Dana has been very consistent the last two nights in letting me know at 3:02 AM to be exact that she has to go outside. She does her business, comes in for a treat, a little lovin’ and settles back into her crate until just after 7:00 AM. She keeps re-opening this one spot on her tail and I am going to put her on antibiotics for it. I was able to do her back nails all by myself while she slept last night yet when I got to the second nail on her left front paw, she woke up and was not too happy! LOL I will finish the rest of them with Sean’s help in holding her. While I was with a Client yesterday; Sean said that she had a pee in the house yet that is not bad considering we have had her since Wednesday night. While she was sleeping last night; I was able to touch her a lot more and in looking much closer at her ears; I am going to bring her back in for I am not quite sure what is going on. On the edges of her left ear; it almost looks like it has been ‘eaten’ in three spots and on her right ear, in one spot. It does not look like frost-bite to me and while I could be wrong; I want to get her back in now that she will be ‘still’ enough(of course, she will be awake yet she is much better about being held and touched without being so wiggy wormed!). There is also one area on her tail that I was able to look much closer at and it reminds me of her ears and where it is located plus how the hair is in and around that area; makes me wonder if she has a skin condition in addition to everything else. I am just not sure what they represent and they are not itchy, red, scabby, oozing etc. and maybe it is frost-bite….we will see what the Vet says. I also do not think they were ‘caught’ on something and tore either…to have three on one ear, one of the other and underneathe her tail, just does not add up to a cause of that type. I am not convinced that this one spot on her tail plus her ears are the results of environmental factors. I am not overly concerned about them yet would like to get them checked out. It was so hard to properly look her over at the Hospital as closely as I have been able to last night during her trusting sleep and I am now noticing a few things like this that I could not see so well before. What looked like just bald spots on her ears indeed have pieces missing out of them and I now see more on the underside of her tail. Yet she is eating, drinking, playing more(YAY!) and putting on weight(I actually had to loosen her collar yesterday!(GO DANA! GO DANA!) all well. In fact, when she does play, it is rough and parts of my body have been the bearer of the imprints of a very rough, nipping mouth! She likes to grab at my coat as I take it off and also the back of my clothes in play yet has no concept of ‘gentle’ and OUCH! LOL She plays for little moments with Porridge, a Client’s dog and Soul the best and the most(for the few moments that she does throughout the day). She is very slowly picking up some play behavour yet often stands there a wee bit confused over the antics of the dogs. SHE will pick it up…….She LOVES this ‘good cuz’ that we have and just pounces on it yet as soon as it stops, she loses interest and looks at us….we then roll it again and off she goes again until it stops moving and then looks at us again to roll it. She does not realise that she can move it herself!!! She is going into her crate very willingly now and can often be found just lying in it during the day(I only crate her for feeding/high value treats during the day) on her own volition. At night, she is crated and I have been putting her into the crate at midnight and as mentioned above; she settles down for about 3 hours, goes out and then is back to her crate for another 4 hours. GOOD GIRL! I found her lying on our bed last night and I saw her lip curl at Cherokee and then at Porridge when I was near and she was corrected, taken off the bed and there were no more incidents after that. So, she is doing really well in that area and continues to learn to ‘share’. She does not growl, lunge, bark or snarl with this behavour. We will continue to work on acceptable manners/methods of communication plus sharing and that she shall not want for anything and she is a smart cookie; she is getting it! There is so much depth and personality to this girl that I am finding so much to say about her each time I write! Loving this girl and all she represents!!!! 😀

I took Dana with me to the Vet last night and she weighed 29.2 KGs(64.24 pounds). Picture from yesterday posted below and it really does not do her justice with how thin she really is. 😥 The vet also agreed that she is no more than 8 months old and between the Vet and I we were able to get into her mouth better(wiggle worm monkey she is) and we could better see that she has no tartar on her teeth and even is still erupting teeth SO she is somewhere between 6.5 months – 8 months of age. The Vet looked at her tail and also felt that she has had several breaks and that they have healed in a not so nice fashion. She saw the bald and callused areas and the raw areas and we are going to use Cothivet on her tail plus between her toes(it remains to be seen if the rawness between her toes is from being on the roads, a rash or from trying to get out of the kennel at the shelter or even from escaping her crate at the foster home and our own home the first night). She has such a long tail and is very ‘happy’ with it. She just bangs and bangs it even at our house in her crate when it is time to take her out. She is better about ‘waiting’ for me to get her out yet that little body is so happy to come out after eating to be with everyone. We drew blood to run a HWT even though we have a good grasp on her current age and the incubation period of HW etc. JUST in case. She took treats really gently from the Vet and honestly, except for one moment of her trying to climb in the front as I was driving down our laneway; she layed down and snored and had dreams the whole drive in. PHEWWW! She is a terrible jumper and I know that I am going to have my share of black eyes, fat lips and broken glasses before we get the upper hand on that behavour. Her heart is great and her lungs sound clear. Dana really was happy to see everyone that was there at the hospital and sat on the scale long enough to get a weight. GOOD girl! Her leash manners were really not bad, considering and at times were actually quite good. She is a puller most of the time though and a weaver! We will see what her fecal results will bring. Tonight will be her third night of de-worming with the Panacur. Her poor coat while so soft is smelly and flaky and until the weather is better and she is stronger(she is quite weak); I am not going to bath her. The Vet’s words words were ‘eat, eat and eat!’ The Vet and I both hope that with the Ester C and proper nutrition(great food and enough of it) that we can ‘lift’ her up on her toes better for those feet are really really really bad and her knees, they could just about make you cry they are so terrible right now. Yet, even today, she did some puppy romping on her gangly deer legs. The Vet thought she was very social and friendly and a nice girl! I have to say that something changed with this girl yesterday afternoon; she just ‘relaxed’ and went into her crate of her own volition and slept soundly. Last night(or rather in the wee hours of this AM); I took her out one more time and she went very willingly into her crate with a treat(I owe Maggi a Pig’s ear that I snagged out of her SS bag for Dana….. 😳 ) and she slept right though, no wailing, crying, trying to get out of her crate, NOTHING. I woke her up at 7:00 AM to get her out and fed….WOW! WOW! WOW! I did not think we would get to that point that soon and man, is she smart. She is not the shrinking violet kind of gal and will most certainly need to go to a home with experience. I already know that I am going to adore this one to wee bits and she is another very special creature! Our Leader Female Kona(almost 10 now) also did something very interesting last night when Dana was sleeping in her crate; she went into the crate(NEVER does this) and layed down and let Dana put her head on her back and hips(Kona has bad HD and this was very revealing) and slept there. She was definitely passing along a message about Dana to us and I am looking forward to properly understanding what that message is through time. Kona watches over our kids like her own, she is the best leader female one could ask for and to see this behavour; is fascinating. Animal dynamics and behavour is so incredible. Even to see Dana be ‘ok’ with a dog going into her crate was interesting. Yes, Dana has some little resourcing going on…..more like mild protection in my opinion for she has lip curled when I was preparing food for Tain and did the same when a dog went to go over to the couch to see Sean yet we have nipped this in the bud very fast and other than 3 moments like this; she has been totally ‘kewl’ with things. Even late this afternoon when preparing her next meal; she did not get stressed(that is where this behavour is coming from as she is so starved for attention/love and food) and stood there with other dogs mingling around. We are watching it and correcting the behavour and in time as Dana learns that she is going to be fed and it is going to be consistent etc., this will fade. Lil Linus had this behavour as well at 14 weeks of age when he arrived and much much much worse than Dana and he is a great boy. This is not an uncommon behavour to see in dogs with this history and our patience and understanding along with the continued correction on proper behavour with her being fed regularly etc. is going to work wonders. In respect to the attention and love; we do not overdue it and she is learning she has to ‘share’. She will continue to be fed in her crate for her safety and to not be set up for failure and while I can give her little treats around the other dogs; I will not give her a high value item outside of her crate at this time either. She has been fully integrated with everyone and even this AM, she had a few seconds of play! YAY! YAY! with Porridge and a Client’s Dog before she tired and had to lie down. She was not quite sure how to go about doing it yet she did do some mouthing back with them and a little bounce here and there. Tonight she did a tiny bit of play with Shiva. This is very very very promising! Right now, she is curled up on a small bed that was donated by Jenni/Mudslide’s adoptive parent’s right next to me, having a nice snooze. Dana is so sweet it just melts your heart. She is very much one of the neatest Danes I have had the pleasure of meeting and with all of the training and socialization that she is going to get; she is going to be an INCREDIBLE addition to someone’s home. As mentioned to someone earlier today; this gal has already snuggled her way into my heart. Her eye while sill a bit runny, is clear and the Vet was not too concerned for her eyes were not red and she is not rubbing at them. The other thing that we are working on is her penchant for our couches. We do not allow the dogs up on our leather and she has been very persistent in trying to get on them. I know her temp foster home allowed this and new house, new rules. 😉 I will be posting a picture in her slideshow of my ‘first’ attempt to keep her off my couches! LOL I put up huge pillows, the foot stools and the little monkey just climb right up on a chair to the couch, made herself comfortable and then used her feet to push them off on the floor. At one point, I was running around the house in a small panic as I could not find Dana and then I see this one brown eye looking at me from the couch behind the one foot stool….OMG! I almost died laughing! SMART! SMART! SMART! I am just loving her personality!!!! I hope I have not missed too much in this update for her and will update as I can, including a height. Ohhhh, one more thing, she has not had an accident in the house in over 24 hours! We make sure she goes out after every nap, eating etc…..The last thing is that her drive home from the Vet Hospital was just as uneventful. She laid her head down on the arm rest and layed that way the whole way home.

