Little Orphan Luke

Last night I called The Great Dane Lady. She's the breeder we bought Luke from. I had sent her an e-mail about his eye and never heard back from her. That concerned me because it seemed against her nature. She was very concerned about her dogs and where the pups were going. She asked that we keep in touch so she could know how Luke was doing. And even said she would like to come visit someday to see our farm, Luke, and to meet Aurora.

So when I didn't hear from her I was confused. I called her to see what was going on and to make sure she'd received my e-mail. She said she was sorry, she had received it, but was having problems with her internet and e-mail account. I knew they'd just changed all that so that was one reason I called. Then TGDL said they'd had a bad week.

They had 6 Great Danes when we first contacted them. Zoey (Luke's mom), Tiny (Luke's dad), Sally (Luke's older sister), Titan (Luke's older brother), Goliath, and Carmen (a pup they'd just adopted). Zoey had died from what they believed was a uterine infection when her pups were almost 5 weeks old. Last week Tiny began showing symptoms similar to Zoey's. TGDL was confused because he obviously couldn't have a uterine infection. The Vet believed he suffered from Cardiomiopathy (an enlarged heart). Tiny is 9 years old, so this was possible. They took him home, but he got progressively worse. TGDL thought they were missing something, but she didn't want to second guess the vet. "I was just a paranoid dog owner. He's the one who went to vet school."

When Titan began showing the same symptoms she said enough was enough. Something was really wrong with her dogs. I'm not sure how this all came about, but the dogs ended up at the University of Illinois Vet hospital. Someone had poisoned the dogs with Anti-freeze. Her husband looked around and found a roasting pan full of fresh meat, potatoes, bacon, and other food and a gallon of Anti-freeze behind their next door neighbor's shed.

Tiny was too far gone to save. Titan is holding his own, but has lost 80% of his kidney function. He'll live a normal live, but it will be considerably shorter than normal. They think he may come home today.

TGDL called the police and what the neighbor did was a felony. The State's Attorney is investigating. They're sending the contents of the pan (which TGDL and her husband had the foresight to keep) to an independent lab to have it tested. TGDL said the neighbor is an alcoholic who had succeeded in driving away his family and the rest of the neighbors. They were his only friends.

This makes me so sad and infuriates me as well. I understand not liking animals. I understand not wanting to live near them. That's your prerogative, but to poison an living creature (with the exception of roaches and rats...Sorry, I'm not PETA material) is unimaginable to me. And if you know TGDL you know these dogs were her babies. Now she has 2 dead dogs, one very ill dog, and $6,000 in vet bills. For what? Because someone didn't want to hear a little barking? Because a dog occasionally pooped in a yard? I can't imagine why someone would do that.

And poor Luke is now an orphan.