Month: February 2006

Once again we had really horrible weather yet I managed to still make the drive home and back again with Boba and Fancy to the vet tonight. Boba weighs 55.5KG(122.1 pounds) and his heart, lungs, hips and the rest of his body are in excellent health. He gets an A+ the vet told me. By looking at his teeth it appears that he should be younger than 4 years yet from looking at his eyes, they make him look older than 4 years. It took three of us quite some time to get his manicure/pedicure done yet what a trooper! We will continue to work on training those ‘quicks’ back. The best part for Boba was the treat that the lady at McDonald’s gave him after his vet visit! 🙂 He was also microchipped. Boba was so happy to come home that I don’t think my feet touched the ground once with him and Fancy pulling me so enthusiastically to the house! 🙂 WE will be working on those leash manners as well!

As with Boba, despite the bad weather tonight, I managed to make the long drive home and back in again with Fancy and Boba for their vet visit. Other than giving me some trouble getting on the scale, she was a true ‘lady’. She was very calm, accepting of all that was happening around and to her and won over a few hearts tonight! If anything she looked bored to be there! 🙂 She weighed in at 37.8KG(83.16 pounds). Her records from IN indicated that she was over 100 pounds; yet if anything she has PUT on more weight since she got here for she is quite the food hound/sneak. I even re-weighed her to be sure the weight was accurate. She looks great and her heart, lungs, teeth, hips and rest of her body are all perfectly normal. The vet also gave her an A+. She was microchipped and will be on Sentinel. She too liked the treat from McDonald’s the best after leaving the vet Hospital! 🙂 Fancy has a slightly irregular structure to her one cheek bone which the vet feels she might have just been born that way. I had wanted him to look at that closely. Fancy rides in the car very well and like Boba could not wait to get back into the house and I was dragged with real enthusiastic energy up the sweeping brick stairs, across the deck to get into the house! We will be working on that part of her ‘unladylike’ manners. If you ask in just the right way, Fancy will give you the BEST and most gentle of kisses.

B. Stonebarger, Ohio; USA

Gwen, First, you are a Saint for the rescue work you do. Hopefully, the zip lock bag made it with the latest two Danes. I am the other half of the Charlie and Betty team and I wasn’t going to send you more dogs without a little something so I went around my office and asked everyone for any Canadian money they had. It wasn’t much so I added a little more of the US variety.

Boba has come a LONG way in just one week. He no longer crawls and ‘claws’ his way across our hardwood floors! 🙂 Boba has ‘issues’ with doorways. He will cry and whimper when he comes to any entranceway or doorway and though is is SOOO much better than when he first arrived, he will still hesitate and then make a ‘sudden’ rush through the entrance or doorway to get into the house, bedrooms etc. He was also very wary about coming into our kitchen area. He is SUCH a loving boy! I have to take new pictures of him as he has this little white strip on the side of his nose that is so cute! He has no qualms about getting on our bed and has begun to really settle down well at night. I have begun to separate him and Fancy for a few hours each day and night as he is really ‘bossed’ around by her for she is almost jealous to share him with any of the other dogs. He is still a bit possessive with his food around the other dogs yet no longer ‘grumps’ when they walk by or show interest in his bowl. I have to be careful about how I reprimand Boba when he sticks his nose into the garbage for if my voice is too loud, he visibly ‘crumbles’ and slinks away. He is a very sensitive boy and does a firm hand in working with him. I have dubbed him my ‘BobaGum’ for he is positively delicious!

