12/4/04
THE MOST REVERED DANE
Dear Mr. Cataldi,
I recently stumbled upon your website, and find it most
interesting. I enjoy reading all the articles and links
by and for people who love Great Danes.
I too am a lover of Danes. As a matter of fact, I am
convinced that God stopped making "proto-types" of what
a dog should be when he made the Great Dane. He finally
got it right!
I came to that conclusion way back around 1968 when I
saw an ad in a Chicago newspaper announcing "Great Dane
puppies for sale". I called the person at the number
listed and drove a considerable distance to see the
puppies. When I finally found the house "out in the
Boonies" as we used to say, I spoke to the young man who
had placed the ad. He was a very pleasant kid, who
obviously loved the breed. The house made it just as
obvious that he wasn't getting "rich" in the breeding
business, and I began to wonder if I had wasted a lot of
gas just to see some "so-called" Great Dane pups.
My fears were soon dispelled. What I found was a pile
of little Lions with big feet, floppy ears and needle
like teeth. I was hooked! As you might expect, the
breeder began a dissertation about the parents of the
pups, and that all went right over my head. I too was
little more than a kid, although I had been a Chicago
Police Officer for over three years by then. All I was
basically interested in was to get a big, beautiful and
healthy Great Dane. Since I had recently married, I was
also ordered to get a dog for protection for my new
bride, in case I had to work nights as a cop.
The breeder offered me choice of the pups, and I was
told that I chose the "pick of the litter". How astute
of me! I then asked the price, and almost choked! This
was the first dog I ever bought, and didn't know that
they sold "by the pound"! Not that the price was
unreasonable, but in 1968, that puppy was over a month's
salary for a cop! Hey, I picked up the pup, he licked
my face, and money was no object!
After regaining my financial composer, the breeder
provided information of the care and feeding of this new
addition to the family, and strongly recommended that if
I had the puppy's ears cropped to ONLY go the a
veterinarian by the name of Dr. Stresser in Chicago. I
took the advice.
In any case, now some 36 years later, I have yet to see
a Fawn Great Dane that should be considered more REVERED
than that puppy I got all those years ago. He was
not only the most beautiful Fawn I have ever seen, he
was the smartest. He would serve himself when hungry by
getting his own food from the top of the refrigerator!
He would answer the phone when it rang, and prevent
further annoying calls, by chewing up the phone cord!
He would keep me warm on those cold Chicago winter
mornings, after my wife left for work by crawling in
under the covers and "snuggling"! I even trained him to
protect my wife by pretending to hit her and he would
pull on my arm to get me to stop! Of course he would
find me anywhere in the house and pull on my arm, even
when I had a friend pretend to hit my wife, but he sort
of got the idea, I think? The MOST REVERED DANE you
say? Well, I owned, or should I say was owned by, the
the most beautiful, most intelligent, most loving
"Standard of the Breed"! He was the pick of that last
litter of Waco's Faro of Apollo. His registered name
was Taboo of Faro, but we just called him Taboo. I
think the breeder mentioned something about his ol' man
was at the time selected as the Top Fawn Great Dane in
the country by Dog World Magazine. But Dog World
Magazine never saw his kid!
I never got a chance to thank that breeder for all those
wonderful times and memories. He used to live in a
small place in a north Chicago suburb called Round Lake
or Round Lake Beach, I think. I wonder if he still has
any Great Danes? He really showed promise for producing
beautiful Great Dane puppies!
In my next e-mail, as Paul Harvey would say. I'll tell
you "The rest of the story".
Sincerely,
Jim Carroll - Lt. - Chicago P.D. (Ret.)
St. Cloud, Florida
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