Queen Simba

This is Simba, the undisputed middleweight champion of southern Illinois. Simba has lived here since July 20, 2002 (OOPS- missed her gotcha day. Better remedy that). I got her from a rescue in Mississippi where she had gone after her people were arrested for selling drugs, and she found herself without a job---no more drug house to protect. She was figured to be around 2 or 2 1/2 when I got her.
She is such a pretty girl, but there were definitely some scars in her mind when we got her and it has taken years to get the edge off her. She has major issues with tall men (interesting in our world where Barry at 6'4" or more is the shortest of the men that hang out here), and will not be held back when she thinks they ought not be there. She has never actually done anything but she really wants to, so we do not allow her to be put in a situation where something could happen and she could lose control. Only at her house does she act like that. In public she is very shy and timid. This means she is kept put up when we have company and she does not go many places as she gets scared. She did go to big girl obediance school when I first got her though--she knew a lot of stuff already but we needed the bonding. That was before we saw the issues about men.
Now she is the world's biggest daddy's girl--when he has been out of town for a while, she will fall asleep with her head on his pillow just looking at him while he sleeps. It is a little disturbing to wake up with that face right in yours-- not that I would know, as she does not love me like she does him. That she loves him like that shows how much she has turned around since we got her as she was absolutely terrified of him at first, she would slink around on her belly if he was in the room.
Simba has lots of names. Her middle name is Lou or Louise, which sometimes turns into Weasel, which is not very flattering. Barry calls her Simmers. She does not care what we call her though as long as she gets to sleep in the bed with her Daddy.
She is the boss of everyone at our house--even Slater who had only been here a week and was three months old when we got her. She tells him where he can lay and where he cannot and he takes her word for it----it is nice to see someone have some respect for the lady of the house. Sim does not get to be around Tequila as she once got in a fight with her and ate part of her ear (is that hideous or what?), but that works out okay...I respect her rules and knew when Tequila came here that Simba would have no part of it. We can work with that.
So Simba is probably 8 years old at least, but she still plays pretty hard sometimes. This photo was taken yesterday after her bath when she was playing with Slater--which really means tackling him and rolling him, even though he has a good 50 pounds on her. She is probably around 125 pounds now if not a few more-- 120 is her ideal weight, but her metabolism is slowing down. I also wonder if her hearing may be going, but when I test her, she does well--sometimes though when I call her in from the back yard, she does not come--it scares me to death to think that maybe she has laid down and quit on us. More than eight for a Dane is pretty old, and since she is probably not bred very well (as you can see from her crazy color--fawn with merle spots is not an approved breeding by any description), we are so lucky that she has been so healthy the whole time we have had her. She has had a tumor on her leg for years that has started growing and now has a weird wart on her chest, both of which Kevin says to leave alone as they are not bothering her and to remove them now might set off some sort of spread and we sure do not need that.



I love to watch her run, she looks like a big cat so agile and low to the ground when she runs---she is so pretty. I love her, and hope she has many more years with us. She was terribly depressed when Argo had to be put down, but is all better now, or at least as better as the rest of us are.

I suspect she will be running this house for years to come