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Messages - Saint Pyr

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1
General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: Weird and Funny things our fur kids like to pick up
« on: June 02, 2009, 09:47:25 am »
Otis is always "shopping" at the neighbours or in the kids rooms.  Nothing is safe with him.  Helmets, oil filters, gum boots, gloves, 3 point deer antler, the list goes on...  :o  The best thing though that he has brought home was a 12 pack of beer with 8 full cans in it :D. Our neighbours had had a party and someone left their beer behind so Otis must have though that dad needed it. His dad was very proud of him  ;D.

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General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Heartbreak and Healing
« on: June 02, 2009, 07:58:31 am »
Our hearts were broken on April 20th when Slugger, our Saint Bernard X, passed away in his sleep at the age of 11 years  :'(.  We really were so blessed to have been able to have him for all those years.  Slugger was amazing and we so miss him.  He loved us all and was very protective of our girls and myself but my husband was his guy.  We always knew when my husband was just about home as Slugger would cock his ear, get up and head to the door with his tail just a wagging and begging us to go out so he could give his dad the proper welcome home.  I don’t know how he heard him, but he knew when that diesel was headed up the hill home.  When we were all out, every time we all came home he would be sitting on a small bank next to house under the lilac tree.  He had a great view of the dirt road to see us coming home.  You would see him sitting there, watching and waiting and then start running to greet us.  Because it was his favourite place to sit and watch for us, that is the spot were we buried him.  We can know that he is still watching out for us there. 

So, as with all heartbreak the healing must start, so in our case it is now with Daisy, our 7 week old, mastiff x Saint Bernard.  We have had her 3 days now and she is just such a sweetheart.  Poor Otis is not too sure of her and is bravely putting up with her, thou rolling his eyes a lot.  Honestly, who knew a Pyr could roll his eyes??  I think that he is more put out by the fact that with his buddy Slugger gone he has to be the adult now, and is now learning what a pain in the old boys butt he was the past 2 years, with his constant bugging, wrestling and tag playing.  So now the puppy fun begins and hopefully we will all survive  ;).

So the first picture is our dear old boy Slugger.  RIP big guy, we miss you.  The next 2 pictures are of Daisy.

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General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: New Puppy - Travelling
« on: May 27, 2009, 04:11:23 am »
Thank you for your sympathies for Slugger.  He was a wonderful boy.  We do feel very blessed to have had him for as long as we did, thou it definitely wasn’t long enough  :'(.
 
Thank you for the great advice for travelling with the new little girl.  I hadn’t thought about puppy pads. Will definitely get some as we are probably going to need them  :o.  And a great idea about the rest stops.  Never thought of all the yuckys that other dogs could leave behind.  Will definitely take her to other corners.  I will ask the people we are getting her from to feed her really early before we get there and hopefully that will help incase she is sick.  I will have her sitting on paper bags as well as they help counter motion sickness. 
 
One idea I had was to bring a soft sided pet bed that we have.  We have 6 cats who all sleep in it, and even Otis tries to curl up in it, thou how a Pyr thinks he is the size of a large cat baffles me, and that he can actually almost fit really amazes me!!!!  Anyway I was thinking that with all the smells of her new brothers and sisters it would give her a heads up as to what to expect, also maybe some of their scents would rub off on her and make her alittle more familiar with the other furkids.

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General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / New Puppy - Travelling
« on: May 25, 2009, 10:02:52 am »
Hi there.  It has been along time since I have been here; was surprized that my account was actually still active!!!

If you remember me, we got through our trials with Otis our Pyr and have learned to live with his quirks.  Must say he is a constant source of laughter.

Slugger our Saint passed away in his sleep 5 weeks ago at the age of 11 years  :'(.  We weren't expecting it at all and it has been a very hard time for us.  The heartache is still there but we are moving on and welcoming a new pup into our home.

We are picking up our new girl on Sunday  ;D.  She is a Mastiff x Saint Bernard and will be 7 weeks old.  It will be a 4 hour drive home with her and I would like some advice as to travelling with such a young pup?  What to bring; stopping; food and water; and any other thing you feel free to share.

Looking forward to the puppy advice and hopefully sticking around this time  ;D

Cheers

5
Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: He Bit Me!!! Really Long
« on: August 24, 2007, 02:03:22 am »
Quote from: Duramax on August 24, 2007, 01:40:34 am
it sounds like he's totaly throwing a fit! next time you're outside with him, and he starts to throw this fit nonsense, just turn around and ignore him, dont give him any reaction at all this time just hold onto the leash and keep your back to him... kinda hard to throw a fit when no body's watching hahaha.

if he tries to run around you turn so the leash doesnt wrap around you and your back is still to him. good luck.
Oh I totally agree with what you are saying, worked great with my kids when they were young  :D, but unfortunately Otis will still do it.  He throws his full weight to knock you off balence as he is jumping at you.  I have tried that, tried ignoring him and tried walking away but he blindsides you  :(.

