Saathi, Queensland, Australia.

This is Saathi's story from Cheryl. Saathi is such a sweetie and sounds like the friendliest dog ever! It makes me sad to know that people find it hard or are afraid to approach her. This just exemplifies some of the common reactions/ misconceptions people have towards bigger, black dogs.

I guess her story doesn't really come under the rescue story, more of peoples reaction to her.

She was one of 9 puppies, Mum was a Neo-mastiff and Dad was presumably the same breed. When the puppies were about 5 weeks old they realised that they weren't purebred. Then the owners found out that there had been a Great Dane in their yard. Sooooo, they coudn't make any money out of the pups who were all black and black/brindle and they decided to put them all to sleep if they couldn't find homes for them.

The puppies were gorgeous and I was smitten with Saathi so I took her home.

By the way, Saathi is Nepalese for friend.

I believe that family members took the rest of the pups. Saathi is a beautiful natured dog but with the face that only a Mum could love. She loves people and gets on with children if their parents allow them to get close. I take her for walks on a cement path which goes along a creek and takes about an hour return.

When we go out, if I see people approaching I move off the path till they go past. However, I have noticed that many people take one look at Saathi and they move off the path well before we meet. She is always on a lead. One day someone actually stopped to talk to her and Saathi was so excited that the wagging of the tail nearly turned her inside out. That is the only person in the 3 years I have been taking her. WHY, I don't know.

When I take my other big dogs which are much larger but a paler colour, people always come over and ask if they can pat them. Maybe it is because Saathi has a rather large head and that frightens people as she isn't really a large dog, weighs in at 45 kgs.

When someone comes to my home, they tend to ignore her but always pat the others. I feel so sad for her as she loves attention but misses out every time. I have seen a carload of people turn up here[mostly JW's] and a couple of times Saathi has been out of the fenced yard. When they pull up, Saathi runs up to greet them. They take one look at the big black head and take off at a rate of knots. If only they knew she was only going out to invite them in for a cuppa!

Black dogs have never worried me as I love all dogs so I don't know what the problem is.