UPDATE:  Sadly darling Danni left us for Rainbow Bridge recently at the grand old age of 12.  Although her heart was about as bad as it gets she still loved her walks right up to the end and was given a new lease on life by her little friend Frodo the yorkie pup.  Her horrid mammory tumours returned though, and she developed a tumour on her spleen, which she just didn't have the strength to fight, so she left for The Bridge with dignity and my arms around her.

I've decided to leave the page open as sadly Danni's case is not unique and Hope continue to help dogs like her to find the contented, love-filled lives they deserve and to do that they need our help.

Hi all.  Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  I set it up to share with you all the story of my HOPE RESCUE foster dog, Danni.  What would be ever better than just reading her story were if you were to become part of it, by donating through JustGiving to help HOPE to continue to support Danni and all the other dogs in their care.  Even better, why not contact HOPE and find out how you could join me on the foster team.

Anyway, getting back to Danni.  She's a 10 year old Dobermann and she came to stay with me in July of this year.  She was 1 of 5 dogs - 3 dobies, 1 collie and a labradoodle, that HOPE were asked to take in.  Danni had clearly spent years as a breeding bitch, and had never lived inside a home before.  Her teats were the most horrid looking misshapen huge things, her teeth were ground down, she was covered in lumps and you could see every one of her ribs.  When  she arrived it took 15 minutes to entice her into the house, and everytime I went outside I'd have to encourage her back in, but now she's in and out all the time.

Shortly after she was taken in by HOPE she and the others were neutered.  At this time Danni was found to have a mammory tumour, which was removed.  We all hoped that would be the end of it.  Unfortunately it wasn't and at the beginning of September Danni underwent surgery to remove more tumours.  We did think long and hard as to whether it was the right thing to do, as it's major surgery and she'd already been through surgery once, has a heart murmur, and we just weren't sure whether she could cope with more.  But she was in such obvious discomfort we decided it was for the best.  So back into surgery she went.  We shouldn't have worried, Danni sailed through the surgery and is now much happier and comfortable, as she deserves to be.  Our fingers are firmly crossed that there will be no recurrence, but come what may we know we've given Danni the chance to have months, hopefully years, of enjoying life for the first time.

Due to her age and medical conditions Danni has entered our long-term foster programme.  Which is great for me as I love her to bits, she's such a sweet, gentle girl, and now I get to watch her blossom.

And she is! She's living with 3 dogs of various sizes and is now enjoying sniffing and following them round the garden, she's even been known to leap off the sofa and race them to the gate to investigate if someone walks past!  And 7 cats, several of whom have been very over familiar and scent marked her and rubbed themselves all over her! Danni hasn't batted an eyelid.

She's still very nervous of things most of us take for granted.  This morning the rustle of a cornflake packet had her fleeing to the garden.   She's decided the safest place in the house is the sofa in the conservatory, and that's where she has taken up residence.  She'll get down for food and walks, and I'm allowed to sit with her sometimes, but that's her space and she isn't comfortable in joining us in the living room.  One day I hope she will.   When I first tried to take her for a walk she wouldn't even go through the gate.  Now she loves her walks - we've even had that wonderful dobermann loping trot a few times.  She walks beautifully onlead, very close to heel, although some of that may be because she's unsure about being out - sometimes she tries to walk between my legs -hiding  Although happy to sniff around Danni is still very nervous when we pass other walkers - she freezes and hangs her head.

Now she's beginning to come out of her shell she's quite a character.  Every time I go out I come home to find Danni standing at the door, her little stump of a tail wagging, and in her mouth a present.  Sometimes it's one of her toys, but it could be her water bowl, her duvet, once it was even her wound dressing!

So there you go, that's Danni.  A very special, sweet old lady (don't tell her I said she's old, I think she's just deciding she's young again!).  I hope you enjoyed reading about her and maybe I'll see you over on the HOPE forum someday.

And now for the official bit from JustGiving:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.