He is gorgeous. You are lucky to have each other.

Oh pics! I didn't scroll down. He looks right at home. Congratulations.

I wish you all the best. He is really special. I hope he is ok.

Wow, VERY handsome! You seemed to have gone from foster to forever pretty quickly ;)

I like the way they are all smiling in every photo. CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!!!

He's a cutie and looks very happy to have found a nice place to call home.

Oh nina he's soooo handsome. You are one lucky lady.

I knew it LOL He's perfect Nina, I'm so happy for all of you,he'd been waiting for you to come along and give him the home he so badly needed. I noticed the sad look is gone from his eyes already. Looking forward to more pictures of all your fur babies.

He's beautiful and looks right at home. Congrats! The girls look relaxed too.

What a lucky boy!

He is very handsome.I'm sure he will fit right in with the girls!

Yes, he is a very handsome, what a beautiful face. And he's very lucky too!!

thanks, everybody! he's being just perfect!! he's so affectionate, loves to be cuddled and he and the girls have become fast friends!

it just doesn't get any better than this! :D

YAY! More pictures! He truly is home, and your posts are bursting with your joy to have him. :)

And holy cow, is that their dog bed? That's bigger than MY bed! LOL

How sweet are those pictures. I see Bentley is a ham for the camera :>)

since my camera phone doesn't have a flash and he's so dark, sometimes it's hard to find him in a photograph! i wish i'd had the camera handy the first time he heard the grandfather clock chime. he was laying right next to it, turned his head to look at it and did that cute little inquisitive cocking of his head. now, he sleeps right through it! LOL

What a blessed dog! Keep up the pictures, I love seeing them!

LOL ok but remember, you asked!

all dogs need jobs, right? mine take sleeping VERY seriously!

i'll try to get some action shots but don't hold your breath! LOL

Hey, Fred and Rocket work there too!! :)

nina ... you exhausted them yesterday ... they need to recoup! LOL!

What type of vehicle do you fit 3 danes in?

Love the pic with his head almost in the bear's lap.

are fred and rocket union? mine keep threatening and i keep asking what more could they possibly want?? LOL

pam, i have a trailblazer, it's perfect for the 3 dog as long as i keep the back seat down. they can all pretty much lay down to sleep and not even touch. :)

Its a shame they dont get along Nina, and you were worried for what all of 30 seconds it wouldnt work out HA !!!!! You take wonderful pictures by the way. Keep them coming :>)

LOL christine...in my defense, i did have one bad adoption experience. a month before i got pea, i had brought home another female, 9 years old. she got much too attached to me and began "resource guarding" to the point where she went after ashley and gave her a pretty nasty bite. i couldn't take any more chances with her and i am not a trainer so after one month, i had to send her back. she is one of only a couple of danes i have met over the last 2 years that i just could not connect with. she was very standoffish to everybody including me and i never could understand quite why she thought she needed to guard me. i got pea instead and the rest, as they say, is history.

so yes, i am tickled pink that bentley is doing so well with the girls.

pictures? you want more pictures?

here they are on the way home...

this afternoon, between rain drops, we went outside to see how bentley would do "almost off leash". he is doing great, dragging his little piece of wood around on the long nylon rope and even though he could take off if he wanted to, he is sticking right close to the girls and to home. he seems more concerned about where *I* am!

{{!gwi}}

"who peed here??"

{{!gwi}}

i don't think it'll be too long before i can get rid of the little piece of wood and just have him drag the long line for a while. :)

Bentley has found his own piece of heaven at your house. I dont think he plans on running off anytime soon, he's already having a great time with his new sisters, he no longer has a reason to run off :>) He feels the LOVE.....

thanks, christine, that's sweet. i hope he still loves me when i have to go to work on friday and he has to spend a few hours in his crate. waaaa!

Nina, I bet you get some big smiles when you stop at a light and all those heads pop up!! Do you have mini horses as well? You go for big dogs and little horses? Nice menagerie and yes, Fred and Rocket are union, for sure!!!

You go for big dogs and little horses

LOL :)

Nina, I'm curious about the piece of wood on the rope. Where did you learn about that, what does it do, etc.? I imagine it makes them think they are still tethered, but would like more detail.

