07/01/2025
****SUCCESS STORY****
We received such an amazing email update from one of our alumni Danes, Duke! Try not to laugh and smile while reading this story from his furever family 🤣 We are so happy to receive updates on our rescue Danes, it reminds us that what we are doing is making a difference for these beautiful, gentle giants 🐾💙
"Good Morning!
Myself and my family adopted Duke on December 30 2023. I figured we should update you on Duke and his life over the last year!
Duke came home and was immediately greeted by his new sister, who for the most part doesn't like other dogs or change as she is 8 now and set in her ways.
Duke spends his days with his sister, she's a great big sister and teaches him how to dog properly and be respectful of other people and dogs, in turn he keeps her young as she grows older.
He has since met many friends who come with a lady who smells like dogs, she is a dog trainer and good friend of mine. We have gone on adventures and he has had many firsts. The most exciting was learning to go with the big dogs (horses) while people ride them!
Since then we have spent a lot of time with his new best friend. His new best friend is close to the same age and about half the size, he is a red lab! He gets along well with Dukes sister as well, this has allowed us to have him over for sleep overs! His best friend has since come to live with us, they are thick as thieves, and almost a Three Stooges group!
Duke being a part of our family has made his sister more tolerant of new dogs. This has allowed Duke to be helpful to help train service dogs with the dog trainer as a distraction dog, he also gets lots of socializing with new friends in a safe environment for everyone! He met a dog that was the same size but a lot fluffier, it was confusing to the other dog because most dogs are smaller then him, but he quickly realized that Duke has just as many zoomies as he does and they can run together at the same hyper speed!
Duke loves to sleep on the couch, or any soft surface that he can be covered with a blanket and touching a human that he loves (sometimes that means sleeping on my lap). When he's not sleeping on the couch he spends his time outside sniffing all the things and tracking his nemesis; the squirrel who stole one of his small humans Easter eggs.
He does have some separation anxiety still and I'm sure that if he was left at home alone without at least one other dog in the house, the couch might spontaneously explode. It's a good thing his sister is a homebody and only reluctantly leaves when he wants to go places with his people! His favorite person is dad and when Dad goes away to work he is very sad and requires all the attention for 24 hours.
He has also been on a few extended car rides to Ontario to meet his grandparents, who love Danes and have had many in the past. Even dipped his toes in Rainy Lake this fall, though he was not a fan of the cold water, the cobra chicken p**p was some good sniffs and was in general, afraid of the cobra chickens.
At Thanksgiving he got to meet some new dogs when we went for dinner at my parents, he was kinda scared and nervous off the bat but quickly realized the new dogs where mostly fur (Burnese Mountain Dogs) and there where 5000 of them (6), and one grey one with no tail who was nipping at his face (Weimaraner). He also met his first baby, my nephew and sat on his older brother who is 4. He will forever be called Moose by him now!
At Christmas he introduced his best friend to the fluffy dogs!
Hope all is well!
Thank you for bringing Duke into our lives!
