PENDING ADOPTION!!!!

THINGS just seemed to have ‘clicked’ with Thor! WOOHOO! He no longer attempts to play ‘Wild Indians’ in the house and his play outside has come along really well. He is ‘checking’ himself more often and is listening and being SO much more responsive when I check him if he begins to get a wee bit rough! I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! He was still a little thin when I picked him up from his Foster home and he is now looking awesome and is a veritable small tank!!!! I just have to post new pictures of him and someone please tell the temperatures to warm up so that I can get some nice outdoor one’s! 🙂 Thor likes to drink water really fast and a lot at one time; his new home is going to have to watch this to avoid any tummy upsets etc.

Thor is settling in well and this is now the opportunity to put together everything he learnt here plus some of what he learnt in his foster home for the last month and try to make things ‘click’ together for him in his brain. I want to now see how he is going to act around the other dogs that were not open to teaching him how to be a young adult. It is time for him to start now only to continue to piece together the social graces of normal, appropriate and expected behavour of him so that he can be that asset to the community BUT it is time for him to consistently demonstrate those behavours. He has already tried to do his ‘trick’ on Soul and was he ever surprised that Soul and Dyce both turned towards him with a ‘I do not think so’ look. Thor did try to press an advantage with Soul and when Soul stood up to Thor; he initially got a bit testy with the ‘HEY! What about me’ bark and then settled down with a ‘yeah, ok, I am ok, things are ok’ behavour. He is thinking more before he acts or reacts to things and that is good. He still is not overly fond and is just civil to poor Boba who just ‘does not get it’. Thor gets along with the other 15 dogs here without any issues whatsoever. Just as my Soul has been learning about no playing in the house so has Thor. Both of them are now ‘clicking’ with that part. Thor does not wish to walk into our kitchen though at this time. I am not sure why. He is still loveable silly Thor who has that lovely manipulative endearing almost always trying to get his way streak and his new home is going to have to really have the backbone not to fall for this for that is a sure way to set him and themselves up for failure. While he was happy to see Soul; he was most happy believe it or not to see Liquorice. Very interesting. She gave him a nice thorough sniffing and they both settled down on the one large dog bed here and had a nap. Thor still loves his outdoor activities. He just cannot get enough of the snow! I plan on bringing him in to get a re-weigh on him and I promise to take new pictures to post. It is funny when I try to type on my computer sometimes for I have Thor leaning his big block head heavy on one forearm and my Frost ‘T’ crammed in on the other side trying to do the same thing on the other forearm. He will just stay there, leaning on you and just waiting plus hoping for some loving. HOW can one resist???? 🙂 He is a really good boy and is going to do beautifully in the right home. I still learn towards a home that has only one other dog; preferably a male(would consider a female in only the right home/situation) and one that is a ‘natural’ leader. I am also open at this time to a home that does not have any dogs currently and will continue to expose and socialize Thor to many dogs in walks, parks, obedience and other social environments. Either home is going to have to have experience with Danes either now or in the fairly recent past and either home is going to have to understand and be prepared to continue to develop the correct behavour and not the ‘bull in a china and I can do whatever I want; whenever I want’ sometimes cute manipulative and slightly dom behavour. He is a most interesting package! There has not been one human he has not loved and been extremely affectionate too yet he is not high maintenance in the attention seeking etc. He only has the one quirky area that needs to be worked on and in the right home; this will not be a hardship. Like any of our dogs; he is not one that I want to see set-up for any kind of failure. Thor is extremely intelligent and his desire to please is incredible. He just needs to continue to learn right from wrong, that he is no longer a puppy and he has a much better grasp and understanding of that already. I cannot believe how much I missed this boy in the past month!

We plan on bringing Thor back into our home to continue his training here until he is adopted. I am hoping to pick him up this coming Sunday. Soul is going to be ONE happy pup to see his buddy come back! 🙂 I will aim to get a new weight and to post a height for him once he is back here.

Thor is thriving and is heading to his foster mom’s in-laws for the holidays. Here is a posting his Foster Mom did on LNS and some comments from myself. HE is going to make someone a GREAT dog!!!!! Thor is beginning to learn that he does not have a ‘get out of jail for free’ card which puppies tend to have up to the age of about 7 months or so and he is adjusting well. Thor just did not understand that he is no longer a puppy but an almost 2.5 year old Dane and that the behavour accepted of a puppy is not the same behavour accepted from one of his age; even though he is not mentally mature at this point. I am proud of him and how intelligent and willing he is and I am thrilled with his foster home, especially DozeR! 🙂
http://leansnslobbers.proboards92.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=pictures&thread=1166554713&page=1#1166564214

