Mr. Parker Paws was neutered on Monday June 15th and he continued to hate the scale when Sean brought him in. Sean also said thought that from the moment he went to take Parker out of the house; he was just a quivering mass. 😥 As far as they have come since I went to Arnprior back in May; and it truly was the best thing possible for them; just as it was with Shiva/Sean last August; Mr. Parker was very insecure about leaving our home and me. When I went to work later that day; Mr. Parker was still a bit off balance from his anaesthetic so I took him out and was able to get him on the scale and though not 100% accurate(he was oozing off the scale & so, I believe he is actually a wee bit more); he is a strong boy and hard to keep still; he weighed 57.8 KGS(127.16 pounds) and that means he has put on 30.16 pounds in the 6 weeks he has been here with us. I still would like to see him around 135 pounds minimally at this time yet that will come and as he matures; put on even more weight. 🙂 His neuter went great. His first bw that I did in May came back with elevated WBC and showed he was anaemic; which was not surprising. I de-wormed him and he was put on Sentinel since his arrival and he began to put on the weight well since then. I had his nails done again while he was being neutered and his feet continue to improve. He is recovering well from his neuter and the challenge is to keep him quiet! He has barely touched his incision and we continue to monitor that closely. We are also working on that ‘gentle’ command with his mouth for he has no concept of how ‘hard’ he can take your hand or arm in affection. NOT a behavour that I wish to encourage at this time. As some have already learnt firsthand; he is called Mr. Parker Paws for a reason. MAN! Can he nail you one with those big clubs in affection! LOL His HWT did come back negative btw. I also wanted to mention back in an earlier update that he did battle a small case of KC shortly after his arrival and thank goodness the ONLY other dog affected and mildly at that; was Hamilton The Newf. Parker continues to have small bouts of ‘reverse’ sneezing though. He gets his whole body into it and several times has taken himself off balance. I am still feeding Parker 4 meals a day and he loves his late night feedings the most. In the AM, he likes to go out; pee and then snuggle and boy, can he snuggle…sigh…WHAT an absolute doll this boy is!!!! I have also invited Chelsea; his original rescuer(the by-law officer) to our next BHRR Mini Open house to come and visit and see how he is faring. I truly hope that she can come soon to see him! Below I am going to post some pictures of his body from May 11th & then from May 21st for comparison. I shall post his June 2nd and even more current photos(I hope to take new one’s later today – June 18th) in another blog for more comparison. I also wish to publicly thank Mary for offering to pay for his microchip at the upcoming July 12th BHRR/KAH Microchip/Nail Trim/BBQ Fundraiser. THANK YOU! For those that have been offering up items for an online auction fundraiser for Mr. Parker; we continue to collect items. We might combine this with our 2009 Online Auction Event later this year for his Vet bills to date have been close to $1,000. I have added slides #25-#50 to his slideshow. The last thing that I shall post on Mr. Parker at this time is that he is now on the last hole on his collar and shall soon need a new one.

BHRR’s Mr. Parker Paws – May 21st, 2009 – Body Condition & Back Feet – 17 days after arrival to BHRR

BHRR’s Mr. Parker Paws – May 11th, 2009 – Body Condition & Front Feet – 1 week after arrival to BHRR

