BHRR’s Dana went to her temp foster home last night and well the last 24+ hours have been an adventure to say the least! Within the first half an hour she had her first experience with a screen. The foster homes outside door has the bottom part screened and I said, ‘Dana is going to go through that’ and her foster mom said ‘no, she won’t…she will be ok Gwennie’ and well, uhmmmm, Dana decided she wanted to come in…. 😛 AND so she took the screen with her. 😯 Before going to bed, she also decided to tumble one preschooler in her play antics with their other Great Dane. BHRR’s Dana then began to ‘test’ the home just as I knew she would; trying to get on the couch, counter surfing, trying to get into the dog food bin, garbages and attempting to steal the toilet paper roll! I so remember the days here of all of that and the mountain of training plus Gwennie’s Doggie Boot Camp! LOL LOL AND I told the home before hand that she would try to do the same there plus ‘jump’ on people in her high level of excitement if given a chance. This is why she needs an experienced home. One that is going to set those ground rules and more importantly enforce them from Day 1. You cannot fall for the charm of the ‘doll face’ and those eyes of Dana’s or she will have your number and boom…you are sleeping on the floor and hand feeding the Dana! LOL From there, she had a pretty good night from what I was told, some loose/soft stools which is not unusual as it is a new place, lots of excitement which is a form of stress and that she is also now on town water and not well water. Her foster mom was hoping to come out to the Wag Pet Shop/Sue Bird Charity Contest today and with Dana’s loose stools and some other things; decided that it would be best not to attend. WE MISSED YA! Today, was a pretty good day except for BHRR’s Dana getting a happy tail injury in the crate that she was using at the foster home(I shall bring one of ours for her tomorrow night) and then I got a call around 8:45 PM. The first thing her foster mom said to me’ really Gwennie, I am not trying to kill your dog and she is ok….but’  😛 It appears that Dana had now managed to get one of her front paws caught on their crate door in her antics to try and escape and this all within 24+ hours. I packed up some goodies for the loose stools, Deramaxx 100 mg for the foot, antibiotics for the tail and surgical tape, Germistat 4% and Betadine, 4 x 4s etc to go over to the foster’s house to exam Dana and to ensure that the foster mom had all the instruments at her disposal to take care of Dana. OMG! I did say that Dana would keep their other Great Dane occupied not just physically yet mentally PLUS that Dana would keep the whole home on their toes YET this is not what I meant! LOL I was relieved to note that it was not the front paw with her toe amputation from September. I also took a closer look at the histiocytoma that Dana has on her right back paw and from walking on the pavement in the town(we do not have pavement here), I could already see that we are going to have potential problems with that too. Oh my! I am posting a picture below of BHRR’s Dana and her new best friend, their 4 pound Kitty! Tonight, Dana also tried to push her luck with their cat in the following and playing and their cat had no qualms standing up to Dana and Dana has been as good as can be again with her FOR their cat called her out. Dana is just so full of mischief and sure enough she was sitting on their Great Danes head at one point too as he was lying on a dog bed. Dana is if anything, consistent! LOL AND though you might not always know what she is going to get up to, you know that it shall involve mischief should you suddenly feel that the house is too quiet! LOL The home has assured me that they do not wish to swap with BHRR’s Storm for I did give them that option at the beginning yet I stand by that while BHRR’s Storm would physically keep their current Dane occupied, she is not going to provide that same level of busy mental stimulation to their dog…BUT then again, Storm would also not be keeping the whole house on their toes either! LOL This is what I love about Dana, she is always pushing and testing and once she knows you are going to not budge on those boundaries, she is a gem!!!! NOT a mean bone in this girls’ body yet you have to continue to shape and guide and mould her in the right manner/direction. She was just the sweetest thing when I arrived there tonight, allowing me to put her on her side and checking her out from her toes, paws and tail and once you earn this girls’ trust, her loyalty to you is truly humbling. As I say often, she is a ‘survivor’ and that is because she has backbone and will and if she did not have those, she would have been dead a long time ago of the emaciation/abuse she had experienced before coming to BHRR. We believe in full disclosure at BHRR and that means all the great, good, bad and ugly about every dog and no dog is perfect yet you strive to make each dog as perfect as they can be and Dana, you are so on that path to your perfection!!! The poor fostermom said to me ‘Gwennie, you are never going to trust me to have another foster again…’ AND that could not be further from the truth!  😉 Dana is in excellent hands and I am not worried. I just would not recommend you having Dana on your bed….too much…LOL  😉 We do not want Dana to resort back to the faint ‘lip’ curl of pushing the envelope and not wanting to share with other dogs and we have worked so hard with the sharing with water bowls, treats, toys and dog beds plus sharing humans with the other dogs too! She uses our bed at home as long as we are not in it and shares really well with the other dogs. When my kids are watching TV on our bed, she is not allowed in it yet neither are any dogs other than PPSS or CH. Dyceman. When it is time for the adults to go to sleep, Dana is also not allowed on the bed. This is to keep the proper order of hierachy established, good dog manners being continued and for us to get a good nights sleep. This home is well versed in all of this with their own past Great Dane experiences and MORE than capable of working with our “Alvin” that the fostermom calls “Calvin” from Calvin and Hobbes. 😛 If this is what the first 26 hours has brought to this home, there shall be some really interesting and entertaining blogs to post over the next 5 weeks! AND the home knows that I am only a call away AND a short drive away!

BHRR’s Dana with one of her new best friends – April 24th, 2010
*Photo courtesy of T. Vaive