Int'l CH ChriMaso's Midniterun
Jaguar
Unfortunately, Danes just do not live long enough. The average
lifespan is about 8 years or so. I’ve had them die as early as
2.5 years from a fatal heart attack, and live as long as 13
years and just die in their sleep from old age. Jag’s mom passed
away at only 5.5 years of age from cirrhosis of the liver (no idea
how she contracted that). Suzie was a special girl and when she
passed away, I decided I would no longer breed Danes, but I
still had Jag.
He grew in size MUCH faster than my son, but he was always loving and gentle with him as well. They were best buddies. Mason (my son) LOVED it when Jag would stand up and put his paws on Mason’s shoulders. Jag TOWERED over Mason. At full adulthood, Jag was 165 lbs – lean and muscular pounds – and he stood over six foot tall. He was a stunning creature. When I was hurting or tired or sad, Jag always knew and he was right there beside me, bringing me comfort. It was like his soft, loving eyes could see into my soul and were telling me that it didn’t matter what the world threw at me, because he would always be there for me – to cry with, laugh with, and hold when I needed it, and he would always look up, smile, and kiss me until I made him stop.
In a three week period, my best friend ever - Jag - went from
being strong, healthy and vibrant to being eaten up with cancer
with no hope of recovery. My 165 lb protector became my 105 lb
cancer victim. In the last attempt to save his life, we opted
for surgery to remove the cancer, but upon opening him up, the
cancer had fully engulfed his intestines, most of his stomach,
and part of his pancreas. There was nothing that could be done
to save his life, so I went home and cried for three days and
mourned… for much longer.
|
Jag was the last of my Great Danes. I
owned/loved this breed for over 20 years. I never thought I’d
ever have another breed, and I never thought I’d be without a
Dane. They are loving, little dogs trapped in GIANT body. My
favorites are the Harlequin (white with black patches) and
Mantles, or as we used to call them before they were approved to
be shown, Bostons. LOL They are the clowns of the breed...
always happy, silly, fun-loving, and eager to please. They are
probably not the smartest of the Dane colors, but with their
personalities, big brains were not a necessity. 
Jag was whelped from my next to the last litter I had. At the
time he was born, Mantle was not an approved color to show in
AKC, but it was love at first sight. I was looking for a show
girl from that litter, but didn’t get one. It was an unusually
small litter, just Jag and his sister, Lexie. Lexie was a
beautiful Merle Mantle (also not an approved show color), so
there were no show pups from the litter. My plan was to sell both puppies
and “try again next time”, but Jag would have no part of that.
When Jag was about 18 months old, Mantles were approved for
showing, so I started showing Jag. Unfortunately, he was such a
momma’s boy that he never did well in the ring. Whenever a male
judge would come up to us, Jag would move so that he was between
the judge and me. He was never aggressive and never growled or
anything, but he would NOT stay in his stacked position when the
judge came up to examine him or when he walked down the line
looking at the line up of dogs. *sigh* I tried putting a handler
on him, but he was too stressed and spent the entire time with
the handler just looking for me, so I finally threw in the AKC
towel and stopped showing him when he was about 2.5 or 3 years
old. He did complete his IABCA title in one long weekend (the
fastest time possible) as those shows are much more laid back
and he was happy to be out in the sunshine.
