Great Dane rescuer rehabs weary animals

BY JJ VELASQUEZ

Originally published January 5, 2010, Victoria Advocate

One-year-old Great Dane Olive greets people at Paula Powell's home with a friendly sniff and leans with her bulky but skeletal frame.

Olive weighed 66 pounds on Dec. 22, when Powell took the underweight dog into her home - where she houses five other dogs, four of her own and one other foster dog.

"The second day we had Olive she had a loaf of bread," Powell said. "It was our fault. We didn't put it high enough. We understand she was hungry."

Powell hopes to rehabilitate Olive within several months to a year so that she may put her up for adoption through Adopt-A-Pet Victoria.

This sort of thing isn't new to Powell. She has rescued and rehabilitated close to 40 dogs for more than six years. More than 20 of those dogs were Great Dane, Powell said.

It started when she adopted her first Great Dane named Pepper, fostered by Powell's friend and president of the local Adopt-A-Pet, Carol Klages.

Klages had known Powell through a mutual friend and began petsitting for her 10 years ago.

Immediately, she saw that Powell had the desire to help animals and a wonderful home environment.

Powell, with whom workers at Animal Control are familiar because of her work with Great Dane, said the dogs she takes in are part of her family.

Christmas stockings for her four dogs lined the Powells' fireplace.

Thanks to a pet door installed in her home, Powell's dogs enjoy just about as much free will as the humans that live there.

Establishing familial bonds with her pets are what drives the success of rehabilitating the dogs, Klages said.

"She has a special touch," she said. "She finds a way to reach these animals, not just rehab them physically but also their spirits. That's almost more important than putting weight on them."

Linda Burrows, owner of Arts, Etc. in the Victoria Mall and recent Great Dane adopter, is a beneficiary of Powell's special touch.

The 64-year-old Burrows said she had wanted a Great Dane ever since she was 20, when she was walking in downtown Houston and noticed a woman walking her Great Dane.

"I thought, 'My God, what a gorgeous animal,'" she said.

Burrows was in tears as she wrote the check for the adoption fee.

Powell remembers what Burrows said as she adopted the merle-coated dog, named Harley.

"She said, 'Thank you so much for you and your family rescuing this animal,'" Powell said.

She knew Burrows was the right parent for Harley. From her tear-drenched face, Powell saw the compassion it takes to raise a Great Dane, she said.

She admits that while it can be hard to give up the dogs that for months or sometimes years became part of her family, she can tell when she has found the right adopter.

"The dogs pick you," she said. "There has to be a bond."

Olive weighs 30 pounds less than a normal Dane her age, but despite being malnourished, she roams the Powells' home with ease.

Visitors wouldn't be able to tell she was underfed if it weren't for her hip and rib bones that jut out from her black coat.

Because of her condition, Powell has Olive under a special meal plan that calls for three meals a day as opposed to her other dogs that eat two.

The Great Dane has gained 5 pounds a week since being in Powell's care, she said. She plans to rehabilitate Olive until she is at a normal weight.

"They don't leave until they are in the best of shape," Powell said. "With the best of parents."