Tonight was my night to post pictures of BHRR’s Mr. Parker Paws from the two other sets I did in May plus his pictures from June 2nd AND to write a huge Gwennie Novel(SO much to say on this incredible boy!) yet with BHRR’s Dana going to the Vet and home now; she needs me; so; I am going to postpone this yet another day. As I mentioned in my last blog on Mr. Parker Paws; those on the BHRR Facebook group can see his photos at this time. 🙂 I originally had his neuter booked for June 24th yet have now moved it up to Monday June 15th. I believe that people are truly going to be blown away by how much weight he has put on and how healthy he looks; his coat just gleams. His back feet are just lovely right now and his front feet are slowly coming along. He shall most likely always be a wee bit flat footed, I am afraid. He is a very unique boy and fast captures the affection of all that have met him. I was pretty sure one or two people were going to try and ‘sneak’ him away on Saturday at our BHRR Doggie Fencing Day. 😛 He did fantastic with the men that were here on Saturday as well. A little ‘skittish’ yet WOW! The other quick thing I shall post on Mr. Parker Paws(he sure can use these paws! LOL) is how well he is becoming adjusted to ‘fast’ flighty movements and objects being carried past him above his head or near his face. Our latest accomplishment is Parker taking on the large empty Root Beer Plastic Bottle and POINT goes to Parker! After the initial really small spook and not being completely sure; he straightened up that spine(he continues to walk more often than not the way sweet doll face Dana did when she arrived; all hunched over and not 100% confident BUT we will get there!); and took on that bottle like a champ and put it in his mouth from my hand and OMG! I merely was hoping for him to smell it without cringing and he ended up taking it from my hand! I was not sure whether to cry or giggle he was just so darn proud of himself that HE DID IT! I was too! I wanted to cry in both joy that he did it and yet sadness that he was so abused in the past and had been scared of it. I wanted to giggle for he is just such a big kind gentle ham of a goober and he was just so darn adorable prancing about! Sean just continues to shake his head for Parker and I tend to have these ‘sessions’ in the wee hours of the AM yet just like LT and Linus; he is most receptive then and it works for me! 😉 Whatever he needs, works for me! The vacuum cleaner remains a big scary monster to him yet he is even better than he has been. It is going to be a true test when he is neutered on the 15th to see how comfortable he is this time around at the Vet Hospital. He was fine with all the women, yet he was nervous of the Kennel Manager; a man. Parker so badly wants to trust and we will get there. Parker is so sweet that you just want to scoop him up and proect him from everything PLUS squish him! Paper towel rolls, dish towels, bath towels etc. are 50/50 with him right now and the garden hose is absolutely terrifying to him. His startle reflex is almost solid now. Some moments here and there when we touch him when he is resting of sleeping or another dog startles him awake; yet SO much improvement here. He is a lot more confident in some ways for when I wanted to re-do his nails; I was only able to get one done this time before I had to call Sean in for some assistance holding his collar and the look on his face was just so funny. He honestly felt that *if* he did not want to do it; he did not have to and the look of almost shock on his face plus disappointment that we were still going to do his nails was very apparent. They are still quite long yet with each trim, we are making progress with his feet. OK..one more accomplishment to post on Mr. Paker before I leave the rest for later; he actually rolled on his belly on Monday night for Sean to rub him. Sean was standing by my computer talking to me and Mr. Parker Paws was lying near me and the next thing Sean felt was a paw on his leg and Sean looked down to see Mr. Parker rolling over and asking to have his belly rubbed by him! NOW that is HUGE HUGE HUGE! He very rarely barks now if Sean walks into the bedroom and he is startled by the door or motion. He still does bark once or twice at times if something outside ‘scares’ him and living in the country; we have many bears, coyotes, wolves, deer, fishers etc. I have new pictures of him and Abbi to post too. Abbi has been added to his closest bud list and he and Tain hang out a lot. Though, Parker has begun to try and ‘push’ my little blue around sometimes and it is interesting watching Tain try to stand up for himself and how they ‘work’ things out. They tend to give in to each other 50/50 at this time. Tain used to just let Parker do his thing yet Tain in his own right is increasing his own confidence and the two of them have been fantastic for each other! They often stand together and you can just see their minds working together; ‘I will go if you do’ or ‘we can do this’ or ‘what do you think?’ AND they will take on things together. Their facial expressions upon accomplishing something is amazing! Tain is doing really well on his own rehab from the idjit that scared the crap out of him back in April at the shows in Lyndsay. I have yet to see Tain try to push anyone around yet to see him no longer just give in all the time; is success for him too. Those two share very similar personality traits with being submissive at this time and such mush ‘mice'(I love that Suzanne!) personalities they both are. They are just so loving and just sweethearts! However; as a survivor; Parker has inner strength(he just does not realise it all yet) and we want to keep it in the right direction and keep him that sweet gem he is as he matures. Neutering will most certainly help(for he does mark outside and continues to try and hump the heck out of poor PPSS or Porridge and we are on him constantly)  yet at this time, he(intact), Tain-10 months(intact) and Bronson-2 years today HAPPY BIRTHDAY(intact); continue to live in complete harmony as Mr. Parker is doing with all the other dogs here as well. I can see that Sean and he has said this a few times now; really really really likes this boy.  😉 He is simply magnificent and here I wrote a Gwennie novel after all!  😛

And yes, let me know whenever there is any sort of auction coming up because I’d LOVE to do this again. See if you can give me a few weeks advance notice and I’ll see if I have the time to do some already done paintings or something, as well as a commissioned piece.

I think that is SO cool that you rescue danes as well as show them and support quality breeders/breeding. Before I contacted you I wasn’t sure how people would react to us having gotten from a breeder, when there are dogs needing homes in rescues (it really is a very tough desicision to choose which way to go! We spent months deliberating!) but no one has ever held anything agains us for it! Then seeing that you have dogs from puppies that you show is just wonderful and made me realize that it’s not a bad thing but a good thing – that we did all the reaseach in finding a breeder with morals and that cares about her dogs and the quality of them so much. Geoff and I figured if we got a puppy from a breeder that we would support rescues at least, do what we can – so here we are. 🙂 Geoff and I are so impressed with you and your family and what you do, we are SO glad to be able to help out where we can!

Hi Gwen

Congrats /love your site and your honesty to people that really don’t understand RESCUE

I’ve been looking through your rescue site for a few days now and would like to commend you on helping these animals in need. I’ve been involved in several dog rescue org and some need to have your type of mind set when it comes to rescue dogs.

It’s important to give the dogs time and rehabilitate them before they are faced to tackle the world in their state of confusion from their past life. They need time, love and support to regain their trust and well being. After I read your story about Shiva, I wanted to write and thank you for taking your time to help these great animals and of course for all your efforts.

I will definitely like to come to your open house and talk some more.

Hi Gwen and crew. I think that what you are doing is absolutley fantastic, and unfortunately much needed. I love the large dogs, have all my life, and I would love the opportunity to help by becoming a rescue point in my area. I understand the need, no actually I don’t understand how people can neglect, but there is a need for what you do, and if I can become a part of it, that would make my heart soar. I am also hoping to come to the microchipping fundraiser you are having on July 12th…