Chyanne Hope

She was slated to be put to sleep due to being in a kill shelter in NC. She was an owner turn in and due to kennel availability and size, they tend to keep large dogs for a shorter time. Well, I received an email from a transportation team (www.danetrain.org) I belong to about her and spoke with our great dane rescue director in this area and off we went to pick up our next foster!! Couldn't leave her there to die because her previous owners were idiots (they adopted her from a pound then a month or two later moved and left her in their apt bathroom with only the water to drink out of the toilet bowl and NO food for aprox 4 days before she was found by the apt mgr!! -- If you know ANYTHING about danes, one drink out of the toilet and it is empty!!). So we decided to add her to our family permanently cause to move her yet another time (she was originally a stray prior to her last owners and from there I am not sure although I have my thoughts -- she obviously had at least one litter of puppies along the line somewhere too.) would traumatize her. It takes her a VERY long time to open up with strangers and she tends to be a VERY vocal dog (lots of growls and huffing ... and not bad noises ... just "talking") and not too many people understand that type of dog. She has a real wild look in her eyes too so she can appear intimidating but she is actually very, very sweet. She has big eyes for a dane. Chyanne is became officially our kid in October, 2005 when we adopted her and she became a major and much loved part of our our family. She started to totally start blossoming after she felt comfortable that she was not going anywhere else. She was starting to play like a puppy, play fetch and keep away (she would bring a toy to you then when you went to grab it, she would turn her head away so you couldn't get the toy!!). She was finally building a trusting relationship with the hubby and even seeked him out to play and for attention. She was becoming a real gem. She came to us a very very skinny dog. You could count her back bones and ribs clearly. And her coat was dry and brittle. Before she got ill, she weighed aprox 138 lbs ... all muscle, not an ounce of fat on her ... and her coat was so shiny!! She obviously had been man handled cause she would not have anything to do with my husband and she was finally playing with him some and initiating play with him too. She still had her doubts at times but she was still learning to trust him. She would follow me over a cliff though if I walked off the end of one. She LOVED Mason. her adopted Great Dane Brother. He was her buddy. He looked for her for a week or so after she passed away. As I said above, she was a very verbal dog. Lots of huffing and growling, etc, to let you know how she felt and stoods on things. Her eyes were so soulful. You looked into them and could see years into them. She loved to be loved and was starting to act like a companion pet. She was also starting to act like a dane by sitting on your lap (butt on lap, feet on floor), lots of leaning on you and general great dane characteristics.

Chyanne crossed the Rainbow Bridge on December 17, 2005, after a bout of pneumonia. She died two days before my birthday and 9 days before christmas. She is greatly missed by her mama. She was my shadow and my morning snooze alarm. Hubby would open the door and in she came grunting and huffing to trample on me then bury her nose into my face before getting comfortable to snooze the morning away with her mama. I love her very much .. even in spirit. See you at the bridge, girlie girl. You died MY dog, Chy Chy ... not as a throw away.

Kristin Cooper