Merry Christmas

May you have a very blessed and Merry Christmas,
Gunther and Truman

Santa was here early

Here in Georgia we've been experiencing our typical super hot and extremely cold back and forth weather. Since we get up pretty early Santa knew that the boys get cold when we're out before the sun comes up so he delivered a couple of coats for the boys.

As you can see Gunther is pretty proud of his "snug" fitting coat. He was so excited when I put it on him. He pranced around like he had gotten a new toy. He's a smart boy and knows that when there is a change in the collar or he gets to wear something, he is getting to go for a ride. The first time he had the coat on he headed straight for the front door.

This is the first time Truman had ever worn anything. So I was pretty surprised when he didn't try to get it off of him. He's still getting use to it, but since we are making it a lot of fun for him to wear he's getting to be more comfortable with it.

I hope that you and your family have the best holiday season ever.

The Gun-man has a new friend and I have some sad news

The good news. This evening Gunther got a wonderful comment from a new friend. Here is her website. http://www.bighoneydog.com/ . She is a beautiful girl. What is really strange is that a few weeks back I seen her on you tube and sent that link to several of my friends. So we are really excited that she found Gunther's blog and posted a comment. You can find Honey's comment under the post It's True.

The sad news. Today I found out that Truman's father has been missing since November 17th. Because I get so upset with the details about it, I won't share all of it, but will ask that you please, PLEASE keep Royale (AM/INT'L/NAT CHAMPION "STONE VALLEY'S ROCKY RACCOON" CGC,TT,RN,RA,RE,HIT.), his son Zulu, and his human friends and family in your prayers.

From my family to yours

Congratulations GT

Ok, totally off the subject of Great Danes for a minute.

GT yesterday tested for his brown belt. The test started at 9:30am and ended 5:30 pm. It was great. He did amazing. His style of karate is Isshin Ryu

Here is the picture of his Sensei putting his new belt on him.

Truman

It's so rare that I get a picture of T that looks good enough to post. But, lately with the new camera I've been working a little harder at it. This picture he is sitting on the couch with Sara and GT and he had just sneezed on GT. LOL. The look on T's face is so cute. He has no idea why GT is wiping himself down and grossed out.

A new friend

What a Halloween treat I had tonight!

This evening at a Halloween party I had the pleasure of meeting Diesel, a 1 year old Merle and his owners. Diesel is as sweet of a dane as you can get and you really could not tell that he is deaf. I think his mommy and daddy are fantastic people for rescuing him from life in a cage, and caring for him they way they do. They love him so much. I wish you all could have seen Diesel tonight. Lots of people around and we won't even talk about all the wonderful food there, but he stayed with his daddy most of the time and some with his mom. He got lots of love from the other dog lovers there, and I was fortunate enough to get a few "leans" from him.

I hope to see him again and watch him grow.

Blessed Be

It's true

The Gun-man's bed time.

For a long time many of my friends and some fellow dane owners have thought I was totally crazy for some of the "perks" that my dogs get. For example I have always covered Gunther up at night with a blanket. This started the night that he came home with me and he was cold and I covered him up with a blanket next to me. By the way, Truman hates blankets and feels that they are something that he must destroy, while the Gun-man sees his blanket and immediately gets on their couch, and lays down to nap. The following picture tell it all. LOL.

On Oct. 10, 2005

On October 10, 2005 my last German Shepherd, Shadow Walker went on to his next life. Not to rehash the whole thing, but to give a little info on him. Shadow was 10 years old. He had hip dysplasia and a few other health problems. But, till the very end he was shultzhund. Shadow, was a great dog in every way, just what you would want from a German Shepherd. I miss him so much and only recently have I been able to really talk about him without crying my eyes out.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about him, because it was because of Shadow and his personality and intelligence that I wanted a Great Dane. I knew when I got Gunther that I would never have another German Shepherd like Shadow. Gunther's breeder told me how smart Great Danes were, and I seen it in his Danes, and I'm so happy to say that Gunther picked up right where Shadow left off. Though he has taken me in a different direction in training, etc, I enjoy having him with me all the time, and all he offers to me and my family more than words can say.

