About Us
Byron & Co make extremely high quality pet bandanas.
We hand make in our home studio in Esk, in South East regional Queensland, Australia!
We make bandanas in all sizes, from XS through to 3XL & beyond!
The legacy of Byron the Great Dane cross Greyhound, Wolfhound, Mastiff, Staffy & Rottweiler
#byronthegreatdane
31.12.15-27.1.22
My world changed forever when I walked into the local pound one winter day in June 2016. Despite never having a dog before, I knew I had found my heart in a dog the second I laid eyes on her. That day, I never set out to bring a dog home and I certainly wasn’t prepared either. Knowing how big of a commitment a dog was, I set off home after meeting her to ‘think’ about if I was ready to take in a gangly, goofy, 25kg 5 month old puppy. As soon as I got home, I frantically called the pound to ask them to hold her and not let anyone take her, and that I’d be back shortly to get her.
I knew she was going to be mine, but I didn’t know how much she was about to truly change my life forever. At the time one of my favourite places was Byron Bay, so then she was Byron. Because I hadn’t planned to get a dog that day, I still had uni commitments… So off I went, she was ‘secure’ in my new temp fencing yard and I’d be back soon to hang out. When I arrived that afternoon it was like nothing had happened. It wasn’t until 7pm that night when I realised I really was in for a whole wild ride with this new puppy, called B for short. A knock on the door from an across the road neighbour, wanting to know if I was aware of what had happened earlier that day. She had somehow: escaped her temp fencing, ran across the road, down a driveway, jumped up onto a neighbours window sill, smashes a kitchen window with force, scared herself, and ran back across the road and back into her temp fencing.
I had thought oh no, what am I in for, what else is she going to do and put me through? Well she certainly was a handful of a puppy and she continued to throw everything she had at me. I was a first time dog owner, besides a few fosters and I had no idea what I was doing. After posting some pics of my new puppy, I soon found out through a friend on Facebook her history and what lead her to being at the pound that day. Byron was backyard bred at a property in Colac, Victoria and was quickly sold to the first person that wanted her. After that she was rehomed to another person in the West of Geelong when her first owner didn’t want her. The friend on Facebook had let me know she was tied up out the front of this said property on a short lead, with no access to a bed, food or water and she was left to walk around in her own poo. They come up with a plan to make this girl a bed/kennel in one and promptly made sure she at least had this. They were aware of multiple other animals at the property that were inside loved animals, but not her. One day as this friend was doing her usual walk around the neighbourhood, she noticed B was no where to be seen. She knocked and ask, curiously wanting to know what fate she had been given. The occupants denied even knowing what happened to her, and then I found her at the pound at only 20 weeks old.
She taught me so much, so quickly and started my journey to where I am today. Her puppyhood was full of dane style destruction from couches, armchairs, outdoor furniture, to leather doc martins, books, board games, bins and so much more. I was grateful to discover the blessing of crate training when she was just over a year old which immediately stopped the sudden ‘explosion’ of items around the house. She was my life, my joy and my reason to live. She would come to cafes with me, friends houses, parties, events, and everything in between. My life all of a sudden had changed so much and I was planning my days around hanging out with her and what she needed/wanted. She was the BEST dog you’d meet. Everyone loved her. You couldn’t find someone that didn’t. From people with severe phobias of dogs, to children with fears and people hesitant of big dogs, she won them all over so quickly and helped multitudes of people heal, learn, grow and love. Not only that, she was absolutely incredible with dogs of all sizes, breeds and ages, and cats/kittens/farm animals too. Her nature was second to none, an absolute fluke when you look at how and why she was originally bred. She was extremely tolerant, never caused conflict, polite, relaxed, friendly and genuine with all who she met.
