Bright Lights

I've noticed a trend in this blog of mine…I have been focused on Great Danes that come to us with serious issues (like Amy) or the Great Danes that come to us with two paws in the grave (Ruby and Oscar). Don’t get me wrong, it is important for all of you to hear their stories – because their stories must be told. But there are just as many perfectly healthy, well-mannered, no-issue Great Danes in our program that deserve some attention too.

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Take Merilee as an example. Merilee was the first transport for Doris, one of our new volunteers. Instead of trying to explain Doris' experience, I will let you read the email she sent to me right after she picked Merilee up from death row at an area shelter and dropped her off at one of our rescue vets:

"Man-o-man, I sure thought about you and your mantra this afternoon.......and your blog about the dogs you've transported with sores, fleas, mange, infections, ad infinitum, and almost felt guilty that you weren't doing the transport instead of me. I had more than a few trepidations as I drove to the animal shelter to pick up Merilee, fearing what I was going to find when I got there. What I found was an o-so-sweet girl with NO visible problems. She is not underweight, not a wild child, not any of the things you wrote about. She got in the backseat of my car, laid down, and nary a peep out of her until we arrived at the vet. She was turned in by a family living in a rent house with a 6 ft wood fence in various states of disrepair the landlord wouldn't fix, so she easily went through the fence. Because of that, they felt they couldn't keep her. She appears to have been well cared for - other than being left outside. Just had to tell you how often you were on my mind this afternoon. Obviously all rescued Danes aren't in the sad condition you wrote about, but this one was incredibly good...whew!"

Doris was right, Merilee was cared for (of course my definition of a well-cared for Dane includes not keeping the dog outside where it will try to escape in an effort to find human companionship – but in general, Merilee really was in good shape). She did not have heartworms, she was not emaciated and she has absolutely no personality issues to overcome. Now, because of her family's situation, she finds herself looking for a new home.

Atticus, the first Dane I adopted through GDRNT, had a similar story. His original owner treated him very well and took the time to train and socialize him. After four years together, Atticus' owner passed away unexpectedly and the owner's grown children did not want the responsibility of caring for a giant dog so Atticus found himself homeless. He was the most well-behaved dog I had ever met and even though he was clearly heartbroken from losing his long-term companion, he still bonded with me very quickly.

Merilee and Atticus are not the only ones like this – Gandolf, who was adopted only four months ago, came into rescue already trained in basic commands and he, along with his 14 year old human companion, completed certification to be a therapy dog and he now spends time brightening the days of nursing home patients.

Speaking of certified therapy dogs, adopters from Great Dane Rescue of North Texas are really good at turning rescued Danes into therapy dogs. The list includes (but is not limited to) – Brooklyn, Chad, Chief, Jinxie, Lucy, Panda, and Scooby. Some of these dogs are certified through the Delta Society, and others are certified through Therapy Dogs International or Heart of Texas. Chad is getting older, so he’s not doing therapy work any more – but for a dog that came into rescue emaciated, full of heartworms and covered in scars he had a really good run.

So, if you have ever been reluctant about adopting a rescued dog because you thought it might be sick or have some sort of defect, please remember that there are a lot of Great Danes in our program that are as close to perfect as you can get.