Remember that sometimes it's not what we bring into our dogs life that makes a difference, but what they bring into ours.

The G-man with T

Let me tell you, T nor my son GT likes getting their pictures taken, so I consider it a miracle that I got both of them in these two pictures. LOL. Thank heavens for a fast shutter on the camera. I don't know what it is but T just doesn't like it. Gunther will stop and pose for you. ;-)

GT is 19 and T, short for Truman, is about a year and a half.

Though T is a little small the our vet says he's pretty healthy. Heaven knows he eats well. He is very happy boy.

T has one toy that I believe if we had an emergency in the house, T would make sure that this toy would survive. It's his chicken. I'll try to get a picture of him with "chicky." It's funny, cute and such a Great Dane thing the way he loves it.

Short and sweet

It's been awhile, actually a long, long time since I've posted anything. So much has happened and I guess as the weeks pass bits and pieces of the past year will come flowing out once in awhile. But the important thing is that "the boys" are doing good.

Gunther is now 3 years old and the light of my life. I've been away from him and the "T" for 2 months taking care of my mom in Tennessee and it was the best thing in the world seeing them. Gunther hasn't let me out of his sight since I've been home. There is nothing on earth that can replace that kind of love.

Truman, is doing good. From his last check up the vet said that some of his growth problems are the result of the antibiotics he was on last year. But, other than that he is a happy boy. He loves my son and my X more than life it's self. (the way Gunther loves me) and that's good. Unfortunately Truman didn't bond with me like he has the men.

I have a few pictures of Gunther, sorry no pictures of Truman because he won't let me take his picture. I'll try to get some post though.

Off of the meds!

I have wonderful news. Truman is off the antibiotics. To make a long story short. He was examined and passed all the physical tests so the vet decided to take him off of the meds. BUT, we have to still be careful and start increasing his activity. The other wonderful news, is something that the vet said was a wonderful sign. Truman gained 6 lbs. He hasn't had that much of a weight gain since we got him. From what the vet said that was a good sign that he's healing. Now we can start his conformation training!

Gunther is doing so good. He is a rock. Through all this with Truman, Gunther has been so careful with him. Right now I'm considering putting him in the Rally competition in Marietta the end of October. We have a lot to catch up on. LOL. Since T's been sick we haven't worked much. I'll make the decision tomorrow.

I want to share a little piece of information with you. If you are a Great Dane owner and your dog or bitch needs to have surgery or even knocked out for their nails to be done. Please ask the vet to use PropoFlo. It's a little more expensive, but it has been found to be the best for Great Danes.

Another 2 weeks

I don't know what more to say about this last vet visit other than Truman is on another 2 weeks of antibiotics. At the end of round of meds it will be 6 weeks of red little pills for the baby boy.

How about some pictures?

Since it's been a week or so since I posted I thought I would catch you up with some pictures.

Gunther is doing the slow grow up thing now. He's starting to settle down a little. His chest is developing and he is starting to look more like his dad. But, don't let that grown up face fool you. He's still a crazy puppy and can out run Truman any day. LOL.

This picture of Gunther I totally love. It shows how muscular his is and how he is developing.






Now here are a couple of partner's in crime. When these guys get going look out. It's really wonderful that Truman is recovering more and more everyday. He is full of so much life. The 11th he goes back to the doctor and hopefully will be released and off the meds.

One of Truman's favorite things like all danes is to lean. I think they like to lean because they know they will get their sides rubbed and lots of lovin'. How do you like that right ear? We call it the "magical mystery ear" because it has a mind of it's own. LOL. (thank heavens it's not on the show side.)

Truman's Follow Up & Gypsy

Tuesday was Truman's follow up visit to the vet. I had hoped that he would be released from the vet's care, but that wasn't the case. Though his fever is gone, he still has tenderness in his back. So we are on another 2 weeks of antibiotics. He will be ok in the end, but this is seriously putting us behind in his show training. And the other part to it is, that he is showing signs in his back legs of straddling. Walking like you have one foot on either side of something. I don't know if this will go away as his back gets better or not. If not he will not be able to show.