Dana is now at my house. The temp foster home did not feel comfortable/equipped to deal with what she believes is Dana’s stress and/or anxiety levels and so she is now with us. I cannot thank this person enough for all that she has done in helping us pull and save this Dane and another HUGE public thanks being sent her way. In my estimation, Dana is about 8 months old at maximum, has never had a heat nor has had a litter. I will see what the Vet thinks when I bring her. I have given her Sentinel and have begun to de-worm her. Emaciated is putting it very mildly with this Dane. She is in terrible shape and her tail is a mess. It looks like she has several old breaks that have healed and several bald/callused and even raw spots where she has been rubbing/bumping on something(small crate or kennel at one point in her life perhaps). Both of her eyes are running and though I had an appointment booked for next week as she was to come in on Saturday; I am bringing her in today for 4:30 PM. I want to do a HWT test, Fecal etc. as per my below blog post for her too. She is eating well, is not housebroken at this time, has no leash manners, counter surfs, has no clue about her new name or manners, is very flat footed, very eastie westie, terrible looking knees, major happy tail wagging(especially in her crate); a HUGE houdini when it has come to her crate and we now have four clasps on it AND is not a happy camper in her crate. She gave us 2.5 hours of sleep last night before the wailing began at a new level of intensity and the ‘tough’ love has started. I am feeding her in her crate(last night she ate extremely fast and was really smart and first took out the large object I had put into her bowl to ‘slow’ her down yet this AM, she ate more slowly) and I have given her a couple very bland treats to get her to go into her crate to ‘work’ on her willingness to do so. She has a gorgeous head and face and the softest ears I have felt since Miss Gracie was with us. She is a tiny wee thing at this time and though I will take pictures, they will not do her justice on the inhumane treatment she has received for having a black coat; the pictures will not truly show how skinny she is. She has no fear about taking stairs and we are on our toes to keep her out of things. She is integrated with most of the dogs here and really has not shown much of an interest; Tain really ‘took’ to her yet she is more interested in exploring and trying to find food. Shiva, Porridge, Guinness, Kona, Cherokee, Hamilton The Newf(surprisingly enough, he was very respectful of this one….LOL…he must be tired of playing…normally, he is right in there bouncing and hopping and being a true goober!)PPSS and Abbi have all been integrated with her. I was never worried about how well she would fit in from all that I have heard, yet she is not really ‘social’ with other animals(her main focus is to be around humans and we do not desire to see her develop any resourcing over people or food/treats)and it is clear that she has no true social or communication skills with other dogs. She is just ‘existing’ with them right now….neither here or there with them. She LOVES LOVES LOVES people. Her paperwork indicated that she is nervous of men yet she has been fine with Sean and I heard also ok with her temp foster mom’s bf and I will see how she fares out and about today at the Vets. She came with a really pretty collar and a small dog coat and THANK you to the person who gave her these very personal and much needed items. She has no fat at all and she is very sensitive to the cold. I will update her blog as I learn more about her and about her Vet visit. She is eating and drinking well yet almost immediately after eating and drinking; she has to go out and pee and poop. Her stools while soft are well formed and yet the smell literally makes Sean gag, the poor man. My first impression of her is one of intelligence, sweet yet dom and ‘edgy’. She is a stubborn one and determined and those things have made her a survivor for she is just ‘skin’ and bones and amazing that she is doing as well as she is AND according to the records; she has put on quite a bit of weight, so to think of how she looked when she was first picked up as a stray is heartbreaking. 😥 I can tell she is going to provide me with many challenges and it is going to be a great journey we shall take towards her rehab. She is personality, this one! 😀

If all goes well; this Dane will be picked up on London on Tuesday by a Volunteer/Friend and temp fostered with her until the 29th of November. I cannot thank ALL the amazing people enough for stepping up to assist us on this Dane. Next Saturday; I am willing to make the 4.5 hour drive one way myself if needed to bring her back to our place as I am most relieved to know that she is getting out of the shelter and being loved in a home until then. I also think we are going to name her ‘Dana’. Not sure why that name over any other, but that is what we are going to call her. BHRR’s Dana!

We have been asked to take in a Black with White Female GD that is currently in SW ON. From what was sent our way we know that she is severely emaciated and came in as a stray. It is believed that someone starved her and then dumped her down a side road. She was wandering aimlessly. In the shelter she has put on a few pounds…but has a LONG way to go. She is very energetic and loves food…so it does not appear there are underlying health issues. We have been told that she looks like an adult yet from her pics she looks considerably younger. We will get a better determination after she arrives. She is ultra friendly to adults and kids and listens well. She has shown some protective tendencies towards her treats yet this is very understandable and she will need to be fed in a quiet place at this time. She is just too comical and sweet and silly and such a loveable lanky quirky thing. I have posted 2 pics below of this GD. We do not know if she has been named and if so, what that name might be; HW+, spayed yet I most certainly do not like the look of how flat her feet are in that one picture nor that one front knuckle joint and am working to get her pulled ASAP and temp fostered until at least next Saturday so that I can drive down all the way to SW ON if need be to get her. I have had an offer of someone being able to get her to TO and that is just awesome. THANKS to all that have stepped forward to help us pull and temp foster this GD. Please consider partipating in our BHRR ONLINE AUCTION EVENT that started today for the funds are going to be very much needed to help Vet and Rehab this Great Dane. She will not be available for adoption for quite some time.