Miskre Per Reg'd Great Danes - Miskre's Thundering Uproar, Zayne

"Zayne"

A VERY SPECIAL DANE

Miskre's Thundering Uproar

Loved deeply by David & Jean James
London, Ontario Canada

At nine weeks of age Zayne went to live with his new family. Zayne's new owner, Jayne, was a wonderful lady and I knew this was a good home he was going to............

Early Saturday morning, January 29, 2000 (around 3:00 am) a loud anxious barking was heard. The barking became louder, more agitated, more anxious..... Finally, Jayne's son went to investigate what all the commotion was about. He found Zayne on the bed trying to move his unconscious mother around with his head and barking frantically. The son called 911 - Jayne had suffered two anuerisms. She was rushed to the hospital where she was taken immediately into surgery. After surgery the Doctor said that if she had not arrived at the hospital when she did, she would not have survived. Jayne then had a very long recuperation ahead of her - she temporarily lost her sight and was now unable to look after Zayne. I had to find him another home. I could not bring him home as I already had three males in the house. I contacted David and Jean James who had Zayne's sister, Tosca, and asked if they could foster Zayne for a month until I could locate a home for h im. Needless to say, this foster home became his forever home as they fell in love with this silly Dane.

Life was good for Zayne. David was given the opportunity to work in Grenada and the family packed up and moved. For the next three years, Grenada was their new home. Tosca and Zayne had many adventures in Grenada and as David said, continue to be "gawked at, pointed at, hooted at, admired and generally the center of attention wherever they went on the island. Zayne in particular feels that it is his right to command adoration everywhere". David and Jean adopted a local pothound, "Renard", and he and Zayne became great buddies and regularly got into trouble together.

Saturday, February 08, 2003............ email from David and Jean in Grenada.

Hi Deb:

Thanks for the care package, which was safely delivered by Nick and Cassie. Besides the tomato seeds that you labeled, what are the others? Nick and Cassie have spent most of the last two days with us, but we were a bit late picking them up on Friday, because of an adventure that we could have done without.

Let me start off by telling you that Zayne is OK. But by all accounts he should be dead. Because we planned to spend the day driving Nick and Cassie around, and there is not room for two dogs and four people in the car, we got up early to give the dogs a walk. By 7 o'clock we were on our way to the point. As we passed the last house, the one on the right which is still under construction, we veered off to the right, and as usual let the dogs off the leash. Both dogs took off at a trot, disappeared towards some bushes near the cliff edge, and because we don't like them near the cliff, we called them back.

Tosca came immediately, but there was no sign of Zayne. I went after him, but soon realized there was nowhere for him to be hiding. He had not gone back to the house under construction, and if he had gone ahead we would surely see him. My heart sank as I realized that the only place he could have gone was over the cliff. The cliffs are at their highest just there. I crept as close to the edges as I could to look over, and all I could see was rocks and sea, a long way down.

We put Tosca on the leash, and I spent a frantic five minutes trying to see if there was any spot near where he disappeared that was not a sheer drop to the sea. Everywhere I looked it seemed to be about sixty feet straight down. Finally I said to Mum, we need help. Lets see if Cathy McGrath is at home, and if we can access the base of the cliff from behind her house. She and her husband, Jim, live in the second of the two houses that have all the barking dogs, but are fenced.

I knocked on Cathy's front door, and told her that Zayne had gone over the cliff, and could I access the base of the cliff from behind her house. She was still in her nightdress, so she said "Give me a minute, and I'll be right with you." Remember, she runs the Grenada SPCA. As soon as she and Jim were dressed, the three of us set off from behind her house to try to find a way down the cliffs. We could get down to about fifteen feet above the rocks, but the last bit was too steep. Finally, I found a spot where there were enough trees and bushes to hang on to that I was able to get down. From the rocks I was able to spot a slightly easier place for Cathy to climb down. Jim stayed up, partly because one of their dogs had gotten loose and was following us.

I started out trying to avoid getting a soaker. I was wearing my sneakers. After a few minutes it was obvious that we would have to wade around rocky points and there was nothing for it but to get my shoes wet. A little further on it became even more difficult to get along, and the waves were getting bigger, so I gave up trying to keep my shorts dry. By the time we got to the base of the cliff where we thought Zayne had gone over, even my T-shirt was soaking from the waves splashing over me.

