I have much to update on Dana, including pictures from December 4th & December 24th. I will update her blog in more detail later yet wanted to post the following that on December 19th when I brought Dana in for her Rabies; her weight was 33.80 KGS(74.36 pounds) and that is up 10.12 pounds from the 29.20 KGs(64.24 pounds) that she was on November 28th. That is a nice slow/steady weight gain in just three weeks and I cannot wait to see what she weighs tomorrow, January 14th when we spay her. SHE looks FANTABULOUS! Many people that attending our BHRR’s Mini-Open house last Saturday were just amazed at the transformation in her. Even Sean, who had been away for 8 days with the kids in NB; noticed a huge difference when he came back on January 3rd. Dana is blowing her old icky, dried, brown coat and the new coat is coming in shiny and black. She is having a bit of a problem with some dry skin yet that is understandable. We did a skin scraping on the tips of her ears to see if we could find mites etc. responsible for the ‘eaten’ tips yet nothing showed up. The Vet believes that her skin became so dry, that this is what has caused those small areas of missing ear tips(hardly noticeable unless you are looking closely). Her tail has healed…YAY! and the question for the Vet and I is whether she may or may not have hair growth on some of those areas. No biggie if not. Some areas are already sprouting new hair growth yet some of those breaks were really bad. 😥 There is still one area that if she bangs it quite right(HAPPY TAIL GAL!); it will split a tiny bit yet nothing like when she first arrived. I am still finding blood on my walls and furniture! Between her and trying to get Mazda’s tail healed from when she hurt it at a Client’s house; it has been quite the journey…and bloodbath! 😛 We also did an ear cytology on the 19th for one of her ears was a bit smelly. There was no notieceable wax or yeast to be seen nor has she felt bothered by it; yet I have been ‘smelling’ that lovely ‘on the verge’ of a full blown infection smell from one of her ears for awhile and when we could finally hold her still long enough(MAN! Is she social and friendly and quite the wiggle monster! LOL…she is so much better now!); we noticed a spot in her ear canal that was not looking too yummy. However; in continuing to clean her ears etc., that has healed up sans antibiotics and Dana has been doing awesome! I have so much to write here yet hopefully, this small blog update will help those that have been following her story for now. 😉 She is a very smart gal(not one to ever be underestimated!) and has learned how to open the door and if we can only teach her to close the door behind her……BRRRRRR! She no longer is always jumping up on things for food, though at the Open House; she did jump up on a few people; so we continue to work on that. I really have to get new pictures of her…she looks just wonderful. She continues to have some problems with her right front leg and has done some on and off again limping(that leg also appears to be just a smidgeon longer than her other one) and she is more flat footed on that leg yet the other leg is much better and she is ‘up’ on her toes better. She is no longer as bowed legged as she was yet it is there and most likely will have some of that bowing; for the rest of her life on those two front legs. Her newest best friend is BHRR’s Shiva and I call them my ‘2 Black Beauties’ or more like ‘mischief’ makers! LOL I will update her blog after her spay with her new weight and will take a new height and will work on getting those pictures from December 4th & December 24th up. If I were to ‘guessestimate’ on her current weight; I feel that she is most likely 85-90 pounds now. We will see how accurate I am! 😛 Dana has had absolutely NO more rescourcing ‘moments’ and sharing is very much part of her daily life now. I knew it would not take all that long to ‘teach’ her this acceptable mode of behavour(living with a family of 4 PLUS 17 other dogs in our home has most certainly taught her much!) and she is a smart gal! I microchipped her some time ago and she was so calm and did not notice a thing! Sean was able to just hold her collar while I microchipped her and she is getting much better about doing her nails. Not her favourite activity in the world yet like all the dogs; the reward of special treaties and lots of praise/love; makes the experience much more pleasant! I continue to lovingly call her my ‘mule’ for she is a lot like Mazda in her stubborness at times. “No” does not always mean “No” to Dana and we are working on this. I find talking to Dana is like listening to “Alvin, The Chipmunks” name being called…it is like ‘Dana’……’DANA’….’DAAAAAANNNNNNAA’ LOL She has done great with her outside recall though. She is very honest in her feelings and intentions just like Mazda is and I have a lot of respect plus admiration for that. I am really proud of this beauty and her will to live/survive and forgive and openness to trust humans. Her crate is such a non issue(she runs into her crate when she is suppose to go in it and I still feed her in her crate as she is a food hound!) yet my recomendation to the home that is approved to adopt her; is carabeener clips for the ‘escape’ artist. She knows when the clips are on(we use 4 of them) and when you do not put them on….VERY intelligent girl! Some nights, I do allow Dana to be out of her crate and she has proven trustworthy yet as for leaving her alone while I drop kids on the bus etc.; that would be very foolish for she is a ‘plant’ monster and also loves to grab clothes and play tug of war with them with Porridge AND this is when we are home with her! LOL She is no where near ready for that type of freedom…baby steps! She has picked up play behavour AMAZINGLY fast and while she is still learning canine communication plus proper play etiquette(she can play rough-not knowing her strength and gets overly excited sometimes – especially to Tain and can drop/flop him in a flash!); she is picking it up wonderfully. Dana has continued to show no signs of nervousness with men or women or children or dogs, cats, horses etc. OK! So much for a short update on her blog! LOL I am going to add one picture of Dana below from December 24th so people can see the difference less than 4 weeks has made to her! You can also see the bald spots on her tail. 🙁 DOESN’T SHE look incredible though???? 😀 She is just stunning! Dana’s Bills to date are just under $1,000 and her spay tomorrow will be close to another $500. As a Rescue; we only receive a 20% discount on services. Please consider supporting her during her rehabilitation process.

BHRR’s Dana – December 24th, 2008