Hello, I am new to this site and I am desperately seeking any advise, good or bad, before making a decision I may regret...any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
My husband and I recently rescued a 14 month old male Great Dane from Michigan. We received minimal information regarding his background history, other than he came from a "backyard breeder" who kept him in a small crate for 10 to 18 hrs a day (may explain a lot). He has been in two foster homes in the past two weeks and is severely underweight The rescue/foster people told me that he showed no signs of aggression whatsoever...the consensus was that he was a "sweetheart", a "Real Gem", an "angle", and that he has a very good temperment/disposition and gets along very well with other dogs and cats, but he has had minimal people/animal socialization.
We brought him home last Sunday and tried introducing him to my 10 year old bouvier/wolfhound mix, Maggie - I knew this was going to take some time but I wasn't anticipating Maggie's drastic reaction to this new member of the family. She has always been mild-mannered but can be territory aggresive. She has been the only dog in the house since putting her companion Lab to sleep 1 year ago. The first day, we spent a lot of time outside trying to acquaint the two dogs, then we decided to bring them in to the house (big mistake), Maggie went straight to her doggie bed, he sniffed her muzzle, she growled and snapped (her usual reaction), but instead of backing down, the Dane attack her. She went to lay in a corner and he went after her again. It took me hours to settle her down (rapid heart beat and shaking). The second day was not too bad...they did not pay much attention to each other. We keep them separated in the house at all times. Outside, I am slowly trying to reacquaint the two by letting him sniff her, however he got a little too close to her yesterday, she growled & snapped at him and he went after her again..I was able to pull him off before a fight broke out. He has a tendancy to bite down on my arm and when reprimanded he will growl and show his teeth (they told me that this is his way of playing). I understand he will try to demonstrate his dominance but shouldn't he be the submissive one and respect HER environment after these few altercations?
My other concern is Maggie's health...her whole environment has been disrupted...she hasn't eaten in 3 days yet she's had diarrhea and been vomitting for three days, she's been salivating excessively, and losing hair in clumps...her gum color is not as pink as I would like it to be (dehydrated). My vet recommended giving her electrolytes or putting her on IV fluids for a day. She also recommended getting rid of the Dane ASAP.
Will there ever be harmony between the two, or will I have to keep them separated? Is this worth all the stress on my poor old girl? I don't know what to do...I know they say that the first two weeks are the toughest and my heart is telling me to give him a chance, but my common sense is telling me to give the dog back to the Rescue. The last thing I want is to have an injured or dead dog, and it won't be the Dane.
What to do, what to do? Any advise....PLEASE?
Thank you
Bookmarks