Meet Vader....he's the sweetest love bug you will ever know. He has lived a tough life, surviving a back yard breeder situation where he was beaten and abused and forced to fight for survival. He was the youngest in tact male on site so he was used and abused, beat over the head with a PVC pipe and attacked daily by other dogs.  But then he was saved by the wonderful folks at Water's Edge Great Dane Rescue and that's how he came into Drea and Allan's life. They planned on fostering Vader, getting him through his tail amputation and finding the perfect home for him...until they realized he was already home. Vader and Hugo formed a bond so strong, they were inseparable. Foster failure! 

Vader truly rescued them. He has been through so much in his short 2 years on this earth but he finds a way to be loving, gentle and sweet despite everything. Although his scars and wounds will never go away, his heart is full of love. Just as Vader was finding his own and learning to trust, he faced another setback. This time he was going to have to fight the fight of his life.

Vader was staying with friends while Drea and Allan were out of town. This was the first time he would be away from them, so they gave him extra hugs and kisses before leaving. If only that would have been enough. The friends noticed that he leg was getting swollen but didn't panic. He seemed fine, sweet as could be in true Vader fashion. Within a day it was obvious something was wrong. After a visit to the vet, no visible signs of any issues...x-rays clear...he was sent home to rest. Test results came back of severely elevated pancreas levels, he had pancreatitis bad. He spent the next day getting IV's to get that under control. As the day went on, the leg ulcerated and ruptured.  This was serious, he was in trouble. And it happened so fast. Whatever bit him was killing him.
He was rushed to the ER vet, seen by an internal medicine doctor and kept overnight. The next day, the surgeon did emergency surgery to try and save his leg. A piece of skin was cutting off circulation and there was no guarantee it could be saved. The necrosis had set in so severely that they had to dig to the bone to clear it out.  He spent a few days there for observation, treatment and bandage changes. The surgeon determined it was a brown recluse spider that got him.

He finally got to go home and get all the love and kisses he could stand! If only that were the end of the story. The necrosis either spread or he actually had two bites instead of one. Back in for another surgery. This one hit him hard, he could barely walk and was struggling to keep his head up. He was able to come back home where we could give him constant love, cuddling, and be the best helicopter parents ever!

He would spend his days for the next week and a half at the surgeon's office getting treatments and bandage changes. Finally the antibiotics started doing their job and he has been upgraded to every other day visits!!! Slow and steady but it's progress! 

He will spend the next two weeks going every other day to get bandage changes and assess his progress. Once the infection is cleared he will have skin graft surgery. They will take skin from his side and God willing it is successful, they expect a full recovery!!

As you can imagine, this has been extremely unexpected and expensive. If all goes well with the skin graft and he doesn't need any additional surgery, vet bills are already totaling  more then $10,000.  Some may ask why would you spend that much money on a dog...I mean he's just a dog, right? pfffttt...just look at these babies...just dogs....right??


Vader and Hugo mean the absolute world to Drea and Allan, anyone who knows them knows that. Any funds raised that exceed his medical bills will be donated to Water's Edge Great Dane rescue in his honor. Every donation is appreciated more than you will ever know!!