We had major success last night! I was settling down to watch a wee bit of TV and wondered where BHRR’s Koop was, for he usually is bustling about the house and when I went to the sunroom, he was lying in his OPEN crate having a snooze! YAY! Later on in the evening, he came to see me and was almost ‘pouting’ and I followed him and he went back to his crate and BHRR’s Dana had been lying in it with CH. TAIN! LOL Koops’  nose was a wee bit out of joint over that. 😛 AND then not long after, I go to take a look and Koop is lying all snuggled up with BHRR’s Ava Marie in the colossal crate. For those that ‘think’ that crates are a punishment, unless you are abusing your dog, it could not be further from the truth! It is their ‘den’, ‘safe’ spot and often a ‘quiet’ spot and BHRR’s Koop LOVES his crate!!!! Crates can be the best of corrective aids plus training tools. 🙂 When I take out a treat before bedtime to give him, he runs to his crate, his butt can barely stay touched to the floor(we have already mastered the ‘sit’ command) as he is so excited. I wish to also mention that he is fully housebroken. As for Julie Lebrun residing in Gatineau, Quebec, his previous owner, still no word and all has been left in the hands of our legal for possible handling. Most unfortunate as she was told and legal has her address plus phone number to follow-up on if they believe it to be necessary for our focus needs to be on the animals here and we have made our position clear that should they decide to take her to court over her ‘breach’ in contract, we want our legal fees sued for as part of our settlement. We have not yet lost a case in court in the 4 times over the 14+ years we have gone and it would have been so much easier if she had just honoured her signed o/s contract with BHRR. AND yes, we are well aware that she is reading BHRR’s Koops blogs and as we believe in full disclosure, we need our public supporters to be made aware that the o/s fee was waived and that no funds have come in at all to assist us with her surrendered Dane(Cooper AKA now BHRR’s Koop) per her signed agreement. Last estimate is over $1,100+ (as we are now deworming him in addition to all the expenses previously listed in one of his other blogs) to ready him to be placed up for adoption. Moving forward, based upon this negative experience, we shall not waive any fees in ‘lieu’ of a donation on o/s and the monies will need to be paid before BHRR physically takes possession of their dog. This was not an ‘urgent’ shelter dog on death row with the shelter also ‘hurting’ for much needed funding to keep their program operating. This was a Great Dane that she decided to get despite her signed contract(another breach) with her landlord that she could not have pets in her residence. BHRR was very supportive plus flexible in helping her ASAP(within the 48 hour) timeline she was given by her landlord. She was made aware how much every bit helps our program and why we even have an o/s fee and that with 22 Great Danes awaiting their court case set for today PLUS that we have done 2 leg amputations since last fall PLUS that we are now working so hard to assist BHRR’s Ava Marie with her 2 blown cruciates; finances are beyond strained in our reputable/quality program(s) at BHRR.