The vet once again reminded me of how serious this infection was and is. And I am so glad that we caught it in time.

Gunther is doing great. He's growing like a weed. I need to get some of the pictures I have of him posted. It's been a couple of weeks since I weighed him so I will do that and then update the blog.

Several times in this year I have written about Noel Clarke. He is Ivan's handler and he will hopefully be helping me with Truman in the show ring. Well, Tuesday his lost one of his beautiful girls. Her name is Gypsy and she would have been 5 years old this November. She was the perfect Great Dane bitch. Here are a couple of pictures of her. This was an extremely sudden and unexpected passing. I know that Noel and Walter are hurting so much and that their other two Danes, Max and Violet are missing her too. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers

Truman isn't feeling well

Late Sunday night we noticed that T wasn't as active as he usually is. But he had been playing hard and having a good time, so we wrote it off as being tired. He was still eating fine, drinking fine and going to the bathroom fine. Monday, he had no loss of appetite, drank fine still going to the bathroom fine, but started isolating himself, under things, like the kitchen table, getting way back in his crate, or getting in Gunther's crate and resting. All the while still coming to the door to let me know he had to go out, eating well, and showing no real signs of being ill except for the isolation. Today the same thing, but the isolation turned in the being lethargic and he started feeling really hot, and so off to the vet we went.

Blood was drawn, a full body physical was given, and xrays were taken. They found his white blood cells a little elevated, he had a fever and the start of dehydration. The vet found also in the physical exam a sore area on T's spin. It wasn't until this afternoon that we noticed him arching his back up when he walked. It was after the fever had set in. Anyway. the xrays showed infection around two of the vertebrae in T's back, and diagnosed him with Diskospondylitis. (I will include several links that you can look up, if you are not all ready familiar with it.)

The vet believed that T has had this infection for awhile and that after a fun packed weekend his immune system couldn't fight it off anymore. He said that this is found in large/giant breed dogs, especially German Shepherds and Great Danes. I did run across this one time with a German Shepherd bitch that I had, she had gotten all her shots from her breeder and the breeder, to save money, used the same needles for all the shots and hadn't clean needles. The infection then spread to her spin. With T we caught it in time. There was no compression on the spine and T is going to be fine. They gave him fluids and have put him on an antibiotic for two weeks and an antinflamitory for 5 days, then the vet will check him again. I did find it interesting that males get this more than females. Go figure. Also the onset usually is relatively acute: some dogs have mild signs for several months before examination. There is pain or at least difficulty rising, there's a reluctance to jump, and depending on where the infection is located, they can have difficulty with their back legs. If ignored it can lead to lameness.

Causes can be bacterial or fungal and other causes can be surgery or bite wounds.

Here are the links:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1561&articleid=269

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/diskospondylitis/page1.aspx

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/100704.htm

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/healthcenter/dogs/bones/disk.html

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/diskospondylitis.htm

ok I guess that's enough links, though I have several more. But the only thing that is important is the Truman is going to be fine. Tonight he's all ready up and around more than earlier, he even took one of his favorite toys outside to potty with him. LOL.

Gunther is 2 years old. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

What a day we had. Ok, so he doesn't really know it's his birthday, but he did know we were doing special things. It was a super fun day. We took Gunther and T to Starbucks to see his friends and then to the pet store to get "goodies". Sara made Scooby Do cup cakes for the the humans and he got special birthday food. In his new bowl.

