A relaxed Poppy

 Another typical Danie pose, taking all the sofa for nap time, methinks she is settling in well!

And............ meet Poppy!

Say hello to Poppy!

Think this is my fave pic so far!

Passed with Flying Colours

Well, despite being nervous about the Daneline homecheck for the past few days, we passed!

The 2 volunteers were great, they brought their 2 Danes along, Dallas (named after the Captain of the Nostromo for any other scifi geeks out there) a 3 yr old dog and Sasha a 4 yr old partially disabled bitch, who were fantastic, sooo well behaved and friendly, it was lovely having a dog in the house again!

They were more than happy with us both and the house and I am pretty certain know whatever rescue we take will have a fab time with us. Now all we got to do is wait until they send us the confirmation and then see whether they have any suitable dog for us!

Really pleased with the whole experience.

Daneline Inspection Day! Eeek!

We have a Daneline Volunteer visiting us this afternoon at 5pm to housecheck us and see whether they feel we are suitable to rehome one of their rescued Great Danes, Lee is at work until 4pm, so Im having a tidy up, clearing some of the pots in the back yard and then have to run to the allotment at 11am to show a new beekeeper the ropes on how to do a weekly inspection. Once thats done, then its back home to change and be ready for the homecheck, fingers crossed it goes well and they feel we are suitable to take a rescue.

We've also been talking to a GD owner who is having some personal issues and may be looking to rehome her 18 month old Dane boy, she is currebtly talking with her husband about what they want to do, so perhaps this is another option depending on what they decide.

Hopefully we will soon have a new furbaby here at home, one who will be loved and cherished!

Good advice means Head wins over Heart!

Well, apart from registering our interest in adopting a rescued Great Dane or Great Dane Crossbreed with GDAS (from whom Dave are coming to see us in the next 2 weeks) and Daneline (who are also coming to inspect us in the next 2 weeks), we also had a look on Gumtree and Preloved, finding this gorgeous Great Dane X Weimaraner called Princess, to whose owner we have been trading some emails with today.

Princess is 36" tall and still growing, is good around kids and supposedly good around other dogs, but has some problems with barking at strangers and doesnt like men, so after taking advice on the Great Dane Owners Forum from lots of experienced Dane owners we decided to follow our heads and not go forwards with seeing this dog.

That leaves us with 2 main options, take a rescue from one of the Dane Rescue organisations, or to get ourselves a puppy, and whilst at the plot today we got talking to another plotholder, who was telling us all abut a Great Dane locally who is due to have a litter of pups sometime soon! Lee likes the idea of a pup, one that we can train and socialize, I am easy, either a pup or a young Great Dane or Great Dane Cross would be fine with me!

Anyhows, more news as we get it! Thanks for reading :)

Looking for our next Pet

 Well, the house is far too quiet, we've both spent a tearful week grieving the sudden loss of Bella, but nothing we can do will bring her back, so its time to start looking for a new furbaby to come and join our family in her forever home!

We've visited Cheshire Dogs Home, some lovely dog's, but none that tugged at our heartstrings like Bella did, the same with Manchester Dogs Home and RSPCA in Warrington, lots of dogs, mainly staffies (can be lovely dogs, but none of them seemed somehow right for either of us).

So Ive registered with 2 of the Great Dane rescue sites, GDAS and Daneline, one of whom is coming out to inspect our suitability (sometime in the next 2 weeks) and the other is yet to be in touch.

We've been looking at Great Danes in rescue, some gorgeous dogs, I'm not necessarily looking for a full Dane here, I would be just as happy with another crossed GD like Bella was, although perhaps a fawn / brindle or blue would be simply soo stunning that we would have to have her ;)

Ive also placed want ads on Gumtree and Preloved, not sure as to how effective they will be, but who knows!

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/105642869/wanted-great-dane-or-great-dane-cross-manchester-area.html

So the search starts now, somwhere out there is a dog who is destined to come and be loved in its new forever home living with us both, lets hope it finds us sooner rather than later :)

Run Free baby girls, gone but never forgotten.

So, before we get our new furbaby, whatever type s/he may be, I thought I'd start the blog with a post in remembrance of those dogs who have brightened our lives with their presence.

This beautiful girl (still a pup in these piccies) is our Belladonna, a rescue Great Dane x Alsatian who came to us from Manchester Dogs Home 7 yeats ago, aged 12 months, on the day we lost Willow. She had been found a stray in the Peak District and was terribly thin when we got her, but soon blossomed into 7 1/2 stone of fun, a lapdog who never tired of cuddles, who loved playing yet had her problems. 5' tall when standing on her back legs and 26" tall at her shoulder she was a pretty big dog, but also very gentle most of the time, She was nervous of other dogs, we think she had been attacked in the past so th nervousness came thru as agression, so she stayed on her long lead unless we were certain there were no other dogs in the area.

She sadly passed away last week, she had been unable to keep any food down, and even though she had been to the vets twice and taken a course of antibiotics, she went into the vets again on Monday the 30th April for exploratory surgery. Both ourselves and the vets expected it to be nothing more than she had eaten something that had blocked her up, but on opening her they found she was sufferring with Cancer of the Spleen, which was very advanced and there was nothing to be done. She stayed asleep and passed over the Rainbow Bridge, breaking our hearts as we didnt think she would be leaving us for a few years yet. RIP Bella Baby! xxx

This is Willow, who came to us from Cheshire Dogs Home, priginally a stray from Manchester, a cross lurcher who was obedient, intelligent, gentle, loving and loads of fun, She was with us for 3 days before we found lumps in her belly, we had already fallen for her sweet nature so decided to take her to the vets and see what could be done.

Despite 2 operatons and lots of medicine the cancer was too far spread, and when she started to bleed after the 2nd operation and was obviously in pain she went back to the vets and went to sleep in my arms. She was only with us for a month, but I like to think that we showed her that life could be good and that she was loved, whilst she taught us that we could love again after we had lost Lady. RIP Willow, forever in our hearts! xxx

This bundle of fun was Lady, a cross Alsatian bitch that Lee rescued himself before we first met. Lee was living in Miles Platting when his neighbours oved out, leaving Lady behind, locked into the house. As soon as he realised he rang the RSPCA and the Police, both of whom said there was nothing they could do for 48 hours, his response was, 'Dont bother, she wont be there!'

He brought Lady home, gave her some food and she burped in his face, he replied, 'You're no Lady are you!' And thats how she got her name! Over the next few weeks Lady ate a leather couch, a pair of Dr Martens and a leather jacket before settling down to be one of the most placid and loving dogs I have ever known.

The first night I spent with Lee, Lady decided nothing funny was going to happen, so she jumped on the bed, plonked herself between us and wouldnt move for the night! She passed away after a long and loved life in 2004, aged about 10 years. RIP sweet lovely Lady! xxx

Prior to our meeting, falling in love and marriage in 2000 we had both had dogs in the past, I was owned by Mr Biggles, a pedigree Anglesey Terrier? (like a miniature St Bernard about the size of a spaniel) for 7 years, and in my teens we had a Staffy, Bess. Lee has had many dogs, Danny, a springer spaniel, Max, a crossbreed that looked like an Alsatian, Sam, a mongrel, Bramley, another mongrel, and has always had dogs around.