Throwback Tuesday: Dakota 15 - 16 weeks

 Going through my old drafts, I found this one about dear Dakota.  We had to say goodbye to her this past July (2020, just one more awful thing about that year!).  She was just a week shy of her 11th birthday, and was doing so well, very active though arthritic, and sassy and happy.  Then she had a terrible fall on our deck, blowing out a lumbar disc and lost all control in her hind legs.  We didn't want to put her through surgery that would have a small chance of success, so tried conservative treatment with steroids and pain meds.  She was very comfortable, still sassy, eating well - but couldn't walk at all.

This is where the size of a Dane is a real disadvantage.  If she were a small dog, we might have tried her in a wheelchair for dogs (although her front end wasn't all that strong) and therapy, etc.  But just transportation for a 120 lb non-ambulatory dog is a real challenge.  Not only physically difficult for the humans, but difficult to do in such a way that the dog is comfortable.  And a Dane-sized wheelchair would not work in our house with its corners and steps.

So we made the very difficult decision to let her go peacefully.  But oh my, we miss her!

So I was very happy to find these great memories.  I hope you enjoy them too!

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OK, we're about caught up on Dakota - these were all taken in the past week or so, when she was 16 weeks old, give or take a few days. I love this first picture, it's not that often that I get a dog with their eyes closed! :-)

I'm just waiting for the flash.

Like all of our other Danes, she sleeps on her back a lot, and THAT is a shot that I just can't resist:

Pretzel? Or puppy? - you be the judge!

But she doesn't spend all her time sleeping... oh Hell no! Sometimes after she has taken all of the toys out of her toy box (which is actually a collapsible laundry basket) she likes to play with the basket. My friend Karen, who has her brother says he likes to do the same thing:

Any more toys in there?

If you come too close I'll whack you with this!

She and her Aunt Topper get along great! Maybe Topper is just happy to not be the only striped dog in the house anymore:

I was in the kitchen when I heard a lot of thumping and quiet play growling. If I stepped around the corner, they would stop playing and stand there looking at me, so these were taken by quickly peeping around the corner.