Someone is settling in better than night #1. Our XL Ottoman makes a great bed….
AND with the fireplace on behind her, what comfort she is now experiencing, especially on a -30 night….inside and safe for the first time….

Sean has named her BHRR’s Whisper. For her ‘whispers’ for help are being heard and answered….

As much as I wanted to bring her to work with me yesterday for that skin especially, her stress plus anxiety levels were through the roof. So, Sean worked from home and I spent most of the evening into the wee hours with her and you could see her relaxing more and more.

What confusion and fear she must be feeling….always sleeping literally with one eye open.

Per my other post, she is not just Deaf, yet also visually impaired, and what a survivor she is to have survived on an abandoned farm…..poor thing….

She had her first pee around 1 am today and is now drinking water and eating more.

She has to learn to like herself and obtain some confidence so she is comfortable and knows she is going to be ‘OK’. She goes readily into her crate and then becomes anxious and we passively ignore and every time is better and last night when I went to bed around 3:00 am or so, she went in, cried only for about five minutes or so and settled for almost three hours. What a good girl!!

Separation anxiety can be so successfully dealt with and that is what my PhD dissertation is on yet many people ‘give in’ and that is only a set up for failure for the dog and them. Yup….I got zero sleep Sunday night and last night I had 2.5 great hours and right now, she has been having a really great rest since breakfast…not a peep.

You could tell when she finally just let it all go and really slept…..and while my heart wants to fight with common sense – yup, even 28 years later – I do not feel sorry for her – that is the worst thing I could do – and I am not going to hold her close to my chest and squeeze her tight etc….

What I am going to do is give her all the tools she needs to rehabilitate successfully and develop into that beautiful girl that is there yet, quite a bit of her is hidden inside. Do not misunderstand me, she receives tons of love, yet, it is not all about her….she is having to learn to share me – she bonded fast and fierce to me – and, that she can amuse herself and comfort herself and stimulate herself without me there all the time. We will teach her to like herself.

Physically and I have been taking pictures, full of bite wounds and old scars and scabs. That neck of hers is heart breaking. A nasty skin infection is going on and her body is quite bald in places and being white can be hard to see in photo’s. Her rump, lower back, under her tail and parts of her belly are the worst. Raw, some bloody area’s and red….she is licking plus chewing herself and we will rule out an UTI also. Her body shows much neglect and has taken a pounding more than once from teeth. We will look into mange and allergies and whatever she shall require to get her healthy….

She has had puppies at some point and being around 18 months herself, babies having babies. We shall also monitor to see if she is pregnant now. Per my other post it was said that she was pregnant yet no one saw any babies….

We will look into allergies and do skin scrapings and blood-work and all that she needs…she is also no longer on Ol Roy food. AND she is no longer sleeping in a garage and she will lack for nothing….

We are off to see the Vet tonight and I will post more afterwards….any considerations to her bills can be made direct to Kanata Animal Hospital 613-836-2848 under the name of ‘Whisper’ under the Birch Haven Rescue and Rehabilitation Services account.

Welcome to BHRR our newest ‘wee’ Great Dane – she is about the height of BHRR’s Raven.

BHRR’s Steam(Deaf/Visually Impaired herself AND Available For Adoption) watches over BHRR’s Whisper as she sleeps!