New dog, new member.

[lobo-tomy]

My name is Brad me and my fiance just adopted our first GSD. He is a purebred male and is supposedly 10 years old. We resuced him from a kill shelter and hope to give him a happy loving home. We look forward to learning every thing we can about the breed.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Bless you for taking him on! A rescue and a senior at that! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and we need photos!!!

[Suddenly]

That's so nice to hear. Let us know how he is doing? Enjoy your Holiday!🐾🐾🐾


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[Kyleigh]

Congratulations! AWWW ... you missed out on the house-breaking, landsharking, biting, teeting, chewing and digging phase ...

LUCKY you!!! Senior dogs always have a special place in my heart ... they have such widsom. I'm sure you will have many happy times with him!

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by MaggieRoseLee

Bless you for taking him on! A rescue and a senior at that! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and we need photos!!!

DITTO!
We have a lovely senior Lab mix foster here I can't manage to get into a home of her own so it's looking like it's going to be our home for the remainder of her months (or years)!

[lobo-tomy]

Thanks for the welcome. It's not going well actually. Aside from some serious cat aggression and dog aggression issues, the real problem is that I found out he has heartworm. I'm learning how expensive and difficult treatment is, and not even sure what to do since he is so old. He is so loving with people. He's such a good gentle boy (as long as you aren't a dog). This is so heart-breaking...

[katieliz]

hi brad, are the cats and dogs he's showing the aggression towards yours? like, are they in your home? there are a few different ways to deal with this depending on the situation. please give him a chance to settle in. now, about the heartworm issue...i have a dear girl in my rescue who is 9, who is also heartworm positive. she's on what's known as the slow-kill method...instead of getting a heartgard chew once a month, she gets one every two weeks. in a dog this age, many times people don't choose to treat with the more invasive method. thanks for helping this boy, let's try to find some way we can help you deal with his issues...because if you're in miami and you return him to animal control, it's not gonna be good. good luck, take care.

[lobo-tomy]

Thank you for your response. I have two cats, no other dogs. He has been barking aggressively and lunging at my cats. I haven't given him the opportunity to find out if he would actually attack them. He has only seen them while on a leash. He actually has gotten better with them, only being aggressive if they move around. He now seems okay if they are still. At any rate I don't know that I could ever trust him with them.

The issue with dogs is that whenever we are on a walk, he goes completely insane if another dog comes by. It takes all of my strength to hold him back. My fiancé would not be strong enough. He is okay if the other dog is behind a fence, but he becomes psycho dog if another dog comes by on a leash. It's extraordinarily embarrassing and also very scary. My neighborhood is very dog friendly so it's a big problem.

The heart worm method you are talking about sounds promising. I love him very much after only three days with him and really want to do everything I can so that he can have a happy rest of his life. I'm just so overwhelmed right now, I don't know what to do.

[katieliz]

take a deep breath and have patience. glad to know that he's improving, if only a bit, with the cats. is your situation such that there is room for them to co-exist without actually having to "be together"? if there are no other dogs in the house, you're problem is not nearly what it could be (if there were). for the time being, you should really try, even if it's inconvevnient, to walk him where there are no other dogs, or at times when there are few other dogs to contend with. i am not a trainer or behaviorist (just a lifetime-long shepherd owner with five years of experience doing rescue), so i'll leave the training issues to others...but you may need a trainer or behaviorist to help you in person. for now, i think the less stimulation he has the better. i think sometimes people don't understand how hard it for these dogs to go through all the uncertainties...no home, shelter, new home, etc., especially the seniors. there is something i call "shelter shock", a space their head can go when they're frightened beyond their wits with the smells of pain and death they encounter in a pound/shelter/animal control facility...and they need a predictable routine, consistent expectations, reliable limits, some quiet time to "back up and regroup" so to speak. was he a stray or an owner turn-in, do you know? you will find quite a bit of support and knowledge available here, for now just make sure he can't get to the cats, avoid other dogs (for the time being), and never, ever, ever, EVER let him off the leash if he is not all alone (with you there, of course), inside a fenced enclosure. okay, take ANOTHER deep breath, know you're among friends here, you are doing the right thing. and unless the situation goes south in some way that it hasn't yet, i strongly feel that things will work out, 'cause you said the magic words, "i love him very much". okay, gotta go for now, i'll be back tomorrow. what's this boy's name?

[katieliz]

checked in this morning before even checking my e-mail or fb, lolol...i'm concerned about you and your situation. let me know how it's goin', okay?