For 8 of GDRNT’s most experienced foster parents and transporters, Saturday January 7th was no ordinary day. They were headed to help with “a bad situation” southeast of Dallas. After 10 years of absence, a young man headed to his recently paralyzed mother’s home to tend to her affairs. What he found shocked him and he contacted us for help. Nine Great Danes in need of our assistance. NINE. Ugghh.

When the 5-car caravan found the property, we surely understood what the woman’s son felt when he drove up. Nausea is the first word that comes to mind. We’re sure there are worse situations. But not much worse. Makeshift runs secured with rusty wire, broken down buses that once transported show dogs across the country littering the lawn, rusty crates all over the property. Dogs jumping up and down in their rusty runs and sticking their heads through the holes they had bitten in the fencing. Danes, standard poodles, dachshunds, cats, lemurs (yes, that says lemurs), birds. And fleas too….oh, the fleas…. thousands on each dog.

The GDRNT transport team came away from the situation with 12 cats, 9 adult Great Danes, 5 Standard Poodles and 2 Dachshunds! That’s 28 animals saved from this rotten life in outdoor pens with little to no socialization and human contact. (Thanks to other organizations, GDRNT won’t need to try to place any except the Danes!) As for the Great Danes, you will soon see most of them on our Available Danes page as our caring foster homes introduce them to warm beds and love that they have never before known. Sadly, you will not see all nine…..the unfortunate result of living in such circumstances for so long.

GDRNT expects to incur significant costs in medical care and rehabilitation of the lucky ones. If you would like to make a donation you can use the PayPal link on our homepage or you can mail a check or money order (write January 2006 rescue in the memo portion of your check) to us at GDRNT, P.O. Box 40425, Fort Worth, TX 76140-0425 . If you are interested in a fostering a Dane to open an experienced foster space for these Danes (who will need lots of extra rehab and socialization), please email us at [email protected]

In case you are wondering why we do what we do…..