Dog Days

So...as you now know, we got another dog last night! Yay! I have always wanted a great dane because they are so BIG! I love it! Stuart and I have been talking about getting another dog for awhile but the timing never seems to be right. Yesterday he was looking on craigslist when he came across an add for Scout (our name for her). He showed it to me and we decided we would go take a look. After talking to the owner we found out that he had purchased Scout for his girlfriend and then his girlfriend took off, leaving him with a gigantic puppy. He works quite a bit and just couldn't take care of her anymore. So, we pull up to his house and she's tied up to the front porch. Hm. We get out and greet the owner and Scout. The first thing I notice is how incredibly skinny she is. Her hips are sticking out, you can count all her ribs and vertebrae and there is absolutely no fat on this puppy. Hmm. She was very pleasant with us, didn't bark, didn't jump, didn't shy away from her owner...so we decided to take her. Thank goodness! After talking for a few more minutes with the the OLD owner he provided us with her papers (she's a pure breed) and informed us that she had been tied up in the yard all her life and that the neighbor kids would come over and feed her. Do people really do this to animals??
We get Scout home (she did marvelously in the car) and let her sniff out the place. We kept Turbo locked up in the bedroom so that she could get a sense of her new house. The boys petted her and talked to her but frankly all she wanted to do was lay on the couch. Rock on! Alright, time to meet her brother...
As soon as Turbo can out of the room, Scout was on the floor closing the distance between them and baring her teeth. Uh oh. We quickly cut off Turbo and grabbed Scout. Apparently she wasn't quite ready to meet and greet with another dog. It was then that we noticed that Scout's ears were torn up and had scabs galore. Man. That stinks. No wonder she didn't want to meet Turbo. After putting the boys to bed, Stuart decided to give Scout a bath. When he was done, she shook like any normal dog but instead of water flying across our bathroom it was blood. E.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. Stuart realized that during the bath several of the scabs on Scout's ears came off and thus the reason for the murder scene in out bathroom. He ran out of the room where I met him with a horrified expression. 45 minutes and a bottle of Clorox later, the disturbing scene was no more.
We brought out crate in and set it up in our closet area and settle Scout into her new, clean, warm home.
This morning I woke up to nerves about how Scout would respond to Turbo. After Stuart got up I suggested that we try and introduce them again. Magic! Scout didn't bark, hair-raise or bare her teeth. Amazing. They took turns sniffing each other (in rather gross parts) and continued to do their businesses outside. Good good. This was highly important because Stuart was leaving today to drive to Houston and back and I had no clue what I would have done if the dogs didn't get along.
Fast forward a couple of hours. Since we are crate/kennel training Scout she's spending more time in the kennel than just out in the house so that we can work on pottying and not chewing up the house. I let Scout out to go potty and then back in the house to play for a bit with the new chew toys we got. We were all standing in the kitchen when I noticed blood all over the floor, then all over the cabinets, and on Tyson's shirt. What?? I get Scout and start examining her ears. All the scabs looked good and nothing was bleeding. Huh. Just then she wagged her tail, hitting my arm and leaving a trail of blood. No way. I grab her tail and sure enough that's where the blood is coming from. Now I don't know if this is an injury from her old house (I think so) or if she was chewing on her tail while in the kennel. So, I pick her up, take her outside, turn around and notice the hip-high line of blood throughout my bedroom and kitchen. Great. An hour later and we are all cleaned and disinfected.
Poor dog! What a horrible life she had before. I can't even begin to imagine how sad she must have been. After talking to my sis-in-law who's a vet tech and one of the smartest pet people I know, we decide to watch the bleeding, leave her outside if it's still bleeding so that we don't have another horror show on our hands and take her to the vet first thing Monday morning. Scout seems to be ok outside. She's not whining or jumping around and it's not cold outside otherwise I would bring her in and just deal with cleaning the bathroom again later. My heart just breaks for her because she desperately wants to be inside with us and Turbo really, really wants to play with her.
AND to add insult to injury, 30 minutes after I put the boys to bed Tyson wakes up screaming. I go into their room just in time to watch him throw up all over himself and his bed. No, no, no! This seriously can not be happening. Not-to-mention that I have been by myself all day and I do NOT handle throw up well. Tyson's crying and messy; Tucker just thinks this is a perfect opportunity to get out of bed and play. Ugh! 15 minutes later, Tyson is cleaned, has new pajamas on, new sheets on his bed, both boys are tucked in, and the nasty sheets have been dunked in the toilet and thrown into the washing machine.
Now, I have cleaned the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, moped the floors, cleaned vomit, and taken a shower. :)
Stuart should be home by midnight.
Tomorrow has to be a better day, right?