Pets of the Kawarthas The Story of Alice
By Karen Irvine Editor, ATOTK
We have all heard horror stories about backyard breeders. I’d like to tell you the story of Alice, our Great Dane.
We found Alice on Kijiji in 2013. Her picture made us love her immediately! The seller was featured on the TV show Pick a Puppy as a breeder, so we thought he must be good. To our surprise, the house where she was had no furniture and we were slipping on the pee covered floor. The ammonia smell almost knocked us off our feet and we took turns going outside to get fresh air. We knew something wasn’t right, but our mind set was that we were SAVING HER. We paid him and got out as fast as we could. We couldn’t speak. Our heads were reeling and we felt sick! But we got her out of there! When she was 1-1/2 years old, Alice got very sick with a temperature of 103 and was throwing up. We rushed her to the vets to learn she had Pancreatitis. She almost died. After an extremely large vet bill, we switched her to raw food and got her stabilized. At 4-1/2, she was losing her fur and had an ear ache. We found out that she has allergies so bad that she is now on the equivalent of 24 Benadryls a day. Sometimes she needs steroids and anti-inflammitories to keep it under control. When she was 5-1/2, she started having aggression issues with men. We spent the next year with a trainer who was very caring and helped her. Alice is now 7, she has turned a corner, and is such now a sweet loving girl. She still has health issues, but we love her. She is a member of our family. The heartbreak and expense has been huge! We call her our Sweet Sorrow. Learn from our experience - research before you purchase! If someone else had taken Alice, who knows if they would have spent the time and money she needed or would give up on her. Be committed and be prepared for unexpected costs - they can happen.
