Author Topic: Hello! New Pyrenees mom here  (Read 5295 times)

Offline joyfulmama

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Hello! New Pyrenees mom here
« on: June 27, 2009, 10:01:31 pm »
Hi! It's so nice to be here! My family waited over six years to adopt a large breed dog because we moved so frequently in the past. We weren't extremely particular about a breed, but ended up with a Pyrenees. Last week we brought home an adopted 16 month old fuzzy white sweetie-pie and are enjoying the ride...even if there are some bumps. She is a beautiful 88 lbs and has a very sweet disposition most of the time. She was saved from a kill shelter at 6 months and spent 1 year with a foster mom.

She and I have started dog training already, but there are some other issues that I'd like to try and work out.

I noticed some food aggression I'd like stop ASAP. I *think* it was directed at our little maltese- not us, but I've been working on feeding her from my hand and sitting by her/petting her while she eats. We have a 4 year old (human child) and are expecting another baby in August so any aggression is just not going to fly.

On her second night here, she PEED on my bed! I was pretty mad and tried to read on behavior as to why she would do that! She is housebroken and we've had no other problems with this. She is also  not allowed on the bed. After some reading online I figured it was her marking the "den" to guard or something. She is actually fairly laid back and I don't really think dominance is a problem. (I could be wrong!)

She's having some separation anxiety. When I leave she is distressed even if my husband is home.  Yesterday we were all out and she got out of her kennel (wire crate-she scratched at it enough to loosen the pin) and set off our alarm system! Apparently the police came to the house and everything. I didn't find out unti later. She also won't leave the attached water bowl alone and tears it off every time she's in her crate while we are away. At night, she is fine in there even though she doesn't want to go in.

Hats- she is very distrustful of men in hats. I know she was with a foster mommy for a year before coming to us and she didn't mention any problems like this, but I know nothing about her early development. I took her to a feed store the other day (to keep her socialized) and ALL the men there were wearing hats. She was on alert at my side the entire time. A repair man came over the other day wearing a hat as well and she was very upset and growling. I kept her on a leash and eventually she seemed ok with him being there although she wanted to watch what he was doing. I did ask him to remove his hat, though. She had no problems meeting my husband and accepting him, but he doesn't wear a hat!
I will also bring this up with the trainers we are working with.

Finally, I'm not sure how much she should be eating. Her weight is right where it should be and I've switched her kibble to Nutro. Even though she seems to have a little bit of food aggression, she isn't that interested in eating. It might be because she is still new, or maybe she just wants to eat smaller amounts more frequently? Any Pyr owners know how much a young 88 lb dog "should* be eating? At the very most, she's had 4 cups total a day when her appetite seems hearty.

Okay, I'm sure I'll have more questions along the way. If any of this needs to be moved to another discussion forum, mods feel free to do so.

Offline patrick

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Re: Hello! New Pyrenees mom here
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2009, 07:39:49 am »
There is a ton of info on the internet about resource guarding- read up on it some of it is an eye opener.  Her distrust of hats- she just needs more socialization but she has behaved properly so far- she is supposed to guard you and men in hats don't look right so surely to be distrusted :>)  As far as taking the water dish down in the crate- solution is easy- just remove the water dish!

Offline joyfulmama

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Re: Hello! New Pyrenees mom here
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2009, 01:07:42 pm »
Thank you for your reply!

So, do you leave a regular water dish in the kennel/crate when you are gone? I don't want to leave her without water, but she isn't getting any use out of the attached water dish. The dogs I've had in the past just would knock over the regular water dishes as well.

I have read some of the information available online on the behavior/instinct issues I mentioned and am employing a few techniques. I didn't know if someone here had success with any particular method.