If you’ve met her, I can nearly guarantee at some point she made you laugh. She was the biggest dork, so damn goofy. She was talkative, would often tell you how she felt by being vocal. She’d stomp her front feet up and down if she wanted something she couldn’t have, and when she was really excited and you first get home, she’d do tiny little jumps with her front legs only….. If she was super excited she would zoom around and even spin like a helicopter… A shoutout to her favourite person ever who was there since the very first day, Keara. You couldn’t even say Keara’s name in a sentence without Byron losing her shit over the fact she might see her best friend ever that day. When she would hit sunshine, she would slowly melt towards the ground in a big drop, not able to physically function at the feeling of being in the beautiful sunlight. When Poppy would escape the yard, Byron would run and find us and proceed to stand really tall at the part of the fencing she left through to alert us she’s gone. She’d sit her bum on couches, with all four feet on the ground.. like a human. She also did the same to her favourite people and sat in their laps. One of her absolute favourite things to do every morning was go and get morning ‘snuffles’ which consisted of putting her head in your legs while standing or sitting and having her face rubbed back and forth… She would get hair ALL over us but it wasn’t a morning with Byron without snuffles… My friends would come and pick her up when they wanted to walk a dog or have some company, she truly was the best dog in every single way. Another favourite pastime was when she would ensure to lay and fit somehow on any small dog bed ever. She would make it work. She LOVED the beach, going stupid in the sand and absolutely adored swimming. Pool, creek, dam, whatever. If there was water, Byron was happy to be swimming.
The biz started within 6 months of adopting Byron, and by Feb 2017 we had launched our online store. Byron was always mistaken for a boy, even wearing pink and girly stuff, even with her long beautiful legs. She was named after Byron Bay, unfortunately we never made it there together. I began the search to find a bandana brand that: was made in Australia, catered for Chihuahua’s all the way up to Great Danes, did not slip on over the collar and had designs I liked. I wanted something that wasn’t too much like a dress up tutu, but wasn’t just a collar either. I could not find a brand that fitted all my requirements so I set out with my $99 machine and began to design my own. After about a year in business we had successfully altered, changed and trialled our design, removing flaws along the way until we had an extremely high quality product that you see today. Byron would always have a different bandana on, and people started to recognise her on the street. We’d go to markets, busy shopping strips where she’d have friends everywhere, people stopping to say hey and by the time she was 5 she had more friends than me! Our brand slowly but surely grew and people began to know the brand and what we were about, which was, quality products from the get go with an inclusive size range and large selection of designs to pick from! We’ve expanded into other products over the years but have stuck to our motto of it must be high quality, and last our customers years! No one wants to be replacing products every 8 weeks. We did Dog Lovers Show, for multiple years and she loved it, we made so many friends and met so many awesome people/dogs!
Less than a year into having Byron, she started to develop sore/stiff legs. We didn’t think much of it until she continued getting worse and by just over 2 years of age in 2018, she could barely put her back feet on the ground and desperately needed scans and surgery. CT scans were thousands of dollars so we started trying to raise funds to get her these. Back in the day, I didn’t know the importance of pet insurance so I didn’t get it, and it was quickly too late. We bought in 100 logo t-shirts through the business to sell to raise the needed funds. The verdict from Byron’s CT scans was she had hip dysplasia both sides, spondylitis in her most of her spine especially the bottom of it, but not causing significant pain at this point in time (arthritis) and partial tear of both back ACL’s. From here, she was recommended to have surgery to fix her back knees as this is what’s causing most of her pain. They would do one knee, wait 6 weeks and then do the other... From this time until Byron passed, she was on pain medication to help. We organised an event with the help of a local creative called ‘Help Byron Run Again’. We had live music, food, and art by around 15 different artists, all doing a piece based around Byron. The art was auctioned with a portion of the money going to help Byron get the surgery she needed. We also did pet Christmas photos with half of the money going towards her surgeries too. We were so grateful to raise enough money to significantly help our growing bill, so it meant we could go ahead. She got the first surgery, all went smoothly and she recovered well. Her second one didn’t go as well. Unfortunately it was a 1 in 300 chance but the surgeon hit a major artery in Byrons knee on this operation. We took her home and she was so sick, didn’t want to eat, was vomiting and had diarrhoea. She bled through multiple bandages extremely quickly so back to the vet we went multiple times. After 3 days of bandaging, just like the first surgery, they removed the bandage and sent her off for me to pay and we’d be on our way. I was in shock when all of a sudden in the middle of reception her wound just started spurting blood out everywhere, and her vet picks all 40kg of her up and whips her out the back to have another bandage put on. He wouldn’t let her walk to the car, so carried her the whole way. 9 days post op Byron was still bleeding through her bandages at home and we were worried. She had to be put on sedatives to keep her still to give the wound more time to heal. 4 weeks post op she finally stopped bleeding and could have her stitches removed. We thought it was healing nicely but what had happened was the cone she was previously wearing that we’d been given from the vet, was too small but we had no idea. She had pushed it down her neck, licked her wound and gave herself ecoli causing infection and the wound wasn’t healing. We gave it time, multiple different antibiotics but nothing worked and we were advised she needed a third surgery to remove the plate in this leg, which would hopefully help it heal. We thought we were all good and on the track to recovery again when the wound bursts open once more. Afterwards, the vet even tried to remove some of the damaged tissue that wasn’t healing while she was under sedation to no avail. The antibiotics couldn’t get to the bloodstream in the scar tissue which is why it wasn’t healing. It took time, perseverance and extremely strong antibiotics but we finally got there. The wound had healed over the stitches, the stitches could be removed and she could finally have her cone off after months of it on, and the whole time on crate rest.
