So much to update on BHRR’s Storm since her arrival! Thanks to all that have been so understanding with the loss of BHRR’s Jaxson, our Rescuemobile dying, Sean plus wee ones heading to N.B. and so I have been flying ‘solo’ since last weekend, collecting Auction funds; picking up and mailing Calendars, a last minute urgent to the USA with the hoarding case Danes and so, updates have taken a wee bit! I have just added two new pictures of BHRR’s Storm from December 8th, 2009, slides # 7 & #8. I picked up BHRR’s Storm from her temp fosters(THANKS so much again for everything you have done for her and us plus also to everyone that assisted in her transport to her temp foster home!) on Sunday November 29th in Lindsay, ON. The first thing she did was tell Tain who was boss and was pushing him around in the back seat when we were driving home and she and I had to have a wee bit of a chat. You could see from the look on her face that she seriously thought of ‘sassing’ me back big time and then she just gave me her ‘look'(OMG! I cannot wait for people to experience this look of hers! LOL) and settled down and all of us had a much more pleasant drive home! 😛 The thing I keep saying about these Danes that survive the things they have is that they have ‘personalities’ and spirit and I would not have it any other way. When we got home; the ‘tough love’ of Gwennie’s Boot Camp began. She was not thrilled about her first night in a crate and did not hesitate to tell me all night long about her feelings on that! Dana also had to make it very clear to Storm that she was most displeased to see Storm in ‘her’ crate(Dana is not crated other than to eat her food for she can eat quickly and will then try to grab others food while we are still laying down bowls for all the dogs) and went right up to it and shared a few words with Storm. Storm was most happy to share her own feelings back and ‘boom’ just like that; the two of them came to an understanding and all is great with both of their worlds now! LOL Storm clealy acknowledges Dana as the ‘leader’ female and Dana is very excited about having a new Dane to try and corrupt here with her mischievous teachings(like how to get into the food rubber maid bin and open doors! LOL). They have a very interesting silent communication plus understanding that goes on between them. They can just look at each other and the next thing you know; off they go together to ‘execute’ the plan(usually involves some sort of torment to another dog in teasing them or trying to get into the treat bin or taking the paper towel roll etc.) Storm’s immediate and closest of friends was BHRR’s Jaxson(which also put Dana’s nose out of joint for those two were very tight knit too!) and it was like watching two long lost siblings find each other. So, every morning; the two of them were given about half an hour to play outside and inside just them together. If BHRR’s Jaxson was not lost to us last weekend; I would have felt that these two needed to be adopted together; they became that close so fast. It is a rare thing at BHRR that we feel that two must go together and the last pair was BHRR’s Samari and BHRR’s Cletus; yet I felt strongly that Jaxson plus Storm were meant to be together and his loss; just crushed her. 😥 It took her almost 5 days to begin to eat even close to normal again. She spent hours upon hours just looking for him, wandering outside and crying for him. It was just so heartbreaking seeing her like that. As mentioned on our BHRR FB page, I feel that she is no more than 15 months of age; based upon her teeth, behavour and body condition. However; when I look at her another way(especially her hind end; she appears much more mature than that). When animals come in as strays, it can be hard to ‘age’ them and if they have lived tough/rough lives; they can appear much older than they are. I found a scar on her belly and believe it to have been an umbilical scar and the Vet that I saw on December 14th with her; concurs. When I brought her to the Vet on December 14th, we did her nails again and she ROCKED! She weighed 39.2 KGSs(86.24 pounds) and we are trying to find out why she is not gaining weight. I did not have her complete medical records on the previous testing she has had and unfortunately, have had some trouble in obtaining them yet hopefully, a copy shall arrive early next week. I am de-worming her with granule Panacur for the bw that we did on Monday came back with an elevated WBC and we are also wondering what the FNA results were that she had for that might also help us better understand some of her other test results. Her results clearly show that she is still battling something and we would like all findings of all tests previously done to evaluate and if we do repeat these tests; to compare too. There is definitely something going on(lack of weight gain, coat is dry etc.) and my Vet believes she is still battling some bacterial infection and we will repeat all tests as needed and do more. I am going to repeat the bw in another week+ time and the earliest we will even think of spaying her is not until she has put on another 10-15 pounds. When she is spayed, we will take a look at her uterus and that will better help us in answering if she has had a sizeable litter in her past. If her values improve, she is healing, if not; then back on either the same course of antibiotics she has been(Ceph plus Doxy) OR others; depending on several factors. We have also been discussing more invasive treatments with taps and biopsies if it comes down to it. The Vet and I also had a very long conversation about if she had a heat etc. When she arrived to BHRR; it was wondered if she could be pregnant for it was believed that she was in heat when she was picked up as a stray etc. Neither one of my intact boyz showed any interest in her(now, Bronson is completely oblivious still at the age of 2.5+ years of age but Tain, he is very ‘aware’ of girls and their smells since coming back from N.S with his handler in October). That would not be true if she had been in heat. We both believe that she could possibly have had one litter in the past yet from looking at her back teats; it could be probably that she has had a false pregnancy instead. It is hard to tell. We both believe that she definitely has had either a litter, a false pregnancy or at least one heat for she is ‘mature’ in her hind end and teats. Unless we did slides; we would not know for sure if she was what stage of heat or post heat etc. Neither one of us are convinced that she is pregnant for she would be at least Day 38 now(if we go by Day 1 being the day that she was found) gestation. At day 35, we can do a test for the hormone ‘relaxin’. At this time, it is not safe to spay her due to her body condition; so, if she is pregnant, we will have to ensure that Storm is as healthy as possible for she is a huge priority for me with her own welfare in addition to any puppies. Hopefully, the Vet and I are have the right feeling that she is not pregnant. There are absolutely no signs right now yet experience has taught us much with emaciated Great Danes and pregnancies in these rescues. When Storm first arrived to BHRR; she did not prove herself to be housebroken at all and that is understandable with all the bouncing around she did before coming here and that it is now freezing cold outside and she was found outside. She has not pooped in our house in sometime; YAY! yet she still has the occasional pee but we are seeing marked improvements! She eats and settles down really well in her crate now. She did not like being kennelled at the Hospital though on Monday and had a few choice words to say to us! She is very much another ‘KangaDane’ and we are working on the ‘no jump’. She is very affectionate and coming more and more out of her shell. Just a doll of a Dane, Storm is! She is quite eager to please and she is called the ‘social butterfly’ FOR she just loves loves loves every dog and person! She definitely has a fixation on the gpiggers though, not prey yet play and so, no small rodents for her to have as playmates.