Fancy is a very ‘complex’ girl. She has many layers and depths and I am looking forward to learning more about her. She is settling in really well though is slightly possessive over her food towards the other dogs especially to one of the other quite submissive female Great Danes. At this time, I would lean towards a home with other male dogs over females for while she tries to ‘dom’ over the males, she really drives that fact home with the females. I can handfed her and my kids can feed her treats without any issues and she is so very gentle in taking the food/treats. Fancy is not hesitant about asking for affection when she wants it and will sit and paw you to get your attention. While I have found her to date to be very trustworthy except for around the garbage with having free run of the house, she is not completely housebroken. We are working on that. She is very bold and will take food right out of the hands of my kids and when we are eating is a bit of a ‘beggar’. We will continue to work on that as well as her jumping. She jumped on Sean’s back the other night and Athena was very upset to see that. Fancy on the other hand was not going to back down and was prepared to meet Athena head on for any ensuing challenge and that shows just how strong this dog’s backbone is. Fancy is so unique and I am absolutely fascinated by her personality. Every once in awhile, I see glimpses of this incredible loving girl hiding inside of Fancy and I am very patient to wait for her to come out. She is so very ‘wise’ and ‘old’ in so many ways and I have yet to see her truly act like the puppy she really should be. She is also very jealous of any affection/attention shown to Boba by us or any of the other dogs and will ‘boss’ him away. I have taken to separating them for a few hours every day and night so that they can each have time to develop their own relationships with us and the other dogs. She sure does like the stuffies and squeaky toys though!!! Fancy is not a Dane for the inexperienced Dane home.

Snowball went to the vet today for her annual visit and she now weighs 35.4KG (77.78pounds). She had her annual vaccines and was given RABVAC#3, so her rabies is good for 3 years. Her exam showed that she is still perfectly healthy and ‘raring’ to go! 🙂

BHRR’s Boba Phett – 2-4 year old Adult Male Black(with some white on chest & toes) Great Dane(2001-2004), neutered, great with kids, other dogs and people. HW-, on Sentinel, very kind, social and friendly. He stands @ 29″ and was a pleasantly slightly plump almost 125 pounds at last weigh-in. He is utd on shots, will be microchipped and fully vetted on February 21st. Boba is housebroken, completely trustworthy with the full run of the house, basic obedience, good with cats, very gentle taking treats and we can handle his food without any issues. He did show a slight possessiveness towards the others dogs when they came near his food bowl yet settled down well when reassured. Boba has an awful time on our hardwood floors. He is unsure as to how to walk on them and will lie on his belly and ‘claw’ his way around. That is not a pleasant sound to hear nor it is fun to watch what it does to our recently re-finished floors! 🙂 The second day he was here, he was better at walking on them yet still will not go very far before turning and making his way to our tiled Sunroom. He is not an alpha male and is quite sad when he feels he is left alone. His looks remind me a bit of both BlackJack and Samari. Boba gets SOOO excited when he sees the leash come out! He was owner surrendered with Fancy as their owner’s health has declined. They have come to us from Indiana, USA.

BHRR’s Fancy – Female Mantle Great Dane, 11 months old(April 2, 2005), spayed, HW-, on Sentinel, housebroken, crate trained(though needs treat to get into crate), not yet trustworthy having full run of the house, some obedience training, good with kids, not good around cats, ok with food being touched, takes treats very gently and will be fully vetted plus microchipped on February 21st. Fancy, though appearing to be a bit ‘shy’ or ‘timid’ at first has a strong alpha streak in her. She is very independent, extremely intelligent and is a ‘thinker’. She bosses Boba around and barks at the other dogs or even us when we first appear. She settles down well with the other dogs once we tell her to ‘stop’. For a Dane that is only 10 months, in a non Dane experienced home; due to this somewhat slightly ‘skittish’ behavour and dominant tendencies; she would be a handful. Fancy gives the BEST kisses though! She is also going to require more obedience training, she jumped on me several times; giving me a fat lip tonight. She is a beautiful looking girl and stands just under 31″ at this time and last weight was just over 100 pounds. She was owner surrendered with Fancy as their owner’s health has declined. They have come to us from Indiana, USA.

I brought Frost to the vet on Thursday February 9th and he is still recovering from his ordeal. He weighed in at only 53.1 KGs.(116.82lbs)

Should we not find the right home for Snowball within the next few months; we will take her off our ‘Adoption Pages’ and she will spend the rest of her life as a beloved member of our family as a lot of time has gone by since her arrival with to us and she has really settled in with us. Snowball will be going into the vet later this month to have her annual vaccines.

I plan on bringing Samson in soon to have a re-weigh as he has lost some of that excess weight and is looking so handsome!