Meet Our own deaf
Dane  Ambassador
Frodo

1/13/06 - We had Frodo put to sleep yesterday. While he had made astounding progress in his time here with us, he came to us with such severe problems, that we felt he would never be adoptable. We would have kept him here as a Sanctuary dog, however he was not well suited to living with other dogs, and could not be kept alone either. He was becoming more and more dog aggressive as he developed his confidence, and his inability to see or hear often got him into accidental conflicts with the other dogs. When kept separated for any length of time, his anxiety would kick in and he would become extremely destructive. All in all he was not getting the sort of quality life we wanted for him. While he was making big strides in some ways, in terms of his overall life, we felt that things were getting worse rather than better, and we decided it was time to set him free. He was an unholy pain in the butt sometimes, and the single most destructive dog we have ever met. And despite all that, we have been crying our eyes out the past two days. 

We will always remember the times when the quiet Frodo would visit us. He was a wonderful dog, and he never stayed long enough. We will also remember his joy and how much he loved the good times. We wish we could have given you more of those Frodo, and found you that magical home that would cater to all your quirks and your very special needs. We wish we could find those homes for all the dogs we take in, but most especially for the dogs like you, who come to us with so many problems and try so hard to work with us to overcome them

We miss you Frodo. We wish we could have done more for you. Whatever life you lead before you came to us, that caused you so much stress and confusion, we hope your time here with us helped to erase some of the torment. We hope you enjoyed your time with us. Know that we loved you, and that we did all that we could. Sleep well sweet boy, you took a piece of our hearts with you when you left.


  • Gender - Male
  • Age/DOB - ~ 8/03
  • Height  at the shoulder -
  • Weight - ~115
  • Spayed/Neutered - Yes
  • Taken in on  - 2/25/05
  • Available as of - Behavioral hold
  • Housebroken - Yes
  • Obedience trained - Some
  • Good with other dogs - Yes
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    • with cats - Ink, Probably
    • with kids - Unk
    • with the elderly - No
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  • Temperament - Frodo has severe separation anxiety, the worst case we have ever seen. He can not be lock away from people, can not be crated, and can not be left alone most of the time. He is a happy boy when he has his people and a wreck when he doesn't. He is deaf, blind completely in one eye, and only has maybe 15% vision in the other eye and this compounds his anxiety.
  • Comments
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Frodo came to us from a shelter in Northern California. He could not be kenneled and they had no good way to handle him because of that. He would injure himself trying to get out of any kennel or crate they put him in. He was underweight, mostly because of the stress he was under. He had no training other than his potty training. He was very affectionate, but a little wild and restless. He had a hard time holding still for petting. He pulled badly on his leash. His face was a bit cut up from his attempts to get out of the kennel. He was very friendly with the other dogs, almost puppylike in his attempts to interact with them, but because he can not see well, he tended to intrude or get too close to them when he shouldn't. He suffered a lot of nips at first. But he did not let that phase him, and he never reacted aggressively. He would just keep coming back, trying to make friends and get dogs to play with him. He was like the energizer bunny. And this combination of determination and complete lack of aggression or threat, eventually won over most of the other dogs. They still scold him for being too pushy sometimes, but they mostly seem to get that he can't help it and the scoldings are pretty gentle most of the time. This behavior of his actually helped us tremendously with a dog aggressive dog named Socrates that we got from another rescue. Frodo was able to win Socs over, and that helped make all the difference for Socs. Socs has already been adopted and now has a new home and a new Dane buddy, all thanks to Frodo and his determination to make friends.

Frodo had the worst case of separation anxiety I have ever seen, he simply could not be left alone for even 30 seconds nor could he be contained or locked away. I truly feared he was going to give himself a heart attack he would get so stressed out. He is much better now, but still has a long ways to go before he will be adoptable. He has learned the sit command, and the routine at mealtimes where he has to sit to get his food. He is standing up a bit more for himself with the other dogs now that he feels safer, and plays very hard with them sometimes. He sees enough to get around, but I would consider him blind as well as deaf. You can not use hand commands with him, you must use touch commands. And he frequently will not see the treat when presented just inches from his nose. Mostly he seems to see light and dark, and movement.

He is a sweet kind of goofy boy who is just going to need some time and patience to learn how to cope with life with humans. This all would have been much easier for him had he learned it when he was a puppy, but he doesn't seem to have gotten any training.


Click here to fill out an application to adopt Frodo or any of the DDRI dogs.
We will post additional photos of Frodo as time goes by, so check back often.
And if you have any questions about Frodo or any of our dogs, email us or call us at 541-746-0863







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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion" - Unknown


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