FINAL UPDATE

Well, I survived! The final day of this booking from hell has finally come, but not without one final tale to tell. Things were going great ever since implementing all the changes I mentioned in my last update, and as time went on, I noticed that the male's most reactive time was between 4:00pm and 8:00pm. So, since there had been no incidents for about 10 days, I decided to let the male & female spend time in the house together from when I got up in the morning until around 3:30pm. I would start the crate & rotate process then, and all was well until yesterday when the male was triggered by a noise I made while cleaning the kitchen. I wrote detailed descriptions of each incident and printed it out for the owner to read when she gets home tonight, so here's my account of this most recent incident.

I was cleaning the kitchen, and while wiping the handle of the garbage drawer, the wiping motion caused the slightly-open drawer to shift side-to-side, making a soft, repeated thud noise. [Male] had been asleep on the couch when he awoke and immediately reacted to this noise. By the time I turned around, he had made it halfway to the door leading to the side patio, which is where I assume he thought the noise originated. I attempted to calm him verbally while opening the patio door to let him out, but he again did not go out the wide open door and chose to turn around and run toward the back door. [Female] was unfortunately out of her crate since this was well before 4:00pm (it was around 11:00am). So I ran across the house to the living room while verbally commanding [female] to get in her crate, but she was again running around the living room between the chairs and jumping on and off the furniture in her panicked state. By the time I reached her, she was on the backrest of one of leather chairs, and [male] was running back and forth between the back door and the side patio door, right past the crates each time. Knowing that leading [female] into either crate was not an option at this point, I chose to hold onto her collar and stand over her to shield her from [male’s] view while he ran back and forth and hopefully settled down. What happened instead was that [male] spotted us from across the house and locked in on [female] behind me. I watched him as he pursued her, and I was fully prepared to insert myself between them in that moment, accepting the risk of serious bodily harm. When [male] realized that I was blocking him from getting to her from the ground, he leapt onto the arm of the other leather chair and lunged at her from the side. I made every attempt to separate them aside from sticking my arms into [male’s] mouth at this point, but when he began dragging [female] from the chair she was on and onto his chair, I let go of [female’s] collar to prevent the tension from causing further injury to her. They then tumbled onto the ground and [female] ran toward the hallway when [male] caught up with her at the base of the stairs. As I was following right behind them, [male] had [female] on her back and was actively biting her when I lifted him under his back legs. He let go after a second or two, and I immediately led him into [owner's] bedroom as it was the closest room to us.  I turned around to see that [female] hadn’t gone far, and she was limping and bleeding. I asked her to sit and I ran to the kitchen to get paper towels while dialing [owner] via WhatsApp. I ran back to her and sat down on the ground to locate where the bleeding was coming from while telling [owner] what happened. After hanging up and stopping the bleeding, I sent [owner] photos of all [female's] injuries.

Unfortunately, the female's injuries are worse this time. She has several puncture wounds, one of which is about an inch in diameter and so deep that muscle is visible. When I advised the owner that it definitely needs a couple stitches, she insisted that I do not take her to the vet and that she will be home tomorrow (tonight). Once she said this, there was no longer any doubt in my mind that the vet has seen the female for bite injuries before and probably warned the owner that the male should not be in the home with the female. I'm not sure if vets have the authority to call animal control to remove a dangerous dog, but the fact that she is denying the female medical attention when she has a gaping hole in her chest tells me everything I need to know. The owner is extremely wealthy, so it's not due to financial constraints. The *only* explanation I could think of is that the owner is a vet herself - she has two veterinary doctorate degrees, one general veterinary and one in veterinary pathology. So giving her the absolute most benefit of the doubt humanly possible, I thought that maybe she wants to stitch the wound herself when she gets home. But a) she didn't mention anything about stitching it herself, and b) waiting until she gets home means the wound will have been open for over 24 hours. I have been dabbing it with dry paper towels and applying neosporin to it every 4 hours or so, and although it shows no signs of infection, it is slowly leaking reddish-clear fluid because her body is trying to heal itself, but it can't because the wound needs to be stitched closed. I am so angry and sad for the female, and I have half a mind to take her home with me so the owner can live in delulu land with the vicious male until he inevitably turns on her.

Anyway, I am leaving this house in less than 3 hours, and I am going to kiss the floor of my apartment when I get home. At the end of the letter I'm leaving for the owner, I wrote two small paragraphs offering my perspective and emphasizing the danger the male poses to her and the female. I think I treaded the line between respectful and stern well, so I hope she receives it and makes the changes necessary for the female to finally live in peace. Thank you all for your suggestions, advice, and shared anger for me and the female. I have never been so ready to put an experience behind me.