Duchess is twelve years old - a beautiful Saddle Back Bloodhound. We rescued her April of 2003 from an awful, wretched inhumane puppy mill. We had to pay $350 and another $200 for her one remaining Mastiff mix pup, Ben. Despite the financial body slam to our sanctuary, we had to get them out of that appalling place. Duchess had been bred with Ben’s humongous Bull Mastiff daddy - over and over and over again. Once the CKC “breeders” finished imposing their inhumane breeding schedule on Duchess, they no longer found her “valuable” once she’d stopped producing pups. Just like racehorse owners, it’s all about the money instead of the welfare of the animal. To those types of people, an animal is a commodity - not a loving, loyal companion. Anyway, we got Duchess and her son, Ben, the Bloodhound Mastiff mix, out of that filthy pit of despair. Both mother and son were vetted and then came to our sanctuary. After awhile, we put the gregariously happy Ben up for adoption. Duchess, however, was very shy around strangers so she stayed put. She enjoys her role as a surrogate mother to all the puppies we’ve taken in. She is a very nurturing, patient, and interactive foster mom. Greta and Garth especially, became so attached to her that they are still here after five years refusing to be parted from their mom. She is the center of their universe and the tiniest of gestures from her makes them deliriously happy. Unfortunately, Duchess was diagnosed with mammary (breast) cancer almost a year and a half ago. We had this huge, awful tumor removed that had been growing on her stomach. It turned out to be malignant and even though it’s gone, more tumors have appeared. Rather than put her through more surgeries (which she has a difficult time recovering from due to her poor response to anesthesia), we decided to maintain her normal routine while she remains asymptomatic. Duchess is very precious to all of us. With a gentle, sweet stare, she will paw at you until you acknowledge her. This is her cue for a hug and a nice long ear rub before she curls up with Greta and Garth for their nightly snooze. She’s sleeping a great deal more than she used to. Hopefully she has a lot of months left but, regardless, all we want is for her to remain comfortable. Greta and Garth are aware of the change in their “mom” and her diminishing woodland wanderlust and have started to pull away from her a bit - but just a bit. They still watch over her the same way they love her - 24/7.