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Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: He Bit Me!!! Really Long
« on: August 24, 2007, 01:25:35 am »
OK, I am back.  It has been a real roller coaster.  I will try and cover everyone’s concerns here.

Otis is better but I still have problems with him (but will get into that later).  I got a cone for him as he was really irritating the site.  The incision was bleeding alittle the next morning but I think he got his cone stuck on it.  He did look quite gunky around his testicles and I thought that we would need antibiotics, but I have used polysporin on it for 24 hours and it looks good and is dried up.  The whole area is not as red and is looking better.

As for pain meds, I wasn’t given any from the vet.  We live in a really small town 2 + hours away from any large center so that means that the vet is here once a month, and he is gone now, so no chance of that.  I have been giving Otis an aspirin morning and night but that is that.  I am winging it with the help of friends. 

Our bathroom is I guess his crate.  It has his bed in it, his chew toys, etc. He has been in it since we got him at 3 months and he has always gone in willing.  I just say “bedtime” and he is in there.  Now he is bigger, he only sleeps in there if the weather is really bad, and that is only if he wants in.  Once he gets out of the destructive stage he won’t need to sleep in the bathroom on the odd times he is in at night.  He much prefers being outside at night.

We have stopped grabbing his collar at all except for attaching the leash to it to go outside.  Hopefully this will help.  I like the idea of a tab collar so will look into that.  I really don’t like the thought of giving him treats to lure him to do something as I can see him deciding never to do anything again without a treat.  His mind is just always working.  I always give lots of praise and love when he does something I ask.  One belly rub and he is in heaven.

So my new problem now is that when I take him outside he will be good for awhile and then starts fighting the cone and leash.  He knows I have the other end of the leash so he starts jumping at me and trying to nip my hands.  I am now covered from shoulder to toes with scratch marks and bruises from his claws and cone.  I have a really impressive crescent shaped bruise on my thigh from him ramming his cone into me.  I don’t know what to do!!! 

When he does it I yell NO and BAD very sternly while I am fending him off with my other arm so he doesn’t scratch my face.  I try to shorten the leash, but when I do get the leash shorter he rolls and starts grabbing for my hands and fighting with his legs, then gets up and jumps and bites at me again.  It is like he is out of control.  It really is hard getting him under control when he is throwing his full 98 lbs at you!!

The first couple times he did it I was scared but now I am just plain ticked, as it happens every time we got out.  I know he isn’t trying to hurt me, he is just pissed at the situation, and what he is doing is similar to what he and our Saint, Slugger do when they are play fighting but it is not acceptable.  I am really thinking he is the puppy from h*ll.

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Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / He Bit Me!!! Really Long
« on: August 22, 2007, 02:20:45 am »
Sorry this is long but I am still totally upset  :'(

I have been having real trouble with Otis.  He will not come or listen at all if he doesn't feel like it (yeah, typical pyr  ;)).  When he won't listen I will get hold of his collar to make him come with me.  Most of the time he will come but others he would start mouthing me, rolling over and pushing me away with his legs, or in some cases jumping on me while he is mouthing my hands.  It really wasn't too bad at first but he has slowly been getting more aggressive with it.  When he would do this things I would yell NO, say Oww, sometimes it worked mostly it didn't phase him.

Anyway, we had him fixed on Sunday, so he is in the house for rest for afew days.  Today I had to go to town, so I called him to come into the bathroom where sleeps the nights he wants in the house.  He balks alittle at going in at times but nothing bad.

Today he wouldn't at all.  I called and called and then went to take hold of his collar and he fought me!!  Each time I would get near him he actually drew back his lips and snapped at me!!!  No mouthing, actually using abit of pressure when he would get hold of me!!  I thought he was just being a real butt and got hold of his collar and he jumped on me and started fighting me and scratched me up fairly good.  Each time I would try and get his collar he would snarl and snap.  I was actually getting alittle scared as he is 9 months old now and 98 lbs. 

I got his choker chain and leash out as he is really good on these and tried to get him to come with me and he really started fighting!!! This was not working at all, so I tried to get the chain off him and he snapped at me acouple of times with his lips drawn and then finally connected.  He bit me!!! :o.  He didn't break the skin or draw blood but man it hurt, I was in tears!!!  He has always been abit of a PITA, but this I would never had believed!!!

I finally had to call my husband from work to come home  as I was in tears, scared and hurting, and couldn't get near Otis  :'(.  He came home and Otis did the same things to my husband just not near as aggressive as he was with me.  Otis then snapped at hubby once too many times and hubby lost it and kicked him in the butt.  I want to say that we have NEVER, hit or kicked our animals before.  After Otis got a kick in the @ss he was more inclined to listen and went willingly to the bathroom.

