Thanks to all who helped me find my first dane! He is the new love in my life!
Things are going well.
Last week we saw the vet and discovered an eye infection which we are currently treating. We will see the vet again this week for more medication.
I'm so happy to have meet my buddy. He is simply amazing! He is still very timid around other human beings and most animals, but we have already made progress in just a week! Chief loves our walks around the neighborhood and is making friends left and right! I am enjoying observing people as they meet him too. Most are intimidated at first glance, but that fear vanishes the second the realize that he is more afraid of them then they are of him! I am so happy to report that he has found his voice as well. He now barks when someone passes through my back gate at night and i am very pleased about that. He has also been wonderful around my nephew (almost 2 yrs old), and other children. He is already protective of me and always wants to be as near to me as possible. A friend of mine jokes that he wants to stay close to me so that i will protect him, not the other way around!
Although his foster mom told me that he prefers to crate at night and during the day wrk hours, chief downright refuses to get in his crate! (I guess he is afraid or doesn't like the smell of it? It is brand new). He cannot be enticed with treats, toys, praise nor pleads! (There are 3 treats in there that he has yet to fish out..He couldn't care less it seems!). So, he seems very happy to sleep down at the foot of my bed on his dog bed. So far i have managed to get him into the master bathroom to stay there in a safe space while i'm at work.
I was told that chief has a history of chewing things up. On the car ride home, he did try to eat some post-it notes, but has been really content it seems and hasn't gone to town on my furniture or rugs..(knock on wood)yet. . Although i did find a stuffed animal bunny rabbit tonight that he had taken outside at some point..And I also caught him with one of my rain boots this morning. ..Hmm..New trend emerging here? No, this is what foster mom was talking about I am sure.
I am on the hunt now for a great trainer in Austin to help us work on a few things. Ultimately, i would love to be able to give chief full access to the house while i am at work. I look forward to building trust with him more and more every day. I cannot wait for the day when i see that he no longer has a fear of abandonment. He's stuck with me for the long run!
Thanks again kim, lauren, jennifer (?, Snick foster mom), and everyone else involved in the organization. I really admire what you do, and thank you for everything. If it weren't for you, i wouldn't have this new love in my life!
Much love,
Stephanie Schoch
sskipperlove [at] aol [dot] com
I uploaded photos (as promised!), And i hope you are able to view them! Let me know if i need to try loading them again.
Wonderful
I posted on your other post, but now I have the whole scoop here! Glad you love him and he is adjusting.
As far as the crate....Danes are smart and they LOVE to test new people. It's like when you are a kid and you get a new babysitter and they ask you if you are allowed to have cookies at bedtime and you say YES! You just see what you can get away with. I would say about 20% of the Danes we adopt test their new adopters and REFUSE to go into the crate. It comes down to a battle of the wills and you just have to stand there and out wait them out and be firm and make them go in. Reward with a treat. Just like he is testing you with the crate, he will probably start testing you with chewing things. I just would hate for you to come home from work and find a piece of your bedroom furniture destroyed. Trust me...it can happen! :-)
Anyway, I do encourage you to reapproach the crate...at least while you are at work. Crates make them feel safe and secure.
Glad he is getting more confident and more and more of his personality shining through! I always tell folks that once they adopt a Dane they will never be able to go to the bathroom alone again....Danes are like GLUE to their people. They make amazing companions! So happy you adopted him!
Sara (Bubba Chad's and Shammy's mom)
Chief
Hi Stephanie, congratulaitons on your new additon. He sounds very similar to our Romy. She, too, was very timid when she first came to us. We thought she was so good that we wouldn't crate her while we weren't there, and that worked for the first week. After she started getting more comfy in her new surroundings the destruction started. Just be forewarned that could happen with Chief. We've never crated her at night and she has always done fine, and now we don't crate her at all, but we gradually worked our way to that after about 6 months of crating again. Good luck, I'm sure ya'll will figure each other out in no time.
crate
i agree with sara, he will test you. if he's been known to be destructive, some day you will come home to find your mattress shredded and your shoes in pieces.
we don't have to crate our guy (we've had him for 5 yrs) but he stays in the kitchen area when we are gone because it's all tile. believe me it only takes once to come home and find your dog had diahrea or threw up all over your rugs (yes, they will always head to the rugs when sick) to make you a believer in confining them.
anyway, congrats on your new baby. we've all been there, especially with the first one. he will always be special to you. just try to remember who's the boss lol!
Hey, cats look for carpet to
Hey, cats look for carpet to puke on, too. It's ridiculous that in my house that is over half tile and hardwood floors, I have to regularly clean up cat-vomit-carpet.
Guinness also tested us when we first got him. He's really been a dream, but in the beginning he would pick up random things and chew on them. A shoe, my roommate's hat, my roommate's TV remote control, one time he even started gnawing on the arm of the couch WHILE I WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!
I just corrected him and gave him something appropriate to chew on and it didn't take him long to get it. He never picked up the same thing twice, even if I forgot and left it out.
What kind of crate do you have? Is it an open wire crate or a plastic crate? How big is it? And where in the house is it? Guinness doesn't like to go in his when there isn't at least a fluffy blanket at the bottom. I think it's because the metal pan on the bottom pops and makes a loud noise when he walks on it. You can try getting in the crate yourself when you are playing. Guinness will ALWAYS try to jump on me if I lay on the ground so getting in the crate is a sure way to get him in there, though I haven't had a problem with crating him.
Oh, and congrats on your new family member!
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((¸¸.·´ ¸.·´ -:¦:- Lauren -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ Guinness' Mom
Crating
When we first adopted Zoey she acted like we were trying to drag her to the gas chamber when putting her in the crate. Silly girl! Of coarse I felt bad, but I also knew darn well that she was crated in her foster home. They just like to test you and see what you will let them get away with. Eventually we came to trust her by herself and we were able to put the crate away. Congrats on giving Chief a forever home. Danes are love at first sight.
~Shannon~
Zoey's Mom
Chief aka Snickers
The 1st week I had Chief here, I literally would pick his back end up and push him into his crate.
As time went on it got easier with the help of Buddy Biscuits. As far as chewing, I always buy
stuffed animals from yard sales (make sure you take the plastic eyes out) and he would have a field day with them!
My only problem was getting him to realise that you do not take all 20 toys plus my fuzzy pink slippers and my new tennis shoes
out in the yard and leave them! When he was here, I was using the water bottle for training. He got to the point that
alls I had to do was pick it up and he would stop whatever he was doing.
Please keep the updates coming on him we love them. He is a very young Dane and of course he only started learning
manners when he came into rescue! He will catch on soon enough though I am sure.
Susan