I just want to clarify for those that read Thor’s updates that JUST because he needs to be in a home at this time with a ‘Leader’ does not mean that Thor is aggressive. Thor is at 2+ years what other puppies would be around 3-6 months in his level of social, play and pack behavour & the testing. He has not been taught the correct or proper ways to behave and now he needs to learn it at his current age so that he is not a ‘failure’ in society. Being ‘checked’ in his behavour does not mean that another dog needs to ‘pin’ him to the ground etc., they just need to ‘tell him’ that what Thor is doing is not acceptable. Dogs can be very subtly about their communication and a good ‘leader’ will be very honest, upfront and clean with their ‘checking’. What Thor does is not out of aggression, malice or meanness; he truly just does not know any better and while this is being said; in the wrong home that does not understand what needs to happen here; he would be ‘set up for failure’ and possible disaster. He will need a firm, experienced and understanding hand as Thor does not like to always do what Thor does not want to do. In my home; I have Leaders and I have Followers and Thor was being ‘encouraged’ by the followers by not checking his behavour by the very nature of their own behavour and it was making it quite hard in the training of him. In his current foster home; their one Dane is teaching him this and the current dog they are dogsitting has also ‘checked’ his behavour. Thor is also showing how absolutely curious he is in his new foster home and he is coming along really nicely with their cats at this time and I just read that two of them have found a nice comfort spot around his leg! The first two days were a little questionable as he went from being scared at times to wanting to play with them at others. Like any introductions, proper integration is key to success. I am still very much leaning towards a home that has a ‘leader'(THIS does not mean an alpha dog) and that the leader is preferably a male. I would consider a home with a female yet only if the female has a fairly strong personality one(& this does not mean aggressive or alpha). I am not open at this time in considering a home for Thor that does not currently have one other dog who will have the proper animal dynamics for him. GOSH! HE is ever a ‘goob’ and affectionate to people! HE loves the loving and spoiling attention! BTW, for the home that he does go to; please know that this BOY DROOLS! 🙂 He can put to shame my own English Mastiff on that one! LOL

Thor is in his foster home and so far it is a good match for him and the foster homes other Dane. They will continue to work on the things we feel is important for Thor and it also reinforces that if Thor goes to a home with another dog, especially male; that the male must be a ‘leader’ and a good leader at that. I do not wish to have Thor in a home as the ‘leader’ at this time. He has much to learn about what that role entails and about how proper play plus that social dog behavour needs to be. His foster mom will be keeping me posted on a regular basis.

I wanted to also post that Thor’s nose has healed up beautifully and the two pressure sore spots he had on his hips are almost gone too. He has also not marked in my house since those first two times when he originally arrived here. Thor is now having limited and very supervised times(what I call ‘doggie boot camp’ training) with the 11 other Danes he had been interacting with for he is really ‘testing’ and I will continue to monitor and assess his behavour as he continues to leave the ‘honeymoon’ period. Today, he decided that of all dogs to try and dominate over, it was my Frost ‘T’. He has not yet been integrated with the other 5 dogs we have here for when we discovered that Liquorice had Giardia, we kept separate those that they had not yet been intergrated with. We want to be sure that the Giardia is all gone(so far all first post treatment fecals have come back negative for Maggi etc.) as we do not want to end up having these other 5 Dogs exposed. It is quite the ‘juggling’ act but we are managing. However; when Thor does see them; he becomes quite excited. Just like some people, some dogs are going to not like other dogs and for Thor he has never really liked Boba for some reason and they have a civil relationship. Boba on the other hand, ‘just does not get’ why everybody just does not love him! I am not sure if it is because of Boba’s colour or just a personality thing as Thor would never attempt to try any of his antics on Liquorice, who is also black. She just ‘shuts him down’ whenever he gets the idea of trying to dom over her. Liquorice has a look that just sets him straight and he is quickly ‘checked’ in his behavour. Soul, Boba and Lady do not have that same ‘leader’ type personality and Thor just tries to ‘rule’ over them at time and can become quite rough. Tomorrow night, it will be either him or Mazda that will be going to a Foster home that has come back on board from being off since May. The home can continue to work with his lack of correct dog play and social behavour and I will leave it up to their current Dane to decide whom he bonds with more. With humans, this boy could not be more sucky, affectionate and wonderful. We will have to be very careful about his placement as he will need this training to be continued in his new home so that he continues to learn ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. He continues to be extremely gentle about taking treats from us and you can handle his food and water without any issues. We have also been watching his growing ‘possessiveness’ over his crate when he is lying in it (door open) and other dogs approach but if Kona or another one of the more stronger personality dogs continues to just walk right in, Thor just moves over to give them some room! 🙂 So, he has a lot of ‘bluff’ about him and we want to foster the proper communication he should be having with the other dogs etc. I really want to get a current weight on him as well for he is looking STUNNING! I will try and take some new pictures of him to post.

You can clearly see that Thor is coming out more from that ‘honeymoon’ period and his tendency towards occasional dominance is very apparent. He has taken to having a domination episode with Soul, Lady and now Boba in the past week. He is going to require a firm understanding and patient hand in continuing to learn what correct ‘play’ and ‘social’ behavour is in respect to other dogs. At this time, I am leaning towards a home that does not have any other dogs or if they do; they have to be an experienced home with Danes of this particular personality for Thor is going to continue to need our work continued in that new home. I do not wish to see him ‘set up’ for failure. HE is the most loving of dogs and very playful and deserves the best yet I want his new home to be completely aware of what he has done and what we are working on. He is also being a bit of a ‘goob’ when it is time to come in from outside and he just does not want to come in. I just ignore him and bring all of the other dogs in and he quickly realizes that all the ‘fun’ has left and comes running in.

