quite thin and could well be pregnant or a false pregnancy and she has had puppies in her past. She is not a wallflower this one. She has lived a life already from her body and eyes yet; just as with FREEDOM DANE BHRR's Adele; with all the exercise she shall get here and all the positive support; she will thrive. BHRR's Adele zooms and plays and runs and romps for almost 4 hours each day(loves the AM the most!) with her daughters and some of their best friends. People are in awe of her body condition now and mental health and BHRR's Emma will get there too. She is a wise GD…..you can see the brain just ticking away. She is patient too.

Below is one photo of her from when she was first picked up and laying in the mud. She is a mismarked fawn mantle(fawntle)

BHRR's Emma – the night she was found as a stray and picked up in the Montreal area – May 4th, 2012