My heart sank as we got to the area where he had gone over, as it was straight down, sixty feet at least, with shallow water or rocks at the base of the cliff. We were both scanning the bay looking for his body floating in the water. We went on a little further, and there was a little vegetation about halfway up the cliff. Cathy insisted we climb up to it, but there did not seem to be a way. Eventually, we found a location that was not too steep, but there were large cactus growing in abundance. When I say large, we are talking about six and eight feet high, and covered in spines. We got about halfway up, and came to a seeming impasse. Finally, I managed to boost Cathy up, and she fought her way through the cacti, and then turned round to help pull me up.

We had now reached a sandy narrow ledge about two thirds of the way down the cliff. I had been calling Zayne's name from time to time, but to no avail. We turned and started to make our way back along the ledge in the direction we had come. Cathy was just about to point out some pug marks to me, when along the ledge from behind us came a battered and bruised Zayne. He seemed to be walking OK, but he had a bad and bloody scrape over his left eye, and another on his left hind leg. Apart from that, he seemed to be whole and at first glance OK. Cathy took one look at him, and said "You just used up one of your lives, and you are not a cat with eight more to go".

Our problem, now, was how to get him back up to the top. We explored the ledge from end to end, which was not very far, but the closest it came to the top was about ten feet of vertical rock face. Even if we could climb it, it would not be possible to lift Zayne up. So the only way, short of hiring a helicopter, was to go back down to the base of the cliff. We found a way with fewer cactus, which was steep, but not vertical. We slid and slithered down, with Zayne on the leash, giving him no choice but to follow. The sea was right up to the base of the cliff, so we then had to coax a battered and bruised dog around, over and along the rocks. There were several times when he got caught by a wave, and had to swim. (This time he kept his head above water) There were times when we could climb onto the rocks at the base of the cliff and get out of the sea. There were several times when poor Zayne balked and seemed to say "I've had enough, I can't go on." but each time after a few moments to catch his breath he plucked up his courage and continued on with the new challenge.

We finally found a spot where the climb up the cliff was fairly easy (The spot where the fishermen use to access the rocks) and were able to get him back to the top. Cathy had called Jim on my soggy cell phone to let him know we were OK, and he had found Mum and Tosca and let them know. They were at the top when we finally got there. Zayne immediately buried his head in Jim's lap, leaving blood all over the front of Jim's shorts. We then walked the two dogs home, with poor Zayne getting stiffer by the minute.

We were still worried that Zayne might have some internal injuries, so we settled him down, gave him no food, and finally set off to fetch Nick and Cassie. The whole adventure had taken just over two hours, and until I saw him trotting along the ledge, they were two of the worst hours I can remember.

Zayne was clearly in shock from his fall. He remained off his food all day, and only drank a little water. This morning he ate a little breakfast, but was still feeling sorry for himself. This evening he ate his dinner with almost normal relish, and his tail is once again wagging. We talked to Cathy again this evening, and we agree he is over the worst of it. It is unlikely that he has any serious internal injuries, although we will continue to monitor him carefully for the next few days.

David James
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Hello Everyone,

You will have learned from Dad's message that we have one unbelievably lucky dog and you have two unbelievably thankful parents. It took us some minutes to figure out that Zayne had gone over the cliff. We could not believe that he would have done so. There is vegetation that hangs out from the edge and I am sure that he thought he was bounding into solid ground when there was nothing there. How he didn't at least break his legs is a miracle. He was so lucky his fall was broken by a sandy shelf or for sure we would have lost him. You have to hand it to that dog. He has heart. It took Dad and Cathy quite a while to reach him, and hurt and shaken as he was, he had to then to make the arduous, wave tossed, rock strewn climb to safety, and then the walk home. By the time we reached home he was physically and mentally spent. He had given it his all and we made sure he was quiet and rested to recover from his shock. I knew that he was unlikely to eat that day but was very relieved when I was sure that he was drinking and relieving himself normally. The next day his appetite was coming back and clearly, while still sore, he was starting to feel like his old self. What a dog! He saved his owner's life, and on Friday the good Lord saved him. I know you will send our miracle dog hugs and kisses. We need them too. It was hard to wait at the top of the cliff with Tosca, unable to see what was going on, and wondering what Dad would find if indeed he could reach the base of the cliff in the right spot. Neither of us wants to ever go through that again. We'll be taking Cathy and her husband out to lunch later to thank them for their help. Dad had his cell phone on him. It got a bid damp but Cathy was able to reach Jim in his house at the top of the cliff to let him know that they had reached Zayne on his shelf and that all three were safe. He was able to come out on to the road and tell me and we waited for them to finally emerge on a pathway by the Taiwanese Ambassador's house. What an adventure.

Jean James

Tosca has passed away. Zayne is now 8 1/2 years old and doing well for a senior.

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