The Story of Minnie
We fostered Minnie while we were volunteering for the all-breed dog group and I was working at my last job. I met her when she showed up in an unmarked kennel and I was thinking, what a pretty Great Dane! Next thing I knew, I heard my husband had already said we would take her home and I was putting this giant black and white dog in my car to take home.
We had a wonderful vet I was working with at the time and she took an immediate interest in the dog, who was originally called Stella. Danes are subject to a particular health issue in that they are prone to "bloat" or have their stomach twist, which can quickly be fatal. There is a corrective surgery which dogs can have which attaches the stomach so that it cannot twist and prevents death in dogs that would be prone to this. It was decided that this dog would have the procedure when she was spayed.
Well we changed her name to Minnie, because she was a big GOOF and Stella sounded way too dignified. She had no idea she was large and had a very outgoing and demanding personality. Hubby had always been interested in having a great dane and kind of wanted to keep her, but she was really too much for me. Always active, always getting into things. Ridgebacks are large dogs too but they are not QUITE so huge or live so large, they tend to curl up in a ball to sleep much of the time. And Minnie was a pup of 10 months when we had her, just a busy bee still. She only weighed about 95 pounds because she was so thin, she was not fond of her food and just played in it and made a mess more than ate it, and the other dogs would come around and clean up her mess. She liked to shred blankets and scratch doors.
In any event, she came through her special surgery with flying colors and the vet was very pleased. She had never performed the surgery before and this was a way for her to practice on a dog that needed it, but she did not charge the rescue since she had no prior experience. I knew her to be an excellent surgeon from a prior experience when she sewed my cat back together after a horrible dog attack and my cat lived despite being warned by her that she probably would not. So I had lots of faith in her. But Minnie was hard to keep quiet after the surgery and needed sedation was the only issue.
She did finally find the perfect home, there was a person who really really loved the big goofy danes and had had one die of bloat prior and the idea that Minnie had this surgery to prevent it really made her long to have the dog. By the time the new owner came, I was READY for the giantess to leave, she was just so strong and busy and chewed stuff and one big swipe with her paw was pulling off my door jams, and she had found a new game of body-slamming my older golden retriever and older border collie for fun, sometimes ME, too! My house was not as tough as the dog. Hubby was sad when she leaped in their car to leave (always a good sign when the dog approves of your choice of home) and I heaved a big sigh of relief.
But of course, the family LOVED her and I recieved letter after letter thanking me for choosing them to adopt Minnie.
A few months later we recieved a call because of her microchip that she was running loose in a town, she had gotten out of an open gate and took herself for a couple mile run, scaring the crap out of the new owner and embarassing her that we got called to reconnect them. I had to laugh and be glad that Minnie had found herself the person to love her, and it WASN'T my husband.
... thanks for thinking of me with the link though!
