Misty Heart and Texas Snow

I was one of those kids who brought home every stray dog or cat I could find. My mother swore the first word I ever spoke was not "Mommy" or "Daddy" it was "Horsey". I was blessed beyond words to have had my own horse as a child.

We now live on a little ranch in New Mexico. Thanks to having a little land my husband and I can surround ourselves with various types of animals. Sometimes I think the place really could pass for a petting zoo yet each member of this little zoo has it's own personality and way of viewing the world. Through them I have learned far more than can ever be put into books (or a blog). Currently we have two dogs, one wolf-cross, 3 cats, my horse, peafoul (plural for peacock), and are expecting a new batch of baby chicks any day now. But I am going to back up a little and tell the stories of some past zoo members, special members who's wonderful stories still warm my heart.

Texas Snow and Misty Heart


When we found out that we were going to be able to build our home here in New Mexico one of the first things I told my husband was, "Ok, if we are going to do this I want a dog big enough I can pet it without even bending over." He looked at me like I had lost my mind. My husband couldn't imagine such a dog but I knew exactly what I was thinking about.

Many years ago, long before my husband and I had met, I stumbled across a beautiful fawn, male Great Dane in the local "pound". Back then they didn't call them animal shelters, just "pounds". He was in horrid condition and so covered with ticks that they were weakening him. I took that tick and flee infested, half starved beauty home with me. From the first instant I looked into those big eyes I knew he was special no matter what shape he was in. I named him Duke and he quickly turned into my best friend. The years passed by and finally Duke left this world. I loved him so much that I had wanted another Dane for years after his passing but things were just never right for one. Here, on the ranch, was my chance. Even though my husband is also an animal lover it took a little convincing but it wasn't long before we were beginning to locate legitimate breeders.

We found a very responsible breeder who lived about 400 miles away. That sounds like an extremely long way to go for a dog but Danes aren't exactly around every corner and although we wanted one only as a pet we wanted one who was well bred enough to avoid any of the health problems that poor breeding can bring about.

When we contacted the breeder she turned out to be a very sweet lady and she said she had a current litter almost ready to leave their mother. She sent us photos of the whole litter. When hubby and I got the photos all of them were precious but one of the photos stood out from the rest. It was a photo with one adorable puppy who had a white heart on her forehead and sitting right behind her was one just as white as snow! They were obviously saying, "We go together." I had never seen a white Dane in my life! She was just beautiful with big blue eyes.

We called the breeder and told her that we had originally only planned on one dog but now we just had to have those two. She immediatly told us that the white was not for sale. She told us that we wouldn't want her because she was deaf. She said this pup carried the deafness gene so she would not be sold. I actually argued with this poor lady. She was trying to do what was right for this pup and Danes in general. I knew it but I also knew this baby belonged with us. I explained to her that we could handle all her special needs, that we had the background and experience for it. After a rather drawn out conversation she finally gave in and both pups were to be ours.

It seemed like we had to wait forever but the two were finally weaned and we went to pick them up. On the way home each pup decided which human belonged to which. The little white one slept half way in my husband's lap and the other did her best to fit into mine. Even a baby Dane is big...LOL We named one of them Misty Heart, for the blue grey of her coat and her little heart and the other Texas Snow because she was as rare as "snow in Texas".

I began working with them and training them from the day they got home. Naturally, potty training was at the top of the list because when a Great Dane makes a mistake it isn't a puddle, it's a lake.

Misty and Snow were very quick to pick up on the fine arts of toiletry and as their little bodies grew we began to move on to bigger lessons. We already knew that these two were going to be traveling with us a great deal and had a lot to learn.

Once each morning and once each evening I would put their leashes on and we would go out in the front yard. The first few days this was simply to expose them to the strange sights and sounds of cars, children at play and other activity. Misty could hear all the strange new noises as well as take in the sites but Snow had to go strictly with what she could see and smell. Suprisingly it was Misty who turned out to be a bit shy while Snow would walk right up to anything or anyone. Even at this early age I could also tell that Snow was going to be the larger and stocky one. Misty had more of her mother's delicate build.

The little Maltese in the right corner is Casper, KK for short. I will tell his story later.

Their evenings were always spent relaxing in front of the old wood burning stove. They loved that stove so much we ended up moving it to our new home with us and we still have it today.

When we began to learn more difficult lessons I would take both of the girls out in the yard and while I taught Misty a command Snow would watch on the side. We started with very short lessons to accomodate very short puppy attention spans. I used some pretty unusual hand signals along with my voice commands. The hand signals were more exagerated or different than you would use with most dogs. This was for Snow's sake.

Evening Meditation

Misty proved to be a fast learner but it was Snow who truly suprised me. She quickly learned her sign language and even began glancing at me from time to time just to see if I was signaling her. Together they learned sit, lie down, stay, back, heal, jump, and more. Snow learned that if I jiggled her leash just the least bit she should look at me for a signal. During this time the girls also created a complex system of communication with each other which later became a strong telepathic link like I had never seen in any animal or human before.

For the rest of their lives Misty was the brain and the ears and Snow was the muscle and the back-up. Misty even began motioning to Snow if I gave a command and Snow wasn't facing me. All this time they were growing so fast it seemed like they were putting on five pounds every night.

We were both still working but left plenty of time in our days for the girls. It was during this time that something strange started happening. Every day when we would get home from work every pillow in the house would be on the floor when we walked in. We knew this was simply part of raising pups and a little bit of separation anxiety. We would scold them a bit but we weren't sure which one was doing it. Misty would just look at us with these big brown inocent eyes but poor Snow would get this guilty look on her face so we suspected it might be her. When the problem continued my husband decided to set up our camcorder to see if it would tell us what was happening in our absence. We left the house as usual and just let the camera record the living room area. When we got home and view the film we were in for quite a suprise. The tape showed that we hadn't even pulled out of the garage before Misty started pulling down pillows and playing with them as Snow sat quietly watching her! Misty, the little stinker, was the culprit and letting her sister take the blame! When she realized her little game had been discovered she stopped doing it.

We were still preparing to open the ranch but we needed some place to live while the house was being built. We had always loved camping so rather than pay big motel bills we decided to invest in a little pop up camper. It would serve as home sweet home until a real home could be built. We started taking the girls on short rides in the car in preparation for all the trips back and forth between our old home and the new place in New Mexico, about 300 miles away. I started letting them sit in the camper and watch while I loaded things into it for the first of many trips back and forth.

By the time we started traveling the girls were 12 weeks old.They were the perfect travelers, taking everything in stride. We had the front seat and they had the back. One of their favorite things was when we would stop in a town called Roswell, about half way between our old home and the ranch. We always stopped in at a Dairy Queen there to grab a bite to eat. By our second trip the manager had fallen in love with the girls. Every time we stopped the manager would just give each of the girls a small ice cream cone. Those two soon started looking forward to their ice cream cones long before we even approached Roswell. We would start hearing the doggy version of, "Are we there yet Mommy? Are we there yet? How much farther?"

Please join us as Snow and Misty help us build a new home. Look for "The Danes Of Dome-InGo" coming soon.