Best Friends

Django and myself last summer in the grass after a long walk.

Django

HI!

Today we had to roll out of bed at zero dark thirty to head out for our follow up echo-doppler to see where Django is with his DCM diagnosis. For those of you who do not know, that stands for Dialated cardiomyopathy and it is degenerative and fatal. Django was diagnosed early (thankfully) and therefore was (and is) not symptomatic. He is currently taking Pimobendan - Vetmedin 10 mg 2 x a day.

Good news! He is stable. There was little or no change in teh 3 months since the diagnosis and we do not have to go back for 6 months or if his health changes. I just wanted to update you. Also, I am headed to a dog show this weekend I think -- not sure because I will be going alone and I feel a little dorky for doing so. Its not that going to an event alone is dorky just more that I feel dorky doing it in this intance. Anyway, I wont be bringing any dogs with me but I am bringing my camera. This means lovely doggy pics!! ::squeel noise::

so until then... here is the love of my life begging for a cookie....

Django

Wobblers Dane Auction

Hey everyone,

If y'all wouldnt mind, please pass this information on. We have to raise $3,000 to care for Kohl's wobblers at this point and we have only raised about $280.00. Kohl has his first MRI appointment in a week and we are no where near having the funds to complete the process. You can read more about Kohl by going to our website http://www.aabgdr.org Last year we homed 28 Danes. This year we have had to slow down in order to pay for Kohl's medical care. If you could take a moment and check the auctions maybe there is something you would like. We have collars and leads, movies, a Louise Peterson sculpture ( http://danesculptor.com ) and much more to come.

Please pass this along if you are so inclined.
The auctions can be found here: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/ladeefire

Lisa Dewyngaert
Above and Beyond Great Dane Rescue

Hey everyone.

Things here are good, the boys are great :) I love them. Frank is an A-hole but very handsome and Django is still doing very well. AS i mentioned before he has been diagnosed with DCM Dialated cardio-myopathy or some such horridness. Basically it means he is going to eventually die of heart failure. It was a shock to us and it wasnt a shock to us. You see his brothers have died of it... well some of them anyway. We have been monitoring him with regular cardio visits. Unfortunately the day came in December where they looked at us and said "yes" but its mild. He goes back on the 11th to do a med check and make sure he is still OK. he will get another echo/doppler.

Other than that we are all okay. Django doesnt know he is sick so life for him has not changed. We still take our walks and wander around in the woods. We still love eachother enormously as well.

Thank you for your well wishes. i am going to be better at posting!

In my spare time (heh) I have been working Dane Rescue in my area. I am the VP of a rescue in Maine/NH. We placed about 30 danes last year and this year our first of the season is wobblers ;( and we are working a fundraiser to get him money for his treatment. Thats been really overwhelming.

So i will leave you with pics of my boys :)
cheers

FRANKENSTEIN


DJANGO

I haven’t posted here in so long. I am hiding.
I am hiding because one of my beautiful danes is crazy, like in the aggressive capacity and my other has just been diagnosed with DCM.
I am sorry… maybe I will come out of hiding when I grasp the imperfection.

Update of sorts

I dont really have that much to say, I have been keeping myself busy between the dane rescue and dave and I have resumed building at the cabin. I did have the opportunity to go to my first real dog show (i went last year but Frank kept me too busy to watch). There were some amazing Dogs there and I played a bit with my new camera.

It has been an amazing ride this last year. Django had another echo and he got the "still good" from the cardiologist. Free from DCM as of this week but it can sneak its ugly head up at any time. Keep us in your thoughts and I will try to post more!

P, Savages mom reminded me in her blog, which i visit often that i need to post more.
I have been so busy doing dane rescue! I have not had time :(

BUt i am here, and I will start posting again!

To make up for my lack of posting, here is a picture of Django (dane #2) trying to fit into our new Beetle.

Two danes is pure joy. I love him so much already and it hasnt even been 2 weeks. Please dont pinch me because if this is a dream... I dont want to wake.

Djangohead

Its amazing how you can grow to love something/someone so fast... sometimes even before you have it. (how can you not love a face like that though)

Today we went on a hike in the mountains with the Dane Gang. It really consisted of 3 adults and 3 danes and an australian shephard. One of the Danes was Frank of course, and one of the other's was our soon to be Django. It was all off-lead which i love doing. Dave isnt really fond of letting Frank offlead but I figure as long as the other doggies are sticking around, Frank isnt going anywhere. I figure right so far ;)

Awesome day, Frank even accidentally learned how to swim. Frolicking in streams is alot different than jumping into a pond that drops off to 5 feet pretty fast. He did well though, despite the surprise of being underwater!
L

I remember telling Dave on one of our first dates together that I did not really see the big deal with dogs. He had a 14 year old black lab at the time and quite often I would secretly wonder what the big fascination was with dogs. I mean they constantly need companionship, can't take care of themselves at all well. Not like a cat can. The irony in all of this of course is that I have a hard time thinking of anything other than the dogs lately and I think that is making my "non-dog" friends a little mental. I am constantly thinking about when/if I get to bring magilla home, what kind of training he will need, what training Frank needs work on, where i can take him/them for walks. If the weather is going to be good enough for a good long walk after work, the next day, before work etc. This is all coming from a self proclaimed CAT person. Thats why what I am about to say is so amazing to me... the passion and anger I have been feeling over this is both shocking and overwhelming.

