Guinness. We first heard about Guinness through GDRI due to an absolute travesty of a household. Guinness was one of four Great Danes living in a home with an abusive husband, a wife, and several children. The dogs were beaten, abused and starved. After the husband left, the family abandoned the Great Danes in the basement because they were upside-down on the mortgage. When a friend of the wife learned about this a month after the abandonment, she immediately went to house, broke in to rescue the 4, took them home and called GDRI for help. After time in the vet’s ICU, the four Danes (aged 1.5 and 3) went to four separate fosters, with Guinness going to Ontario.
We met Guinness in Feb of 2014 by taking Danforth to meet him in Peterborough, leaving Kitty at home. Danforth behaved and seemed to get along with him in that controlled circumstance, and although Keith was hesitant, the choice to bring Guinness home was made and he joined us.
After a week or so of very controlled supervision, we eased up and found that there were no issues between the 3 dogs.
Guinness was terrified of his own shadow, traffic, people – basically everything except for other dogs. It took over a year for him to allow a man to touch him who wasn’t Keith. He trembled much of the time, then less, then less. Once he found his groove (it took several years of consistent and quiet support) Guinness was a super-friendly Zen-dog. At the dog park he would saunter up to people and gently put his head under their hand to help them understand they should pet him. It was a remarkable transformation.
Things were very good with Guinness. He was very easygoing and required no special work after he figured out that people were OK. He couldn't have been a better dog.
Unfortunately, we didn't do many long road trips like we had done since first getting Deco and Kitty, except to my mom's in Brighton, and then once to my sister's place for Christmas 2019, but never to Nova Scotia.
In August 2019, Sarah’s friend Sandra invited her to a family cottage for a visit (with Monty & Guinness). It turns out that Great Danes are not really water dogs, in fact, when on a dock, sniffing the water, they might fall in. It’s the second time it happened to us with Danes (Deco & Kitty went ass over tea kettle the first time we went to a cottage with them) and luckily this time the water was less than a foot deep. Wet and embarrassed, both dogs decided they would avoid the dock, in fact the water too, for the rest of the trip. A couple of amazing shots are included in the album where I swear Guinness was posing in the sun.
The trip to Massachusetts in December 2019 was a very good one though. Sarah drove down with the dogs early (huge car problems with the Saab are another story) and the dogs made themselves at home, far, far away from the resident cat. The trip confirmed Guinness was terrified of cats, something Connie took full advantage of once she figured it out. He would freeze and tremble. Then he would run away. Monty and Guinness did well in the car for the drive, as best buddies, they were very comfortable with each other.
COVID-19 was an interesting time for the dogs. We were ‘allowed’ to walk them outside during the most severe lockdowns but were not permitted to go into the dog park. It was locked for months. Raya joined us the week before the lockdown began, so having a puppy in the house really livened up the old boys. Guinness seemed to enjoy his paternal side, helping to correct the crazy puppy who joined us.
Guinness got his “fancy coat” in Winter 2020. Keith was not pleased but the old boy deserved a treat just for him. No description of the coat is required. It’s clear which one I’m talking about in the pictures. He proudly posed for pictures.
Of course, COVID would not have been complete without a major vet scare. Guinness was remarkably healthy, and his ‘funky foot’ (dislocated toe that never seemed to bother him but dangled a bit) never proved to be a problem. Healthy, until one morning in January 2021 when he seemed off. He was curled up on one of the dog beds in the office and hacking more than a little. Scared of bloat, we rushed him to the emergency vet: still in full COVID-19 protocols with no owners/people inside the building. They were great, did the triage quickly and had him on the table in no time. He was a champ with the recovery.
Guinness continued to visit the students at Sheridan College each year (his first in 2014) until he retired during COVID. He was very popular with the artists, and a couple of the drawings are also included in the album.
And by the spring of 2022 Guinness was having a bit of trouble with his walking, but with the help of our "Help 'Em Up” harness, he was very manageable. Walks were understandably slower, but he kept going for multi-kilometer walks, and that was that. Keith took Guinness for a walk to meet up with Sarah at work a few blocks from the house and Guinness was noticeably challenged by the walk. Keith got him home. Guinness ate dinner - he just needed to rest.
But no. The next morning, Guinness was lying on the futon in the basement, and could not move his legs. He was just rigid. We got him upstairs on a blanket, and got him outside on a bed. We could see that he had taken his last walk. We said goodbye to Guinness on a sunny afternoon on June 12, 2022.
