New addition to the family via rescue

[DiegoMakes4]

Hello everyone. I am new to the site. I am most likely going to be aquring a new member of the family soon. I have decided to get a dane. There are a couple of good rescue agencies locally. I figured there are a lot of danes in need of a good home, why not get one from rescue. Our cat was a rescue cat. He is the best. I am going tomorrow to meet a 1.5 year old male dane. I have a few questions about his siuation. Being that I have had no conact with his actual foster family, I am sure that I will have some more questions for all of you tomorrow. My first question is about heartworm disease. Diego (pups name) was diagnosed as HW positive. He has since recieved treatment. I am not sure how invasive that treatment was. I have never dealt with anything like this before. My dogs were always kept on a preventative treatment. Is this something that will need further care? Or just regular testing/ prevention?

I have owned a large dog (mastiff) in the past. I brought him home as a puppy though. Anything in particular I should do to prepare the house for a dane? I am assuming that there is more to do than clearing table tops off... and I suppose packing up anything that might get tail whipped. Thanks in advance. I am sure I will be lurking here more and more!

Jami

[Trooper]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

Hi,
Glad to hear you are considering a rescue Dane! Good for you!

I am unfamiliar with heartworm disease, so I have no advice in that area.

To prepare for your new boy, I think the first thing to think about is what food you will feed him. A quality kibble (check the posts in Kibble Fed to find the various brands) should be fed and make sure it is the adult formula, not puppy. Also, many DOL members feed 'raw' and seem to have great success with it. If you are interested in that you should check the Raw Fed posts. The next thing I would do to prepare for your boy is to decide where he will sleep and where he will be when you are not home. Many here crate their dogs and this assures the safety of both your home and your dog. My dane, Trooper, was crate-trained from puppyhood. He now at the ripe age of 3 has free roam of the house when we are home and when we are gone. I am sure you will learn lots about him when you go to meet him. I hope the meeting goes well! Keep us posted!

[Tessa and Madison]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

Congratulations! I hope everything goes well and you can bring him home. One thing you will have to prepare for are those BIG, WET KISSES! Enjoy your new boy.



Jess



http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n.../P71803823.jpg

[CarolB]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

I think you will be surprised to find out that danes are very good house pets and you don't have to clear away anything that their tail will swipe off the end tables etc. The heart worms themselves can damage the heart but this is a young dog and I doubt that there is any damage. Keep him on monthly heart worm meds and he should be just fine.

[mcburkel]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

Dont have any words of wisdom for you, but would like to WELCOME YOU!!! And if you do get the pup we would like to see pics

Marian

Erskine!!
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2690835093
In Loving memory of Duncan
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2606060093

[DiegoMakes4]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

As of now, The rescue agency has not returned my phone calls to set up a time to meet him. I am hoping they still come through.

[DiegoMakes4]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

Well, we went last night to meet Diego. He is such a sweet boy!!! He is in desperate need of some solid training. He is 1.5 yrs old, and doesn't seem to have recieved any by his PO. He is really thin right now. He will need to gain some weight for sure. We took him for the week as a "trial run" I did not want to commit to him until I was sure he would be right for us. So far it has went okay with the exception of todays mishap...

I decided to go into work late today so that he would be crated minimally in a new environment. I left today around noon. When I got home around 4:30, I saw all of the blinds in the dining room windows were tore up (bent and hanging half off). My worst fear seemed to have come true... or so I thought. Then I saw the last window... The blind was hanging OUTSIDE the house!!! He had gotten out of his crate ( I assume by licking that latches) and left home throught a window! I was scared half to death. I had taken his collar off before putting him in his crate. He was out in a new neighborhood NAKED!!!;( Lukinly he had ment our neighbors across the street last night. they saw him out of the house with my car gone and put him in their back yard till I got home. I was so relieved! Any idea why he would have done this? On a side note, My 3yr old cat is missing now. I can only assume he went out the window after Diego. He is declawed and I am real worried about him.

Let me know if this would be better ina seperate thread somewhere else.

Jami

[Shana Ruess]

RE: New addition to the family via rescue

I am sorry to hear you are having some issues with your boy. You will probably get more ideas if you post in the training section, as people are more likely to frequent there than here in the introduction section.

What kind of crate was he in? You can answer that question when you post about it in the training section