Raja

After I lost my best pal, Rascal (also a Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado adoptee) on May 18th of this year I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so after much looking and trying to locate another Dal in Canada I went back to the tried and proven method of getting another great dog from Beth in Fort Collins. I didn't do this immediately as we all know that we need that grieving period to get past the heart ache of having lost a great friend. I have to say that Rascal was by far the best Dal that I have ever had (haven't had Raja long enough to compare her yet), even though I loved all my dogs, he was the gentlest, best behaved dog that a person could ask for, just ask my vets. Being as I had so much good luck with him when Beth called me and told me that she could have a rescue dog delivered to my door in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada by a couple of people that transported dogs to different areas in the US and just happened to be heading to Alaska and had to go right by me to get there.

Peg and her husband had a bus full of dogs heading to Alaska and after dropping dogs off in Colorado they found that one of their transports had cancelled and that they had a spot for another dog so when Beth called and asked me which Dal I would like I quickly had to make up my mind. I already knew that I wanted a female and a little younger than the last two Dals I rescued (both 8+ when I got them) so as it turned out I decided on Raja, the little female Dal cross (everybody tells me that her other part is Stafford Terrier - aka Pit Bull). I'm not sure why Pit Bulls get such a bad name as I am a firm believer that there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. Anyway, she left Colorado sometime around the 18th of June and finally arrived in Whitehorse with her bus load of travelers on June 26th. When they arrived we took all the dogs out of the bus, got them some water and let them run around my back yard for a couple hours. I have never had so many dogs in one place of different breeds and ages that got along so well (with the exception of the Bulldog - not fixed - that all he wanted to do was fight with the Great Dane). We had Raja, my new Dal mix, as well as a Border Collie/Rottweiler cross, pure Wolf, Siberian Husky (tripod - only had three legs but didn't slow him down much), Bulldog, Great Dane, Lab/Husky cross, Black Lab, Brown Lab and about two or three more mixed breeds that I am sure were thankful for the couple hours of freedom to run and play and oh yes, pretty sure they all did their business after they ran around... but its not like I've never cleaned up my yard before. It sure felt great to see them all having a great time and just running and playing like crazy. I'm pretty sure that Peg and her husband had at least a half of day of peace after they all played themselves out. We were all having such a great time that when I finally remembered to dig out the camera, they were 50 miles down the road.

Now to my new Dal pal, Raja - I think she was pretty happy to be at the end of her journey and we got along great right from our first meeting and my sister's dog who lives with us was ecstatic to have a new playmate and believe me they wear themselves out on a daily basis. Although Raja is by far the smallest Dal I have ever had, I'm sure her heart is as big as any other dog I have ever had.

It is the beginning of August now and I have had a chance to find all of Raja's "little" idiosyncrasies and I'm trying to address them but I don't want to be too hard on her as anyone could tell she must have had some previous abuse as she is deathly afraid of any type of paper or newspapers and she has the worst case of separation anxiety that I have ever seen but we're working through it. I have no doubt that she will be a great watch dog as she has already claimed the yard and the house as hers and visitors are only welcome if I say so even though some times I have to say so many times. We are both going to obedience class this month and we both can use the training so we can start our life together on a good note. I must say though she sure can intimidate the heck out of some people. And if they show any weakness or fear, she capitalizes on it and makes sure that they know who is in charge... her if I am not there and sometimes still her even when I am, thus the obedience school. I have a really good trainer that I had taken my previous dogs to but being Dals they always learned the stuff that they were trained but did what they were trained only if they wanted to and that's that. Here's to another relationship that will last until we are both old and gray and thank you again to Beth White and Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado.

Gerald T.
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Another older pic before she got here to me   

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