She was finally allowed to ease into running again and it was like she was a new dog, she was happy, energetic and acted like a puppy. She was able to finally enjoy running around with her friends again. She had a great few months until she proceeded to get happy tail, where she had caused a wound on the end of her tail from repeated trauma of wagging into walls. It was just bad luck, but common in the breed mix she was. It again, wouldn’t heal. We had blood all over the house, she had such a long tail that it was ending up in small dots all over the ceiling, walls and doors. The only thing that helped after trying multiple different options, was a ‘tail saver’ harness from America and she looked absolutely ridiculous in it, but it healed finally and we didn’t have to amputate!
During her time when she was recovered and well, she went on to help us foster, temp test, rescue, rehabilitate and train hundreds of dogs. She was the perfect judge of character, so solid in temperament with animals and she would help us get all the info needed on the very first meet. She had skills you couldn’t teach a dog, to diffuse situations, to break the ice and to change the energy in a room of dogs really quick.
Foster dogs that were lucky enough to be impacted by Byron and taught how to be dogs by her: Tyson, George, Prince, Soul, Samson, Nala, Maple, Albie, Ranger, Scooby, Bentley, Betty. She taught them all boundaries, manners, respect, how to play appropriately, how to be calm, and so many more invaluable skills. Plus Tilly, Nana, Agnes the foster cats she taught dogs were good.
Byron was so loveable to both people and dogs, but the dogs that loved her the very most were the ones that lived and grew with her as siblings: Lola, Toblerone, Poppy & Zephyr. She helped us through the passing of Lola and Toblerone, and they all loved her SO much. She helped Lola overcome some of her complex issues and to see the impact she could have on other animals was truly amazing to say the least.
To all the dogs she hung out with, stayed with, played with and adored - our family & friends dogs & her favourite visiting dogs! Miles, Pippa, Frank, Frisco, Billie, Murphy, Milly, Bessie, Raffy, Cobie, Maddison, Sebastian, Pedro, Billy, Bug, Finn, Milo, Peanut, Ted, Molly, Bert, Nigel, Samantha, Daisy, Pocket, Maverick, Shadow, Roxy, Jasper, Bronte, Trixie, Winnie, Kessie, Finnick, Jake, Polly, Gilmore, Duke, Violet, Chief, Archie, Frankie, Bowie, Ceecee, Whiskey, BB, Peggy, Kevin, Poppy, Lilly, Lucy, Maggie, Koda, Jake, Basil, Odie, Finley, Tiger, Chewie. She adored you ALL, and I hope your humans are able to treasure that she had an impact on each and everyone of you.
She went on multiple family holidays, we moved from Victoria to Queensland by car and she was such a happy girl. Unfortunately only a few years after the initial surgery her arthritis began to get a lot worse and by this time she was already maxed out on 4cyte, gabapentin, loxicom. A couple of months before she passed we noticed mood changes, weight fluctuations and we wondered if there was something wrong. We did bloods but they came back clear. At the start of January 2022, Byron started holding her ‘good’ back leg off the ground when standing, good being the leg that was only operated on once and still had the plate in. In a course of severe bad luck, she was due to go to the vet one Friday morning for her monthly arthritis injection. After doing her routine morning number two’s… she got the zooms, ran up our stairs to come for breakfast and she fell, trapping her back left leg/foot in the stairs. My partner was behind her, saw it all and lifted her up to free her. Her cries still run through my mind today. I heard Byron and come running from our room, knowing that if she was vocalising, it was bad… My heart shattered, the whimpers, I knew she was in pain. She was sent home with fentanyl patches to await X-rays to see what shed done. But Byrons breeding, history, upbringing, genetics and multiple surgeries have taken a toll. She had only just turned 6 and we had the scans done.