I find myself disgusted with the recent events of recalls of dog foods. Thankfully I am a raw feeder and Frank has known nothing else. There are millions of pets out there eating this food, and millions of people who are not seeing what is going on and putting their trust and faith into their vet's recommended foods. Worse yet, are the pet owners that can barely afford to feed their animals and picking up the cheap store brand food not aware at all that most of these things are recalled and alot of the stores are NOT removing this from the shelves. This has been going on for what... 6 weeks? Stop what you are doing people, stop selling your stuff, stop posting on your websites that your product is safe and TEST YOUR PRODUCT. You pass your food off to a canning company? That canning company is ADDING STUFF TO YOUR FOOD AND YOU DONT KNOW IT?
These are not just dogs and cats, they are family members to many people. To many people, they are SOLE family members. A person puts their faith in their pet food company to do what they can for their animal. Most people don't raw feed, I know that... but I also know, that if my Vet told me that a food was "high quality" i would probably feed it. Just as I would if my pediatrician told me that my choice of formula's was high quality. Wouldn't there be a BIT more action if there was rat poison in other family members supplements?

What the hell is going on here? Why doesnt any body DO SOMETHING????

I am going to do something about it, I am not going to sit on my ever expanding ass and do nothing about what is happening here. I dont often step on a soap box, I will get down reluctantly off of mine now. Thanks for reading.

Great Behinds Think Alike?

I have been meaning to post all of these sitting next to momma pictures. This one is him at 7 months, we have been doing it monthly since he came home to us. The problem is, and the reason why I have yet to do it, is because he isnt the only one getting bigger! Its really obvious when you are looking at monthly consecutive shots of your behind getting larger and larger.





Frank's got the greatest personality, well maybe I am biased. He is strong willed, stubborn, and talkative. At night, when he is bored and we are busy, he will start to aggrivate you until you finally kind of just ignore him. This is when the talking starts, rawr rawr grumble, its like he is starting to learn English. If you continue to ignore him, or God forbid point at him (dont ask how i found out) he will paw and roll around and make more noise. I can't go through this ritual without laughing, much like the zoomies in the house, however, it really annoys the husband (MUCH like the zoomies in the house) . Hey, I know talking back is not good behavior, I know this... I religiously train with him and walk him, he goes to classes weekly and playgroups bi-monthly. The boy is loved and he just has this personality... I think he is too smart to conform, Dave... well dave thinks he needs more training.

It's a Two-fer

I realize that I barely post once in a month let alone twice in a day but I had to share this. It makes me giggle.

Frank Playing with a Tennis Ball

New Dog, New Era

If you read back my whole 3 entries, you would probably remember the mention of some land up in the mountains that is near to our breeder's house. Well, good news, if it ever stops snowing, we will be building the house!

More good news? I mentioned the offer of the other Dane (who we love) to come live with us, and Dave and I have decided together that we can do this as long as the builder part of the house is done. So we have agreed to go ahead and have him move in with us this June for my birthday!

He is much bigger than Frank, who is 33.75 inches tall and 120lbs. Django (Jango) is about 190 pounds and he is the happiest thing on the planet. he is almost 3 years old, neutered, and we have gotten the "kids" together a few times to see how they interact and they get along fabulously! I swear Django couldnt breathe if his tail stopped wagging. (between you and I, i like to call him magilla).

Frank is the tiny little black one!

Where did the time go? (9 months)

Well isnt this interesting? Here I am promising to update on Frank as much as possible and I get 2 posts into it and quit. Can't blame me, the wedding, christmas, new job, have all kind of messed up alot of great intentions that i had.

But what an update I have!

Frank has gotten his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and is currently enrolled in the class again. (remember when I said he was feisty? constant training is NOT a bad thing) He was also neutered a bit earlier than we wanted due to some 'big boy' problems but they have completely disappeared and he is a totally 100% normal teenager. My friend Heather and I have established a great dane play group in the area and we meet 1 or 2 times per month and run around in a fenced in area. Frank has gotten really good at playing with other dogs. He has also gotten really good at cuddling and giving "those eyes". What a ham...

Speaking of Ham's... I was contacting the breeder regarding a friend who is considering another dane puppy and she contacted me back and said that the dane that i love oh so much, and lives with her, could come live with US! That can be the next post though.

October 3 months old!

Great Dane life has been pretty frickin interesting to say the least. First off, I always knew they grew fast but who would have thought something could grow THIS fast and not explode! Frank is 100% raw-fed right now and has been since birth so he really doesnt eat as much as one would think, yet he gains about 3/4 of a pound per day.

We have also realized that Frank is "fiesty". I dont mean that he is aggressive or peppy, I mean feisty and will need to be constantly reminded that he is NOT the boss. First way we do this with him; hand feeding. He needs to learn that the food comes from me, so growling at me is only going to make it take longer to eat. Frank is also in training, and the breeder is on board with us giving great suggestions all the way!

Next month we are leaving for Jamaica to get married and Frank is staying with the breeder and her 5 danes. This could go either way, Frank could come back nasty and mean, or this could turn out to be a sort of BRAT CAMP and the adult danes will whip him into shape!

who knows!

How It All Began

August 2006

This is our little Great Dane named Frankenstein, otherwise known as Stinkers, Frankenshit, Frankenpoop, Frankers or just plain old Frank. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I had just purchased some land in the mountains and had decided that we might be ready for a dog. After researching breeds, we felt that the Great Dane breed really fit our lifestyle the best, and as an extra bonus, they looked really dumb and fun to have around. We began to research the entire aspect of the breed, different problems, feeding programs etc as well as reputable breeders in the area.

We weren't having much luck with breeders, there were alot in our area, and most came highly recommended, but they either had already had a litter that year, werent planning one at all, or the puppies were all spoken for. Dave and I decided that we would wait until next year. Later that day, I received an email from a woman affiliated with the Great Dane Club of New England that I had been emailing off and on throughout the search. Her email stated that she knew of a very reputable breeder who had puppies on the ground and gave me the contact information. We then proceeded to contact her, found out that she lived right near our new land, and set a date to come look at the puppies. Well just look at that face! Could you refuse?