Rescue Stories
The Famous Five - updated 16 Aug 2019
CHAPTER ONE
Starting at the beginning... Daneline received a call for assistance in June this year from N.G.D.R asking for some help with a few Great Danes in Spain. We were sent the photograph below and we then started collating some information from a wonderful lady, called Jenny Screen. Jenny lives in Spain and knew of these dog as she volunteers for a multi rescue already out there. Jenny said there was no way she could find good homes for these guys and there was going to be a large bill attached to these dogs that needed help quickly.
Jenny went to visit the owners to try and find out how many needed homes, their health and a general picture of what needed doing. Eventually, it was established that the dog and bitch had had a litter 18 months ago and they couldn't find homes. The puppies grew up and here we are!!!!
The dogs have never been off the property and are nearly feral, never having been on a lead or lived in a house. We were allowed to take 5 Danes as they were going to keep the parents and two others that were going to live on another property. On closer inspection, Atilla was very lame and Oscar had blood coming out of his nose, so it was suspected that he had Leishmania. The 3 girls looked in fairly good condition. The dogs appeared to be very friendly towards humans and looking at where they lived, good with horses and cats.
Our next problem was to find somewhere suitable for them to live, whilst we made arrangements to see vets and organize traces and transport to the U.K. Being the summer, all shippers were full until September and there turned out to be various reasons why the dogs had to stop in Spain, due to health problems.
More to tell you about the Famous Five – Alison, Maggie, Kit, Oscar and Atilla in the next chapter, below.
CHAPTER TWO
Daneline International aims to help Great Danes all over the world. Most of the time, we try to rehome Danes that come to our attention in need, and rehome in the country of origin.
Daneline took into consideration the many uncertainties of leaving the EU in October and on this occasion, after taking into account the many issues, we decided to bring all five into the U.K to rehome. The original owners tried to find them homes, but to no avail, plus another rescue centre had also tried. We had to act quickly and take full responsibility, which we did.
Three of the Danes have huge health issues, plus they are almost feral. They need one to one care and time spent to introduce them to house training, lead work, general socialisation and getting used to the big outside world. This is going to take time... The welfare of these dogs is our top priority.
CHAPTER THREE
Once we had identified which Danes we were to take, Jenny Screen very kindly went to pick them up on two trips and on the second trip broke her ankle and was in plaster with pins for 6 weeks. All in the name of helping us, bless her. Jenny had found a great place for our dogs to stay together until we could start their travel arrangements.
All five dogs visited the vet to have their vaccinations, rabies jab, worm and flea treatment plus full blood tests. The blood results came back with Oscar and Alison having Leish and Atilla needing a cruciate operation urgently. We had to get a specialist vet to travel up from the South of Spain to do the operation.
Atilla had a huge hole under his neck, so we couldn't go ahead with the cruciate operation until that had healed. At the time of his second visit to the vet, he was castrated, wound cleaned, antibiotics prescribed and x-rays of his leg were taken. Please see the photographs so far.
There have been hundreds of phone calls and texts to make sure the Danes have everything they need, plus hundreds of hours spent. This has come at a huge financial cost, as you can imagine. The 3 girls, Alison, Maggie and Kit have been spayed and Atilla castrated. Oscar cannot be castrated until his Leish count goes down. Full bloods for Alison and Oscar are being done this week. In Chapter Four below, we will give you more information on Atilla, Oscar and Alison. As you can see how lame Atilla was. Also the massive hole in his neck.
CHAPTER FOUR
We thought you might like to meet Oscar. When Jenny went to pick him up for us, he had blood coming out of his nose due to the Leishmania. So far he has had two blood tests, vaccinations, rabies and worm and flea treatment. Oscar is on a long term course of meds for Leish and we will only be able to gauge how well he is doing in the next few months, through more blood tests. He is such a sweet, gentle, kind boy in need of lots of love and cuddles. The Dane wearing the collar is Oscar's Dad... We will introduce the girls to you in the next chapter, below.
CHAPTER FIVE
Here are Kit and Maggie, sisters to Oscar and Atilla. Both these girls arrived in the UK a week ago. Neither had, like the others, been on a lead before and they were terrified after their long journey. Neither knew what was expected of them, but food certainly helped!! We think the before and after photographs say it all – they were taken 6 days after their arrival.
These two girls have learnt so much in such a short time and are so willing to learn. They are very affectionate and will make wonderful pets. They have been spayed and will, when the time is right, need to go to a home with another male dog, preferably a Dane.
More updates as we have them...
If you know of a Great Dane in need, please click here to see how to contact us.