Well, I made the decision that Marnie will not be staying. And it sucks. It sucks a whole lot.
The short version is that Siri isn't comfortable with Marnie here.
The long version is that the day that Marnie came here, and the morning of the next day Marnie and Siri did just fine. Marnie even did fine with Siri's annoying I LOVE YOU LET ME CRAWL IN YOUR MOUTH routine. And then yesterday afternoon Marnie tried to play with Siri. She plays very Boxer like, where she slams her front half on the ground a couple times, then charges. For whatever reason, even though she usually loves playing with large and boisterous dogs, it scared Siri. She peed and ran away. Since then she's been uneasy around Marnie. We've worked some on relaxing while Marnie's on the other side of a gate, but even when she's operantly offering a relaxed position, she's obviously not actually relaxed around her. When she gets uneasy, Siri heavily weighs toward the fight over slight end of the spectrum. She hasn't tried to go after Marnie with intent, but she tooth chatters, hard stares, and growls whenever Marnie gets close.
I know that it's only two days in, and that it's really early to give up. But I said from the beginning that it had to be right for my dogs, and that I couldn't take on a project. When I said that I assumed I was talking about not being able to handle taking Marnie on if Marnie was a project dog. Even though it wouldn't be a project of Marnie, it's still a project. With working 40 hours and being in school full-time, I just DO NOT have the time to commit to signing up for a gate/rotate and behavior modification plan. Not to mention that I think it would be unfair to expect Ryan to help in a gate/rotate situation, when he already does so much to help out with Siri and Frodo.
It really just sucks. I've wasted Marnie's time, and my friend's time, and the rescues time. I feel so stupid and sorry for that. Marnie is so, so perfect. She's happy, and fun, and has an amazing zest for life, despite what she's been through. I love her, and it sucks that I can't keep her forever.