Thor is now available for adoption! HE is such a ham and he really does not need me!!! WHAT a character this boy is!!!

Thor now has his own Cafepress calendar http://www.cafepress.com/bhrr.89067125 and I am working on his own special Cafepress store. Thor should be available for adoption within the next week.

Thor will be getting his stitches out on Wednesday and within the next couple of weeks shall be available for adoption. This ‘ham’ no longer needs me!!!! His best friend’s are Frost ‘T’ and Soul and boy! THEY sure get my house to rocking as Thor learns the ‘no inside rough play rules!’ 🙂 Thor’s obedience (though he really is quite awesome!) can be continued in his new home and he now has full run of our house and has not destroyed a thing. He does like to lie in his crate so we leave the door open all the time. His new home will need to continue to work on his socialization and the ‘correct’ confidence building for Thor. We do not allow the dogs on our leather furniture and Thor has picked up on that rule quite well. HE did not take too long to make himself at home on the beds though!!! LOL Thor likes to ‘play bow’ and he also likes to ‘talk back to me’ when I am telling him about no playing in the house etc. HE is so FUNNY that way! He really is a beauty with a stunning temperament!

Thor’s Vet Bills to date are just under $400.00

Thor’s neuter went well except his IV blew in his vein during the surgery so he has one leg still quite swollen but he is doing awesome overalll. HE was so happy to see Sean who picked him up and his is very much relieved to be home. He has now been microchipped plus has had his manicure plus pedicure. Once Thor is healed from his neuter and we get to do do a proper assessment / evaluation on him; he will be available for adoption for he truly is one awesome dog and the build-up of his confidence etc. can continue to be worked on in his new home. One will have to be careful how they work on this for he does have the ability to be dom over dogs with personalities like Soul with a very strong play behavour way about him that I do not wish to see go overboard. We will see how his neuter affects this and how more obedience and learning correct behavour will also make a difference. He will have to learn boundaries in a kind, patient, loving, firm yet not brutally strict kind of method. Thor has already shown some mild jealousy if another dog pushes in for my attention and he was already there so that is being checked in the proper manner with reassurance also being given to Thor that while it is not ok to be jealous, that I am not mad at him. He is also a bit possessive grumping when he is in his crate and another dog approaches it. I think Soul is going to be much relieved that Thor has now been neutered! 🙂 Thor has not marked in our house since the first night he arrived and has proven himself to be very housebroken. Through time, we will get to see more and more of Thor’s true nature and sides and already I can see that he ‘ain’t no wallflower’ of a dog. He is outgoing, curious and not afraid to try things.

Thor weighed in at 55.5 KGS(122.32 pounds) AND talk about being a HIT at the Hospital!!!! 🙂 He was so affectionate, loving, doing the Dane leans and I felt so terrible for him when I needed to put him into a run when I was leaving to come home in prep for his neuter tomorrow. His exam went well and if anything comes back funny with is bw, we will not neuter him as planned. He will also be microchipped and have his manicure plus pedicure tomorrow. Even though he has only be with me since Sunday evening; there truly is a ‘hole’ in our home with him being at the Vet Hospital. 🙁 He was such a gentleman as I held him to get his blood drawn too! HE is going to make a home very very very happy!

Thor will be coming in with me to work tomorrow and we will do all of his pre-surgery testing, exams, nails etc. at that time and if his blood work comes back normal, he will be neutered on Thursday November 9th.

BHRR’s Thor – Male, Black with White Great Dane born August 17th, 2004(2 years old), utd on shots (March 17th, 2007), natural eared, crate trained, good with kids as the Foster Home for the other Rescue had two boys and Thor will be altered. Thor is now on Sentinel, HW- and last weight recorded by someone was 129.60 pounds. He will be reweighed when I bring him in for his exam, microchip, manicure, pedicure and pre-surgery bw for neutering. Thor was part of 35 Danes seized in a cruelty case that took over 2.5 years to become settled with custody being handled over to Rescue. Thor was part of two litters born once their parent’s went into Rescue. I have also brought in one of his aunts, Liquorice who is HW+ into my program. According to the Rescue that I picked him up from, he was confined to a crate for extended periods of time and his nose is now raw. Since Thor’s arrival he has been really well behaved and has marked in the house only twice. This will most likely be fixed once he is neutered. He has also been very hormonal and my poor Soul has been the object of his affections. I have been crating him at night only and other than that he has been out and about and doing really well. His obedience is actually really good and he is eager to please. Thor is already interacting with 10 other dogs without any issues and he has proven himself very gentle when it comes to taking treats out of my hands. I can handle his food without any concern and he shares a water bowl wonderfully and can get the drool a rolling! 🙂 He is quite affectionate and his brown eyes really capture you! HE loves to play! More updates as we get to know him better. Thor likes to sit on his back haunches and shake a paw or hang his head on your arm for some loving. Thor is a very handsome boy, well in proportion and in the right light or next to Boba and Liquorice; he can appear to almost be a very deep dark blue. He also needs some more weight on his frame.