It is almost 3:00 AM and Ocean and I are going to watch our last sunrise together in a few hours and gosh, I am just SOOOOO thrilled for her yet have to admit how sad our own hearts have been over her leaving later today. I have already mentioned to her new adoptive home that I shall most likely have the welling of tears and shall not be able to stay long(good-byes are always hard…) yet I know that Ocean is going to settle in beautifully and has the brightest plus most loving of futures ahead of her. We could ask for nothing more or better for her.  😛

Everyone has seen the tragic pictures of Ocean when she first arrived at BHRR. I wanted to share 2 pictures(I have loads more and shall add them to her slideshow later) of BHRR’s Ocean today(April 21st, 2009); less that 12 WEEKS after her arrival to our program. DOESN’T she just LOOK FANTABULOUS!!!!

BHRR’s Oceané – April 21st, 2009 – Less than 12 weeks after her arrival to BHRR – She just LOOKS fantastic!

ADOPTED! ADOPTED! ADOPTED!

The home visit went well and I shall be dropping Ocean off at her new adoptive home come this Thursday on my way to Lindsay with Tain; if the timings works for all. There is going to be a lot of tears in my home over Ocean leaving. As I mentioned to the adoptive home; Sean and I have NEVER posted that we would keep an animal that came into our program and while they are all very special creatures that cross our paths; Oceané is JUST that extra special to us. As I have said to Sean and this home; I ‘knew’ when Ocean came into our program that I ‘felt’ this could be a good match and never let this home know my thoughts and when they contacted me to express their own interest in her; it just seemed almost fitting that things are working out as they are meant to be. Ocean does not need us; we really felt we needed her as does I think PPSS; yet I honestly believe that this is the best for Ocean for a number of reasons; including that we have three dying dogs of our own that really need us; and at this moment; I think that we are doing the right thing(as hard as it can feel). To say, that I shall be welling up with tears when I let her go; is putting it mildly yet I know that this is an incredible beginning for Oceané and we put her first over our own hearts desires…. Her being adopted, enables us to help the next one in need of us and we just have to keep in mind that there must be that sweet angel meant for us out there…

FINALLY! I have managed to get the pictures from March posted – Slides #18 – #42. Her home visit for a possible adoption is this Sunday and she is doing awesome! I would like to see about 7 more pounds on her and that will come! Of course, now that we are April, I need to take even more recent pictures of her! 😛 Sean and I continue to fall more and more in love with this Great Dane and we know that she shall be an incredible addition to the `right`home. She is the best of cuddlers and I cannot believe how this girl contorts herself to sleep! I also want to thank everyone for their patience as I work on updating the blogs plus add pictures. As many know; Gwen has been brought on as the Court Behavoural Great Dane expert in a cruelty case and that has been taken up a lot of time as she is travelling up to three times a week in-between her own Hospital work, BHRR and family commitments to ensure that the 21 Great Danes are receiving what they need. I know that I still have many blogs and pictures to post and shall as soon as I can; as I know that one of the things that people love about BHRR is the constant updates and all those pictures! 😉 I also wish to say that though I have 272 emails yet to respond to(from the past 3-5 days); I have not forgotten. Additionally, within the last week; I have received 37 requests for assistance to take in Great Danes into BHRR. I have been literally working around the clock, trying to find reputable and quality Rescues for these Danes as BHRR is still beyond full. Spring is always a bad time and this year is the worst that I have seen in 13 years. 🙁 Ensuring that the animals in our BHRR care and those that need us are getting the proper attention, training and love they deserve shall always remain my top priority and these 21 Danes from this cruelty are the worst that I have seen in over 20 years of being in Rescue. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers….

