Welcome to our home baby girl. We did it! We took the plunge and got a Great Dane puppy. Back in November somebody posted on a for sale, barter, trade, site on Facebook that their female Great Dane was having an accidental litter. They set up a Facebook page for anyone who might be interested in following the mama dog through birth and the growth of the puppies. When my husband came home for his 3 month rotation from his contract job, I dragged him over to see the puppies. Never, did I imagine that he would actually agree to getting me a puppy, (he’s always telling me, no more dogs!), but when he held her for the first time – he fell in love with her.

I knew her name was going to be Hope. I woke up, early in the morning, the day before we went to pick her up, sat up in bed and said, Hope! Her name will be Hope. I don’t know how that name came to me. Was it her eyes? Was it a voice from God? Name this dog Hope. I kinda knew then that we were destined to get this dog.

Bringing her home…eight weeks old….15 pounds…Look at those eyes

We tried other names after we brought her home…Emma, Buttercup, Hazel, Seriously, Felicity, but no other name seemed to stick except Hope. It’s almost like she knew she was supposed to be a Hope. Hope got her attention. When we called her Hope, she would look at us. Any other name and literally, she stuck her nose in the air and ignored us.

It looks like someone took a calligraphy pen and splattered ink all over her muzzle

She’s content and happy

My plans for her is to take her through all her puppy and adult obedience training classes, and eventually have her be a therapy dog. I want Hope to bring hope. She is already doing that. The second week we had her, my daughter and I, had her on a leash and walked her through Michaels. (Besides wanting to taste the fake flowers, she behaved very well. She’s a great leash walker. Stays with us and walks right beside us.) We walked down an aisle and a teenage girl asked if she could pet her. We told her yes and the girl got down her knees. Hope walked right up to her and gave her a few licks on the face while the girl petted her. She told us thank you, that Hope made her day and she walked away. My daughter asked me after I left, “Did you see the girls arms, Mom? There were cut marks all over them.” I looked at Hope and Hope made eye contact with me. Like she was saying, yep, I’m here to not only be named Hope, but I will bring hope to others.

I love her so much. She can be ornery at times and she still has a few accidents in the house but she is learning so quick. I’m glad she came to live with us.

In the next The Year of the Great Dane blog – I will write about training puppies while being sick.