And
then there was one….
Hi.
My name is Jules Guthrie and I have been lucky enough to be blessed with
Great Danes and cats in my life.
I
live in West by God Virginia with an awesome Great Dane, Thor,
and three cats. I love to read and
watch TV. I am in recovery, I
cross-stitch, and my grand passion is doing Great
Dane Rescue, where I am the WV Area Coordinator.
I
have a great bunch of friends, who I met through recovery and Rescue.
I am very blessed to have the love of my friends surrounding me.
Thor
and I have been doing well together for the last few years without any other
dogs in our life. I always thought
I would have two or three Danes tumbling around and can tell you, life is a LOT
more peaceful and less painful <grin> with just one!
We
are working on his shyness with people, which ebbs and flows.
He is getting so much better at meeting people, I asked him if he would
“volunteer” to donate blood for other dogs
in need. It took only one extra
“trial” visit and he agreed! He
became an official donor May 2004. They
asked for pictures in his new bandana to put on their website.
He isn’t the most photogenic guy, but these came out OK (alright, so
three out of 20 pictures is a good ratio – thank goodness for digital
cameras)!
I have my two female cats, Thomasina and Magpie, who keep Thor jumping, as he does them. He loves to pet “his kitties,” though we have ALL learned to check Thomasina’s mood before committing to actually touching her.
Below,
she is recuperating from surgery and if you look closely, you can see the purple
threads from the stitches! The
nickname “FrankenKitty” has been following her around.
Magpie is doing well.
She
used to be very shy and withdrawn. After
the third Dane, Xena, moved in, she decided that around here if you want
attention, you have to GO for it. Ever
since, she has been a demanding one, using that old “One claw Chinese
torture” method of picking at whatever part of my body she can reach until I
pet her. Let me tell you, her
patience is way beyond my pain level, so I usually give in pretty quickly. The top of my head while I am sitting on the couch was the
real clincher…
Mad
Max is my wonderful Maine Coone cat who is on the volunteer
page since he is the best cat tester of dogs that I have ever met.
He has approved dogs that we thought were not cat safe (later to find
this information inaccurate) by walking up to them and rubbing around their
ankles.
I
miss him as he is “visiting” with my sister-in-law, Julie, at her
Vet Clinic near Union Station, DC. The
Rescuer’s dream relation, a vet! Last
summer he was diagnosed with diabetes and she offered to take him into her
clinic to live until he lost some weight and see if she could get him nice and
healthy. He has lost at least 8-9
pounds, is off the insulin, and is loving life. He has another big ol’ boy marmalade tabby, Mow, to roll
around the floor with and clients to greet and make a fuss over.
(Go to bottom of page to see them at Union
Vet Clinic
they even have job titles!) When
he first got there, Julie told me he would lie next to the cages of the dogs
waking up from surgery and comfort them. Once
I have my home life situated to keep his food access controlled, he can come
home!
This
is a picture of the girls, Thor, and me from December 2001.
I
lost my two girl Danes, “The Great White,” “Queen Bee” – Nikita
and “The Princess” – Xena in 2002. Thor then decided he wanted
his own page since the two girls each have THEIR own page!
I
was blessed to have them both for almost three years each, and have so many
funny stories about them all. My
favorite “bit” I loved telling folks, was about their “listening”
ability (basically if they would obey a command!).
Nikita was deaf, Thor
is BIG, and Xena, well, she was a smart little one.
I used to say that when I gave a signal to sit (both hand and voice), Nikita
would turn her head so she could pretend she didn’t see it and could
ignore me. Thor
pretended he
couldn’t hear and Xena, well, she just didn’t CARE!
Here
is my favorite picture of the first Danes in my life, Bronwyn’s Bane and Ivan.
Look closely and you will see that even at the age of ten, Ivan had to
have his stuffed dragon at the photo shoot!
I got Bronwyn from a fellow at work who found her on his doorstep on
Christmas Eve and couldn’t keep her. When
we signed a contract on the WV house, we ended up getting Ivan as a pup.
They were both with me for almost 11 years and I miss them dearly.
They are buried on the property that I named Heavenly Danes in their
honor.
Danes
are so wonderful. They have such
huge personalities no matter their body size.
Each of my Danes has left an imprint on my soul.