There is nothing like a Dane

Its true, as the movie South Pacific almost says, that there is nothing like a Dane. We have been finding out the truth of this adage over the last few weeks.

  Kim has had the ambition to own a Dane for many years but we never had the funds or the space to offer one of these impressive dogs a home. I must admit that I had major doubts over whether we could manage such a large hound but as Kim had promised that she would be responsible for walking him together I agreed we could give it a try.
    I must admit that our Great Dane, Rufus, has been far less trouble than I thought, in fact, taking his enormous size into account, he is a very easy dog to manage, even though Kim's broken arm problems prevented her from helping as much as she would have liked at first. He is very affectionate, loves to be made a fuss of, and is devoted to Kim. We acquired an old sofa-bed for him to lie on but he prefers to be nearer us, preferably in between us on our sofa, where he curls up small to fit in. He doesn't chase the cats, gets on well with Laika, doesn't stray if walked off lead, in fact is far less trouble than Laika! People meeting him for the first time are naturally apprehensive of him, but ten minutes with him converts even persons nervous of dogs,he's just so aimiable.
     There are differences between Danes and ordinary dogs however. We were warned by the Dane Rescue association where we found him, that Danes are subject to 'bloat', their digestion is so slow that they mustn't be allowed to bolt their food .
Rufus has a special feed bowl with sort of nubbins incorporated, which force him to eat slowly. The bowl has to be at chest night, we have converted an old metal chair frame for this. He must wait an hour or so after eating before exercising, too. We have done all this and have not had any problems. He is also infected with Leichmaniosis(don't know how to spell this!) as are many dogs from the south, it's a disease spread by sand flies. He takes a pill prescribed for humans for gout and shows no symptoms.
  He does have another habit which I have never known in a dog-- he purrs! It`s true, when he is in his favourite spot on the sofa, curled up between us, he purrs like an enormous cat! His purring is not quite like a cat`s, he makes a sort of low moaning or sighing of contentment that expresses the same emotion as a cat on a lap.So sweet!


   Bye for now, going to sit with our dog.

 

Return from the mountains.

   Well, here we are back home again after our annual trip to the Pyrrenees. It's good to be home, even though we both enjoy our time at Aucun at the Camp des Aines. However, this year things were a little difficult for several reasons.

The first was an unavoidable delay in arrival, as I had a specialist`s appointment at Niort on the day we should have travelled down. We decided to pack the car and go straight on after the appointment . As we had the three dogs and their kit in the van, we had to take the bare minimum of clothes. We would stop for the night just south  of Bordeaux .

   The second difficulty concerned poor Jilly. She had been illa short time before, panting a lot and seeming short of breath. Our vet diagnosed a serious illness, a lymphoma, which was likely to prove fatal in the future but he prescribed some pills to make her more comfortable so we hoped she could enjoy one last trip to the mountains,which she had always enjoyed .
  Sadly, it was not to be. The day was very hot, and Jilly became distressed. We stopped at a rest area where there was some shade so she could rest but she collapsed beside the van and died after a few minutes.....
   We decided to carry her on wth us into the mountains, where we could lay her to rest in peace.
   After this unhappy start, things could only get better and in fact we were able to enjoy our stay as we always do, meeting old friends and making some new ones, too. The weather was a little misty at first, but improved later and we were able to enjoy some notable outings in the dramatic mountain scenery, notable one afternoon at the Col d'Aubique. Of course, neither Kim with her broken arm, nor myself still lacking stamina after my stroke last October, could walk as far as in previous years but we did manage some strolls.
   At the end of Camp, we went on to stay with our friends Arlette and Laurent at Orthez, who lent us a caravan in their garden, where we were most comfortable, besides feeding us like kings!
  Now, we have returned home to the plain, happy to be back and feeling more relaxed after our holiday. I'll post a few more photos when I log back onto the mainframe.

Rufus at the Col d`Aubique.

   Bye for now.

Our home from home at Orthez