He has been gradually getting worse with the mouthing, passive, aggressive thing, but has me completely upset. I am actually alittle scared of him and I really don't want the kids near him.  He is out of the bathroom now and laying next to me, but each time I try and pet him, he mouths me!!!

I know that his incision is really bugging him and I am waiting for someone to drop me off a cone tonight so he can leave it alone (guess that is going to be a fight getting that on with him acting this way  :().  I have been the one that keeps telling him to leave the site alone and have been pushing his head away from the incision.  I was the one that had to push him into the vets office and then the cage as well.  Is he really ticked at me for all of this, is it his hormones or what??   

He is my dog!!! and has always loved on me, curled up with me, sat on my lap!! and listened to me more then anyone else in the family.  But now I am scared, I can not have an aggressive dog in our house with me and the kids!!  I am at a loss  :'(

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Anything Non-Dog Related / Re: Anyone do canning?
« on: August 22, 2007, 01:09:03 am »
I canned 14 pints of peaches last week and am going to be canning salsa and spagetti sauce this week.  I can apple sauce too but we didn't have any apples on our tree this year so that is out  :(.  I also make fruit leather and jerky, and smoke fish when we can get it, the kids just love it all  ;D

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Medical Conditions & Diseases / Re: We're back from the vet
« on: August 21, 2007, 02:45:10 am »
I missed all of this!!!  So glad things worked out great.  What a relief.

10
Great Pyrenees Discussions / Re: Help!! - Allergic Reaction
« on: August 21, 2007, 02:37:31 am »
Thanx guys  :).  It is puffy and red like an allergic reaction.  I only have Benadryl Elixir for adults and 1 tsp is 12.5 mg.  So if the doseage for children 6-12 is 1-2 tsp, and he is my baby  ;) then I would be safe giving him say 1 - 1 1/2 tsps as he would be as heavy as say a 10 yo kid?????

11
Great Pyrenees Discussions / Help!! - Allergic Reaction
« on: August 21, 2007, 02:05:48 am »
We got Otis neutered on Sunday and he is doing good but I think he has had a reaction either to the shaving or the stuff they put on the skin to disinfect.  He is really red and sore looking in that area and is really bugging him as he will just suddenly and frantically jump and start licking and biting the area. The stitches and everything look good but it is all the rest of the area that is really bugging him. I thought that maybe giving him some benadryl might help as I have given it to our horse before but am not sure the dosage for a dog.  I am worried about him as the vet is only in town once a month and has now left.  Is this a good idea and does anyone know doseages??.  He is 9 months old and 98 pounds now.

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General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: Our first encounter with large breeds
« on: August 10, 2007, 12:49:24 am »
I was never allowed a dog when I was growing up but our neighbour May had a older german shepard that would come over and "babysit" me when my mum and May went out.  General was the sweetest old guy.  He would curl up on the floor with me and we would cuddle and watch TV.  He was such a sponge; that is thou until someone came to the door and then he was all business.  He was my protector  ;D.  Have loved the bigger breeds since then.   

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Great Pyrenees Discussions / Re: Great Pyr Humor, but OH So True
« on: August 10, 2007, 12:21:09 am »
Oh I am living right there.  Too funny  :D  The author thou forgot about chewing and distroying everything not kept out of reach.  Maybe I should move everything to the top of the fridge  ;)

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Great Pyrenees Discussions / Re: Puppy Food what's best for pyrs.
« on: August 10, 2007, 12:08:55 am »
Otis is now 9 months and I have always fed 1/2 and 1/2 Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Adult and Large Breed Puppy mixed together to him and our 9 yo Saint, Slugger.  My vet suggested mixing the 2 together as the dogs always ate the others food.  I will be switching over to all adult food here soon.

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Great Pyrenees Discussions / Re: Is This Normal??
« on: July 16, 2007, 03:49:56 am »
Well I am so glad to hear that there are more “bird” dogs out there :D.  I just can’t believe that he can catch birds as they are so fast and can fly  :o.  I shouldn’t be surprised about him catching things as my Saint, Slugger use to go hunting mice and rats with my black cat Wiccan.  It was amazing to watch them in the field or shed.  Slugger would sniff the mice out and then scared them or start digging for them, and then Wiccan would wait by his side until the mice ran and then she was off after them, and Slugger along with the chase.  Or Wiccan would chase the rats out of the small places where Slugger was waiting at the other end to get them.  They were a pretty impressive team.  Unfortunately Wiccan was taken by a coyote and poor Slug hasn’t made such a good connection with the other cats, plus they are pretty useless hunters. 

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