My Dogs

Say hello to my newest four-legged canine buddy.  His name is Harrison, and he's got a heck of a story.


Not long after getting Dizzie, I knew I wanted to get her a playmate.  She does so well around the folks' dogs when she visits over there, and I thought she was kind of lonely when it was just the two of us at the house.  I also knew that I wanted another Dane and would do a rescue when the time came.  When I got Dizzie back in January of 2009, there was not an organized Great Dane rescue in the greater Houston area - the closest Dane rescues were in Austin, San Antonio and the DFW area.  I found out through the office manager at my vet clinic that there was a group of folks trying to get one started again in the Houston area, so that was great news.  She gave me the information, and I started haunting PetFinder.com.  Sure enough, I started seeing listings out there not long after she told me about their new rescue group - Great Dane Rescue of Southeast Texas.


Several weeks ago (at time of this writing), I saw a dog that jumped out at me.  Her name was Chyna, and she was a gorgeous young fawn female with cropped ears.  Needless to say, she didn't last very long, but I jumped on it and filled out an adoption application.  It didn't work out, though.  She was very popular and was adopted out very quickly, but that wasn't the only issue.  GDRST doesn't like to match female to female if they can avoid it due to some history of dominance problems they've seen in the past.  Since Chyna wasn't going to work out, they suggested Harrison.


I'd seen Harrison out on PetFinder for several weeks.  I was interested in him, but held back because of his health problems.  Apparently the rescue picked him up from Harris County Animal Control sometime around August 28.  I'm not sure how he came to be in the pound, but it was definitely a step up from where he'd been living previously with his former loser owner(s).  Harrison was WAY underweight - according to the records provided to me, he weighed only 90.5 pounds when they initially got him - and had pretty much been neglected and abandonded to a backyard.  Not a good thing for any dog, but especially for Danes.  Initially, the rescuers thought he had one form or another of mange because he was completely bald - no hair at all anywhere on his body.  Turns out his hair loss was due to a severe flea allergy.  Harrison also has a pretty heavy load of adult heartworms - not uncommon for dogs in this part of the country that are mainly outside dogs with no heartworm preventative given (the mosquitos here are horrible).


Even with all of his health problems, Harrison still intrigued me.  I knew he'd have a great quality of life here, and he was a fine looking dog in the pictures I'd seen of him - even if he was mostly bald.  When the rescue suggested Harrison, I thought, "Sure, I'll take a look at him and consider him."  But I did express my concern about his health problems and the associated costs of getting him well.  Turns out the rescue had already paid the tabs for having him neutered and for the entire battery of heartworm treatment (that alone cost $650 - luckily the rescue received about $400 of that in donations).  With that information, my fears were put to rest and I agreed to meet Harrison.


Judy Jones from GDRST brought Harrison to my house on Sunday 10/18/09.  In doing so, the rescue killed a bunch of birds with one stone.  They like to do home visits so they can see what kind of environment the dogs will be going to.  They sure don't want to place dogs in a situation as bad or worse as where they came from.  The home visit also allows the rescue dog to meet the new potential owner and any dogs the owner might have to see if everyone will get along.  Also, in Harrison's case, it worked out great that he came here for a couple of reasons.  First, he needs to remain pretty calm because of the heartworm treatment, so bringing him here was a better alternative than meeting at a dog park.  Secondly, and most importantly, he ended up staying!


At present, I'm doing a foster-to-adopt with Harrison, so he's not officially mine yet.  They don't want to fully relinquish him to me until his heartworm treatment is complete.  His next appointment at this point is November 9, where he'll have to stay for a couple of days for the second round of treatment.  After that, there should be one final follow-up appointment and the heartworm treatment should be complete.  After that, he'll go on heartworm preventative and be worm free.


Also, at this time, Harrison has gained some weight, but he still has a ways to go.  Best guess right now is that he's somewhere a little south of 110 pounds.  When he's fully healthy, I anticipate him maxing out somewhere around 120 - 125 pounds - pretty small for a male Dane (he's also about 4 inches shorter than Dizzie).  While his age is estimated at about 2 years, his paws look like he might have some more size in him, but he's likely past the growth stage by now, so I don't really anticipate him growing any further height-wise.  I'f he's younger than that, he might have a little growth left in him, especially after the heartworms are gone and he's transitioned over to some really good dog food (I feed Natural Balance to Dizzie).  Either way, I think he will end up being pretty small for a male, but that's OK.  What he lacks in size, he makes up for in personality.


Harrison has already found that the couches are comfortable, and he spent his first night on the doggie bed upstairs in the master bedroom.  Dizzie never liked the doggie bed - she prefers mine - but Harrison seemed comfortable there all night.  Below are some pictures of Harrison's first day here.  I'll post more photos and progress stories as time goes on.

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