October 29, 2001 – Halloween is almost here! It's always fun to see our Great Danes in costume, particularly the ones who enjoy showing off their festive attire. (Unfortunately my two refuse to wear anything beyond a collar.) At this year's GDCA National Specialty many exceptional Danes were creatively presented to an appreciative audience during the Parade of Champions. The Champions seemed to enjoy it as much as their handlers. Patriotic themes definitely carried the day – and I don't need to tell you why. I suspect we will see an assortment of patriotic costumes all over the nation as children forage for goodies this Halloween.

One of my most favorite entries in the 2001 GDCA Parade was Faith, this week's DaDane of DaWeek. Five-year-old Faith (Ch. Shoreline's Keeping the Faith) was bred by Nancy & Richard Guttenburg. She is owned jointly by Karla & Greg Mattioli and Nancy Simmons. Faith resides in New Jersey with the Mattioli's and she's a recent mom. She had litter of pups just seven weeks before her appearance in The Parade. She looks great, doesn't she?!

Other News
Many people have inquired about Jabber. He's doing okay. His attitude is good, but he's declined a bit in terms of back-end stability. He is still enjoying short walks around the property and he likes to wade in the pond. The other day he even chased some Canada geese into deeper water. Then he turned around and smiled at us.

Unfortunately we had quite a scare this weekend, but it didn't involve Jabber. My husband fell off our roof and landed on his back on a brick walkway. He is in the hospital with a T-7 spinal fracture. He is pretty banged up but he's expected to make a full recovery. We don't know when he'll be coming home, but we hope it will be soon. For those of you who've emailed me this past month, I was hoping to use the weekend to catch up on some long overdue correspondence, but obviously I never got around to it. Anyone waiting for replies to their messages will have to wait a little longer. Sorry!