(by the way, my 23# little beagle would laugh at a little piece of wood...she'd be gone in a NY minute! :)

murraysmom, yes, i have 2 mini boys. they are both broke to ride for itty bitty kids and red (the silver bay) is broke to pull a little 2-seater cart. haven't had him hitched in ages and hope to do a little driving with him in the fall when it cools off.

LOL, yup i get a lot of :O when heads pop up at stop lights. when we are just in the city, i put the back windows half way down and everybody (except me) sticks their heads out. :D

weed, i just sorta came up with the idea myself. i first used it when i moved to the boonies with my old siberian husky. i did check with my vet first and he said as long as he can pull it around easily, it wouldn't hurt his neck. it is just a 7 or 8" piece cut off of the end of a landscape timber. i put a big eye bolt in the end to attach the long line to. i used it on my sibe for a couple of weeks but we all know sibes have a tendency to RUN. after a couple of weeks, i took it off of him and he never did stray.

i think it just gives the dog a sense that he is still "confined" by a leash but it also gives him the freedom to move around unencumbered, for the most part. of course, the chunk of wood can get caught on things so i'm careful to watch out for that.

last night, i tried B without the piece of wood, just put the long line on him. he was really good about staying with us so i unhooked the long line and he was free as a bird. still, he wouldn't go far. this morning, i just opened the door when i was going out to feed and turned all 3 dogs loose. he looked back at me like "aren't you forgetting something??" i said GO PLAY and he and pea took off for zoomies around the tack shed.

i LOVE this dog!!!

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

:D

Boy, Nina, you have a BEAUTIFUL family of four leggeds there!! Lucky you!!! I'm so glad this has all worked out so well for you.

I was just looking back at all the pictures of the dogs and saw the one with them standing near the tv set. Do you have to say "down in front" when you are watching something and they are walking around?? :)

thank you, murraysmom. :) this is what i have been needing to help me cope with losing my corgi kids. maggie and simon left a HUGE hole in my heart that, although it will never be completely filled, adding another dog (especially a rescue) is what i needed.

LOL, sometimes the dogs block the t.v. receiver and my remote won't go through them so i have to shoo them out of the way!

today is the first time i have crated bentley since he's been here. i had to be gone for about 3 hours. i listened at the door and he whined for a few seconds but quieted down. when i returned, he was just laying there, waiting. needless to say, he was happy to see me! :D

It's good to have a guard bear while you sleep!

I think you need to buy your animals tee shirts with horse imprinted on some, and dog on the others, because it's hard to tell which is which. LOL.

I have never seen a picture of a cocoa Dane. I heard they exists but have never seen one. They are all beautiful dogs.

Lucky Bentley. Your dogs are wonderful.

Nina Nina Nina, you were in love with Bentley before you even put your hands on him LOL, you have a great place with wonderful fur babies, if I wasnt so far away I'd stop over for a visit and probably never want to leave.

LOL christine...guilty as charged! there was just something about his petfinder picture that drew me in and i couldn't get him out of my mind. i'm so glad i pursued this, he's a great dog!

where are you? c'mon on by, i have a spare room. :D

calliope, from what i have read over the past couple of days and from what i'm hearing from my dane forum, bentley would actually be considered a merle. chocolate danes apparently have brown noses as well as brown pads. heck, i was even told by one person that he's probably sun faded and will be black next year! i don't care if he ends up like that or if he keeps the color he has now, a herd of wild horses couldn't drag him away from me. :)

That's funny - I live in St. Louis and when you said you were coming here, I almost checked to see where you'd be so I could meet you & the doggies. But I decided since you were coming here to evaluate for a "foster" (hehe - ADOPTION), that any distractions wouldn't be good.

If I'm ever driving your way though, (all I know is Illinois), I would LOVE to meet everyone!

oh heck, you should have hollered, i would have LOVED to have met you!

as the crow flies, i'm only about 80 miles from st. louis. do you know where Godfrey, IL is? it's an easy drive for me, a little over an hour. i'll bring the gang and we'll have lunch in a park somewhere. :)