The home visit for the possible adoption of Ocean has been rescheduled until the second/third week of April. It has been a ‘tough’ weekend at BHRR. Thanks to the potential adoptive home for being so understanding. I have 24 new pictures of Ocean to upload and hopefully, this will be done soon. In the meantime, let me post a recent picture of her below so that ‘all’ can see just how much weight she has put on and just what an incredibly gorgeous girl she is developing into. I have quite a few pictures of one of her most favourite past-times; tormenting Bronson! LOL You will see just how much smaller she is than him and she just ‘RULES’! She is not short at around 33″ herself yet compared to his 145 pounds and exceptionally tall 39″; she looks so petite! He is such a goober….with no concept how how much taller/bigger he is and just soaks up her harrasment of him….We are still working on her ‘gentle’ command with him and poor PPSS just feels so left out……Soul likes her; she likes Bronson & Bronson is clueless…….She loves to snuggle in the house most with either Lil Linus or Dyce. She acts ‘all put out’ when Soul comes to lie next to her. Personally, I think she is just playing ‘hard’ to get and is loving the attention from Soul and truly enjoys teasing him! LOL What a hoot it is to watch this ‘soap’ opera in action!

BHRR’S Oceané/Ocean – March 2009

Sean and I have been doing much talking and have made the decision that *should* this home not be the right matched family for Ocean; that we shall take her on as one of our own. It is not that Ocean needs us; it is that we really WANT her and she fits in so perfectly into our own home and just to look at PPSS; we know how he feels about her! 😉 So, we shall see how this weekend fares and go from there. Either way, Ocean shall have a forever loving home and that is what makes us feel so content. 🙂

I microchipped Oceané/Ocean today and she did not even blink! LOL What a great dog. I have not even had the opportunity to formally place Ocean up for adoption and I am going to be putting her under Pending. I was contacted awhile back from a previous adopter(and as Sean knows; I have felt in my own heart when Ocean first arrived of them; before they even emailed me; that this could be a nice fit…though I never said a word to them… 🙂 ) about an expressed interest in Ocean should she ever be available for adoption and they now have submitted an application in learning that Ocean would be placed up shortly. A home that we are more than happy to review and at this time Ocean is being put under PENDING ADOPTION!!!!

I am so behind and I cannot recall the last time I have been this behind in updating blogs and as some know; we are very busy with KB/JB plus have recently lost BHRR’s Klondike plus we focus all of our time/energy on the animals here with our hands on programs. Gwen has also now been brought on board as the behavoural expert in one of the worst cruetly situations we definitely have witnessed in 20+ years of being in Rescue. That being said, in respect to Ocean, she is doing amazing!! New pics need to be taken and added yet below are two pictures taken on February 26th, 2009 Ocean and Lil Linus….. She is doing awesome and every single test that has been run has come back ‘normal’ so I de-wormed her again JUST in case she was still postive for G(false negatives are not all that uncommon in testing..though testing is getting better); and that seems to have worked! She is gaining well and is active, loving and with how things have been, I have still to micrcochip her. She is such a puppy in so many ways and a dignified lady ‘goof’ in others. I just have to capture how this dog sleeps, TALK about flexible! LOL THAT most certainly cannot be comfortable yet she loves it! LOL She has many ‘sleeping’ poses and hopefully, I can capture some of them. Her obedience is just bombing along and I have made the decision that she is ready to go up for adoption…..Her need for continued leash manner training can continue in her new home(AND she still needs it) but she truly does not need us for much any longer. She is smart as a whip and she most definitely can hear certain ‘tones’ and ‘sounds’ yet she is also very perceptive and intuitive about things. Ocean is also the biggest monkey in climbing things! UGH! LOL She is so nimble, flexible and agile(Kanga-Dane in there!) that she can figure out how to manouver over a 48″ crate and get to the rubber made container and open it without any crashes or bangs……sigh…. 😛 She has also demonstrated that our almost 6 foot fence is nothing for her curious self to jump over and then walk the fence line to just jump back in because she can…..she has done this twice and that is BHRR’s Miss Gracie behavour there! We have had to be quite resourceful(lunge line when we need it and never ever unsupervised) and our fence will be made to almost 8 feet come spring. She is eager to please and her new home will have to understand to be careful with sudden and large hand or flighty movements for she still can ‘hit’ the ground in fear…but she is getting better and better. Just as I used to do with LT(gosh the memories! LOL and POOR Sean at 2:00 AM..listening to us but she is very receptive then)is race around the house with papertowel rolls and we play ‘tag’……She gives me the best of hugs every night before bed and can easily be a charmer in her desire to stay on the bed with you….LOL She is very sensitive and any correction is to be done carefully. I have not crated her in some time except to eat or if all of us are gone for more than a couple of hours and she has been doing fantastically, but she still is a baby and too much freedom for too long in too large of a place could prove to be too much if her new home is not careful. She is also an early AM riser(groan) and likes to zoom on the bed JUST like Snowball used to and while she is not the energizer bunny that Snowball was, she can ‘hold’ her own. Being around so many female dogs here has continued to build up Ocean’s confidence for her backbone has always been there but she is getting so much better in not letting ‘Alvin/Dana’ LOL push/boss her around. GOOD for her! Ocean likes to ‘tease’ Soul…for some reason he is completely enamored with her LIKE I have never seen with any animal before and I think he has a crush on her 😉 ……Soul has always been our ‘bachelor Uncle’ Dane and Ocean is such a monkey to him…poor boy…LOL Ocean will need continued work in shaping her personality in the right sweet and loving direction she has and also to continue on her ‘gentle’ skills when playing…poor Bronson takes a pounding from this girl in play……and he outweighs her by at least 50 pounds! LOL This is a Dane that Sean and I know that our hearts could really enjoy having her here with us as she has fit in so amazingly into our home but her time is coming to be placed up for adoption. The other thing that Ocean has started to do(THANKS Shiva! LOL) is bark in some excitement when you come home and she is in her crate. You can tell from her bark that she is not 100% deaf…….This Dane has depth and character and a joy of life that is just breathtaking. She has been a true delight being in our home. I will have to get a current weight/height on her plus wanted to post that she has very tender feet. The melting and then freezing of the melting snow has been hard on her…she had many cuts and sore/raw spots and when I tried to put booties on her to go out; she looked at them like they were aliens and Soul was always very happy to help her take them off….  😛