Her X-RAYS confirmed her body had finally given up, only a few short years after her knee surgeries she desperately needed, and years of medications to manage her conditions and pain. She had SEVERE arthritis, in both back legs at very minimum. She also had osteophytosis on both of her patellas (bone spurs/growths), and the scans confirm she had so much stress in her knees from multiple surgeries. These could be painful for her. Subchondral bone sclerosis (thickening of the joints) was also seen. They also found that a source of her lameness and pain could be from mineralised articular cartilage and bone fragment in her knee joints. On physical examination Byron had crunching/grating sounds in her knees and that explains why. Her trip/fall up the stairs on the Friday morning caused a fracture just below her left knee. Unfortunately this was across 75% of the width of the bone. This knee didn’t have the plate in it due to prior removal, so may of increased the likelihood of a break/serious injury if she was to have any incidents. She had arthritis in her hips along with moderate hip dysplasia. She also had severe spondylosis deformans in her spine, caused by trauma/injury/stress on her body. This is where the ligaments between the vertebrae turn to bone due to micro trauma or repetitive forces. This condition isn’t always painful but causes a severe decreased range of motion. During her X-rays of her hips they couldn’t get her legs out straight or parallel due to lack of flexibility. She also had dorsal spinous process impingement (L2-L3) - also known as kissing spine. It is where the adjacent spinous processes rub up against each other, causing pain and discomfort. To top it all off she had diffuse interstitial lung pattern - the calcification and generalisation of bronchi and bronchioles. This is most likely due to old age, though she was only 6 when she got this diagnosis. We were obviously shocked at the extent of Byron’s pain, conditions and findings from the scans, as she had only been lame for a few weeks prior to the fall/trip she had.
Byron was the most stoic, happy go lucky, beautiful dog ever but we had to make the call. I didn’t want our last memories of her to be bad ones. Her body was suffering on the inside and if it wasn’t for the fall up the stairs she had, we wouldn’t yet of known how poor her condition was. Her poor breeding, genetics and upbringing meant that she always had the chance of having issues, but we truly did think that after she had the surgery she needed, we’d be blessed with a bit longer with her.
It’s now been an entire year without her as I write this, and I hope this gives anyone reading a snippet of what she was like. For my closure I reflect on her as a whole and everything she helped me to be. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of Byron, and all of this time later I still remember her medication routine like the back of my hand. My entire life revolved around Byron and putting her needs before mine, because I loved and cherished her and our friendship with all of my heart, soul and mind. It is just weird not having her here, and despite feeling totally ripped off I didn’t get to enjoy her longer, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Byron, you weren’t meant to live a long life, but an amazing one. I don’t know if anyone ever heals from losing their heart dog, but I sure hope thinking about you hurts less over time. I try and remember all of the incredible times I had with you, and the journey we went on together. You were always so enthusiastic and I couldn’t have asked for a better dog. You helped dogs overcome fears of big dogs, you helped people and kids overcome their fears of dogs, and you helped people in particular in decreasing the stigma around big dogs being scary. You had so many friends, and people and dogs who loved you. I am so grateful to have been your human and I can only hope that in the future i’ll see a part of you in another dog i own. I’m still absolutely devastated I don’t get to share the next years with you and that you only lived 8 short months in our new home/town. One thing I do know is that you lived every single opportunity with no regrets, with enthusiasm and happiness. You made people laugh, smile, and made people love you even if they didn’t like dogs, For now we cherish the fact that you were Zephyrs big sister and helped raise him, and helped him have the best temperament that he has today.
If you didn’t have the pleasure of knowing or meeting Byron, I am sorry. She was truly the best.
She was my first dog, my heart dog & will be with me forever as I wouldn’t be who I am, without her.
I will always strive to carry Byron’s legacy throughout my life, personally and in business. I desire to always run Byron & Co in hopes to create awareness around poor backyard breeding practices plus the dangers involved, and to keep bringing amazing quality products/services to the pet industry.
Thank you so much again to everyone who supported us along this journey, and who donated or purchased to help her run again. We will forever be in debt and thank all who helped her live as long as she did.