This bowl was a surprise gift. I was really shocked when it arrived and Gunther loves it. I wasn't sure if he would eat out of it, but he did. One of the things I like about it, is that I've been breaking his feedings down into smaller portions and feeding him 3 times a day. This smaller bowl helps do that. It doesn't look so empty with the food in it and he isn't giving me that look like I'm starving him. ;-)

Here's a picture of the cup cakes Sara made. You can't see the actual baking cups but they have Scooby Do on them also. LOL. As you can see there are two missing. It's a Scooby mystery who stole the first 2 cup cakes before I got the photo. No one around here will admit to it. So no one gets the wrong idea, I want to again mention that these were for us humans. My boys were no where near this chocolate icing.

Gunther was playing with his new toys and T was laying in bed sleeping. LOL. He got wore out with all the traveling around town and playing with Gunther. LOL.

When I first picked out Gunther. It felt like it would be forever before he turned 2. But, it's flown by. My life in those two years have had a lot of rough spots, some I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to get through them. But I did, and a lot of it was because of my relationship with Gunther. He's the best buddy I think I've ever had. There's a book out, and I forget the title of it right now, but it's something about learning about handling life's lessons through the eyes of a dog. I can say that Gunther has been a wonderful teacher.

I messed up. LOL.

Now I can laugh about it. But at the show I messed up the Rally routine so we didn't do too good. But, we did have a good time. Gunther at first wasn't really fond of the hotel room, he sniffed every inch of it. But before long he made it home. Here are some pictures.

Here we are beginning the Rally course. This is right before my mistake.

This is a great picture of Gunther. He was tired and had a long day. The boy was ready for a long rest.

Our friends that were at the show too, did really well. Congrats to Noel and boy Max for getting their first 4 point win on Friday. They are still at the show today so hopefully we'll have more good news coming from Noel.

Jay and Barbara were there with Ivan. He came in 3rd on Saturday in his group. He would have done better if another dog hadn't have been aggressive toward him and distracted him. This same aggressive dog about 30 minutes earlier went after Gunther and tried to bite his muzzle. Needless to say I was pissed that someone with a dog with that temperament was even showing.

I haven't looked at the schedule but I believe our next show will be in August here in Atlanta. It will be a lot of fun. This show we may skip Rally and take T to start getting use to the "show" atmosphere. When shows are inside, they are load, crowded and at times insane. ;-)

Speaking of T. He is now 54.5 lbs. I am so glad that he is gaining a little weight. He's a little taller too. He has just the sweetest disposition and just loves doing things with us. There isn't a mean bone in his body.

Gunther's First Offical Rally Obedience Competition

We have been working hard getting everything together for our trip Thursday. Of course I'm going to over pack. I wouldn't be me, if I didn't. hahaha. I'm really going to over pack for Gunther. Yup, it's his first official Rally Competition. It's in Greenville, SC. We're staying in a Quality Inn and I have to make sure that Gunther is comfortable. So we are deciding what toys to take, his favorite blanket and of course his food, treats and water. Lots of pictures will be taken so I'll have lots to post when we get back Sunday.

We are also going to be there with Jay (Gunther's breeder), Barbara, Noel and Walter. It's going to be a lot of fun hanging with them at the show and watching all their dogs in the conformation rings. Great Dane people are some of the best.

T will be staying home with the rest of the family. I will miss him a lot, but before I know it, I'll be taking two Danes to the shows. That will be amazing.

Gunther has a brother

Yup, Gunther has a little brother now. We call him "T" but his AKC name is Sir Hagan Tru, son of Shockin. The explanation of his name is the Sir is a reference to his father, Royale, Hagen is the mythological brother to Gunther, Tru is a reference to what the breeder called him, Truman, and the son of Shockin is the acknowledgement of the breeder's kennel name. But, we just call him "T". Here is a link to his sire CH Stone Valley's Rocky Raccoon CD, RE, CGC, TT, HIT and a link to his mom, Shannon's Shockin You Again.

T, is 16 weeks old and will be in his first dog show in October of this year. He weighs 45 lbs as of yesterday (Friday). He's a cutie and we're so excited about having him in the family. He does some of the funniest things and he's like an older dane in a little puppy. We are going to have some funny stories about him and Gunther soon enough. LOL. T's own blog is in the works, I'll post the link when it's ready.