Playing outside in WA

Puppy love at the Oakes House

Wiley is 6 mos and Dweezel is 4 mos....

and of course Matthew is 12...

Christmas Eve Hike

The view from above the fog....

Hoping for a cookie to drop.

Matthew making Christmas cookies

At the dog park

I love to run!!

More pics from around the house...

Spoiled Much...

Dog fun!!

Wiley Bear relaxing at home

So we think we've settled on Wiley Bear as a name...but he's also Floppy Bear and Silly Bear...lol...

Wiley Bear aka Lucky Number 3...

We were Vegas visiting Hols sisters' family when we got the email from Dane Outreach.

"Little Bear is looking for a Holiday Home. He is just 5 months old and currently in a foster home for the Idaho Humane Society. He is a fawn dane with natural ears and very adorable. Bear is learning crate training, house rules and manners and doing wonderfully. He is good with people, cats and other dogs. Bear is also current on his vaccines, microchipped and neutered."

Considering we wanted a fawn Dane when we got Roscoe, who was a mantle, and the timing was right to bring a new Dane into our home...the decision to adopt this sweet guy was easy.

Here's a pic of Bear on the ride home from Idaho...


We have little history on Bear, he is a rescue dane so there is nothing known about his parents. His rescuer, Susan, volunteers for the Idaho Humane Society and has a special spot in her heart for Danes. A little over a month ago she saw the listing for Bear on Craigs list, "free to good home" so she contacted the seller and picked up Bear. His previous owners were forced to sell Bear as he was not allowed on the apartment lease agreement.

Susan and her husband, JR, make it their job to rescue Danes who need good homes. In the last year they have rescued and placed over 100 dogs!! We are very thankful for the amazing work they do for these special animals. Thanks Susan and JR...you guys rock!!!

Here's another from the road...

A life too short, Loved & Missed.

On October 26 2009 Roscoe went into the vet at 8am for neutering, We checked in on him at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, and 5pm. Then at 7pm the Vet called and said Roscoe had died.

Great Danes can have reactions to drugs used during the operations due to their low body fat so we worried about that but it never occured to us that a routine operation might kill him. He must have pulled out some internal sutures and then bled to death. According to the Vet they took him out to pee and 20 minutes later he was dead.

When we choose to put Jasper down we were prepared...he'd been sick for months...and we knew it was the right thing to do for all of us. He was suffering daily and the meds for correcting Addison’s where not working...in essense he was the walking dead. Having Roscoe die during a routine operation was much different as the thought had never occured to us...it was devestating!!!

We are thinking about being Foster Parents for Danes with http://www.daneoutreach.org/. They are based in Washington State.

better than yard work

Hols and I woke up this morning and decided to to find a swimming spot instead of doing yard work. We drove about an hour East of Salem and found a little 4x4 road that lead us to a great spot!
Echo swam a lot at first but got fascinated with climbing on a fallen tree. Roscoe ran and played but wouldn't swim.

Think he was tired?

Look what we found at the river

Roscoe at 13mo

Weighing in at 145 pounds and 32" tall with 2 more years of growing.

Back when he was 12 weeks!

Matthew with Roscoe and Jackson

Happy Dog!

Fun on the zip line

Testing the Zipline

To big for my bed.

Roscoe July to January

Short clip to show how big Roscoe is getting!

July: 12 week old, about 30 pounds

to

January: almost 9 months old and 135 pounds