Abused Great Dane Teaches Me a Lesson
Abused Great Dane Teaches Me a Lesson
This weekend me and my wife had the unique experience of adopting a 4 year old Great Dane named Reuben (we call him Roo).
As you can see he is a magnificent animal. Sadly he had a hard life. He had a life that makes most of our problems look like a winning lottery ticket.
He was saved from a place where the dog is not considered a part of the family. He was nothing more than a burden.
Roo has abandonment issues because he found his home as being locked in a garage. Alone in the dark without very much contact, and that contact not being much better.
This horrid human being decided to crop Roo’s ears, himself. Looks like with a scissors as they are different shaped and have ridges like little stairways going down them.
He arrived at the rescue extremely underweight and showing signs of abuse with fresh wounds on his snout. He had a tumor a little bigger than a softball on his chest. The tumor was outside the ribcage so it was VERY obvious.
He is a loving animal but is aggressive with strangers at first. Danes are not known to be like this so it shows what his life must have been like.
Now he follows us everywhere and plays with our other 2 dogs. Well, he plays with our other Dane as the smaller dog is not interested in getting stepped on 
Roo is an amazing dog. At times as I stare in his eyes I can feel the pain he has been through. Both physically and mentally. Part of me wants to cry and the other part wants to beat the crap out of someone.
As I sit here with my daily issues, I only need to look over at my giant friend and know this is nothing. I just imagine what a day must have been like in his 4 years there. His only break from solitude was pain.
As you wake up tomorrow and think about all your problems, remember Roo and what cards he was dealt. Then get off your ass and do what he could not.
Go get some
Paul
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It breaks my heart when I hear of people abusing animals. We have a dog we adopted nine years ago and she brings us so much joy. They are such loving animals – how can people be so cruel?
Hey Paul,
I love that you adopted the big fella. Danes truly are magnificent dogs. Strong, loving, LOYAL…
My mom rescued an American Standard Poodle (Sebastian) who was in pretty much the same condition as Roo. Bone thin with protruding ribs, matted dirty coat… Not beaten, but completed neglected and finally dumped out in the middle of nowhere to fend for himself.
Basti came to live with us when I brought my Mom back to Florida from Houston.
By the time we had to put Basti down a couple of years ago, he was long since fat and happy. But the thought never escapes me that somewhere, some dirtbag human being DUMPED him out in the middle of the country, starving and neglected. The only question that runs through my mind is, “HOW?” How can someone even THINK like that.
One funny Basti story… Apparently, before being dumped, he was only fed stale bread, and had a HUGE hankering for toast. He LOVED toast. It was like a morning ritual sharing a little toast crust with him. Sometimes, he look at it and literally drool would start pouring out of the poor guy’s mouth!
TOAST! : )
Our current dog is a rescued Dachshund name Coco who showed up at my front door at midnight one Friday night. Our dog before that was a rescued Chihuahua… can you tell I believe in rescuing dogs?
Best,
Brian
Yet another thing we have in common Brian. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
We can drink a virtual toast to those of us who really care enough to make a difference.
Paul
My four dogs are all rescues. Miz Peaches, my pit bull, is a New Orleans/Katrina rescue. When I got her she was about a year and a half old (i.e. full grown), and weighed 22 lbs (she weighs 52 now).
Like Roo, her ears had been hacked off. She had no fur under her collar, indicating that she’s spent her short life on the end of a chain. She was terrified of everyone and everything.
Kindness utterly confused her. She simply had no experience of kindness from a human being. To her, the chaos and confusion of the Katrina evacuation was pure luxury.
It took her about two years to figure out that, when strangers paid attention to her, good things would result. She’s still shy with strangers, but she warms up quickly and is a cuddle-bug and lap dog with her friends. The cats think she is their own personal, portable heating pad, and they curl up on her tummy at every opportunity.
These days, Peaches’ biggest dilemma is whether to spend her time sunning her belly to a fine rose-red in the backyard, or to flop with legs akimbo on the bed, or to watch the world go by from her perch on top of the armchair in front of the living room window. That is, when she’s not checking her doggy clock to see if it’s time for the daily walk or hike…
And speaking of weird hankerings: Peaches LOVES to chase snowballs or rocks. She doesn’t care about catching them. She just likes to run for them. Must be some kind of Zen “It’s the journey, not the destination” thing. She runs flat out after her stone or snowball, leaps upon it with a mighty springbok pounce, digs furiously at the spot, and comes running back with a huge grin from ear to ear. And begs to do it all over again.
Rescued dogs rock.
Thanks for sharing Paul. I have enjoyed your posts and blogs for quite some time now. Nice to see another side of you shining through.
Paul