what's your dane's story?

[zipsmom]

The first Dane I lived with was my husband's rescue boy, Kippie, who pre-dated me in my husband's life. Kip was his fifth Dane and he found him at the Stamford, CT pound. His previous Danes had come from a breeder in CT who no longer breeds. Kippie was about a year and a half when I met him. He had been trained for pin and seize, so he was a handful for anyone he didn't trust. Fortunately, we got along great and from Kippie I learned about Danes' love, zany characteristics and how to do the commands correctly. He was a hearty soul and lived to be 13+ years. It was a great introduction for me. Since then, we have had four more Danes, including our current Whisper boy, our handsome and loyal Zip, and my heart dog Woof. We had one other rescue - Natasha - but her story is too sad to tell today. Maybe another day.

[Ximmy's Mom]

We got Xim at 4 1/2 months, her brother and her were dropped of at the rescue. The rescue said mom had already been rebred and they didn't want to worry about the pups anymore. A friend of my mom's heard about them and down we went to get her. They had originally lived in a camper (yes a camper, not even a mobile home!) and were not housebroken (can only imagine what that camper smelled like!)
She had a burn on her nose about the size of a quarter and the breeders said she "ran into a cigarette"
She wasn't skinny but she did have hook worms and round worms so we continued her treatment here.
But now she is healthy and happy (and currently running off her excess outside in the snow, silly puppy!)

[Jazzandcompany]

This is the story told to me by the lady running the rescue

Jazz's mom was abandoned at a vet by a "breeder" with the excuse of
they were moving and couldn't take her with them. The vet examined her and found she was pregnant. They took care of the mom (estimated to be 1 year old) who had 12 pups, all of them didn't make it. The pups were then sent to a private all breed rescue and foster. The funds were tight there but the lady had all of the pups spayed/neutered, they also had Jazz and her brother's ears cropped. I am not sure why they did this, as they didn't follow up with the care and she has a crop flop on 1 ear

When I met Jazz, still at the rescue, she was 5 months old and eating puppy chow , she weight a dismal 40#. She was the smallest of the dogs running around there! Her adoption fee was simply a donation going towards her spay, (sadly it had occured at 4 months, the vet being used by this lady is clearly not dane savy, but don't get me started on that!).

I only met the lady who ran the rescue/owned the farm. She is very kind, but something else had to have happened, as far as I am concerned. Jazz is terrified of a certain physical build of men. I don't know what happened, and I honestly don't think i want to know. It could just be Jazz being neurotic, but the even the trainer has suspicions that something sketchy happened in her past.

Here we are a little over a year later, 50# heavier and quite a bit taller! A happier, healthier and somewhat crazier pup

Emily

[Zagari]

I work at a very small, very rural shelter in a small town. Sure we get a lot of purebred dogs but they're mostly Labradors, pit bulls, and dachshunds. Never anything unusually large or small. Mostly just medium sized dogs.

Animal control had brought in a cute little beagle mix and we had been in contact with a guy about returning this dog to him. It was close to closing time and a huge van pulled up with a huge dog head poking out the passenger seat window. We thought, "Oh, Patches' owner is here to pick him up!"

Guess not. The guy wanted to drop off the Great Dane at the shelter.
The story is that the guy bred Great Danes and "Gem" was getting into nasty fights with his youngest son. Poor "Gem" was covered in so many scratches and scars and his ear is even ripped.

Our shelter is ALWAYS packed and a lot of the times you can find dogs in crates because we only have 20 indoor kennels and 6 quarantine kennels. I'm telling you we are small and underfunded.

There were three of us working that night and none of us hand any authority to take in new animals, espcially since we were full. At first we told the man that we couldn't take him. Then he proceeded to say if we don't take him then he's going to go home and shoot him. That's a common threat but this guy, he seemed like he would have done it.

I have been in love with Great Danes for a long time and told myself if a Dane ever comes into this shelter, it's going to go home with me. So, I wasn't really on the hunt for a dog, but I couldn't say no to this poor, old dog. The three of us there had a mini meeting and I basically said that I'll take full responsibility for the dog and if anyone gets in trouble for taking him, I'll fess up and say it was all me, because it really was.

I went home that night and talked to my family and it didn't take long to convince them that "Gem" needed to be my dog. He was pushing 8 years old and he wouldn't have lasted long at the shelter emotionally. Not many dogs do. His teeth were nasty and his incisors are nearly gone. It hurt him to eat hard food. He was underweight (and four months later, you can still see a pronounced spine which I don't like to see on a dog). At last weigh in, he was 127.6 pounds.

Three days after he entered the shelter, he came home with me.

I changed his name to Kaiser. I wanted something German to go along with his breed origin. It fits him. He's a great dog. Sometimes he can be a bit of a challenge but most of the time, he's a little angel. He has wicked prey drive and cannot be around my cats without being on leash. He actually did manage to kill one of my pet ducks but that was all my fault. He is VERY tolerant of other dogs. Especially a hyper pit bull who loves to bully him. I can tell you he was not the one starting fights at his old home.

[Newt]

I don't own a Dane, but I do rescue and that is why I joined this board. I often come across Danes needing rescue or placement and just love large breeds. All of our dogs and cats are or have been rescues and were mostly rescued by me, either hands on from situations such as an alley in the city or a yard where an owner has passed and no one in the family will take the dog, or someone has called me knowing that I help place pets. Reading these stories has warmed my heart to know that so many of you out there will take the dogs that have been neglected and abused by others and love and heal them. You all help to restore my faith in humanity!

Newt

[DextersMomma]

We got Dexter from a couple that were on the verge of divorce and the wife getting him while the husband was deployed was the last straw. They already had another dane, two smaller dogs, 2 cats, and 2 children in a smaller home. They didn't have a crate and Dex had to be put in the bathroom when they left the house or couldn't supervise him. He would tear up the bathroom and even escape it at times. He knew how to sit and lay down, he was mostly potty trained when we got him at 6 1/2 months. She told me that it was either the dog or her marriage. So we took him on a trial 1 week and couldn't part with him even after just 3 days.

We are so happy this crazy mister has come into our lives, he's turned my fiance into a dane lover and to this day, he says that we will always have a dane in the house =)

[BigLittleSmall]

he's turned my fiance into a dane lover and to this day, he says that we will always have a dane in the house =)

Insert BF for Fiance .. and that's exactly how it is at our house lol.