Oceané & Lil Linus- February 26th, 2009

I brought Ocean into work with me last Friday for a new weight – she was 40.4 KGS(88.88 pounds) and that confirms that she has not been putting on the weight as I would have like to have seen in the month that she has been with us. She really should have put on another 6 pounds and while that does not seem like much; she is still far thinner than I would like to see at this time. She is eating, drinking, playing and acting very normal. I did a Urine by Cysto and the results were normal. Her urine results were cocci = occ/40x and while there was a wee bit larger than normal amount of cellular ‘debris’ = 4+/40x; there was nothing of note to be alarmed about. I then ran some blood work on Ocean(WHAT a great trooper she was when we went to draw the blood) and other than a slightly high BUN level 9.2 mmmol/L (normal range is 2.14 – 8.93); everything was fine and the Vet was not worried about that. I am going to see what her latest fecal results say plus we might send out some urine for a culture yet the Vet did not really feel that it would be of major benefit. So, I remain at a bit of a loss on her extremely slow weight gain and after doing all proactive testing; I am just going to step back and monitor. As mentioned previously, it could just be her own metabolic rate and not be an major worry wart. She is presenting no signs that anything is wrong and I am going to relax…. 😛 She allowed Sean and I to do her nails without any issues and I have yet to microchip her for she is just so thin still. She is solid muscle of what she does have and was a HUGE hit at the hospital. She travels great in the vehicle but her leash manners continue to be very enthusiastic! LOL The rest of her obedience is just coming together so fast and I no longer crate her, except to feed her as she eats very slowly. She is a great cuddler and at night, she likes to climb on the bed just after I put the lights out and gives me a bit of a body hug and then gets off to lie down on one of the dog beds. In the whole time she has been with us, she has not had one accident in the house either. She is a FANTASTIC dog!!!! Sean keeps calling Ocean ‘his’ yet she really is ‘mine. LOL She was also given her rabies that night and got along with every dog, person and cat she met!