Re: [PyrNet-L] Flock Guardian Pyr Problem

["Timothy M. Parks" <timparks@pacbell.net>]

>>Mitzie, are you upset that the dog bit or that he weighs 140 lbs.  You
>>say it like it is some magical number.  I can assure you that small dogs
>>can do a tremendous amount of damage, so I think in this case we really
>>need to determine just what this dog is accused of doing.


I was recently at a dog show getting my 4 month old accustomed when a
woman with the smallest walking baby I have ever seen come up and start
playing with my pyr pup.  This pup I have played a lot with and he has
accidently broken my skin a few times with his extremely sharp puppy
teeth.  Well the little baby starts playing around with the pup and sticking
her hands inside of his mouth and the mother thinking it is cute.  I tried
to tell her that her baby is going to get hurt because his teeth are very 
sharp.  She replied back that the pup knows the difference between a big
guy like me and a little baby.  She is a breeder of Akitas and her baby
always plays at home with them, hence no fear towards mine.  I was 
extremely alarmed as I would see "Teddy" jaw go up and down with the
baby's hand completely inside.  I looked at the baby's face expecting to
see some sort of pain and she would calmly be looking back at me with
a pacifier in her mouth.  And she was truly not being hurt at all.  The
mother again explained to me that even at his young age, he knew how
to be very gentle with this little creature.  Although it still makes me
nervous, the pup was making a conscious decision to be extremely 
careful.  I remember when I was young, we mostly had poodle mixes 
growing up, (I don't recommend them....  lol... )  They tend to pick one
master (My Dad) and the hell with everyone else.  I remember a few
times seeing one of my brothers or sisters reach out to the poodle only
to be severely snapped at...  the poodle would throw up such a show
that you expected to see a severely mangled hand...  yet there would
not be a scratch...  again the dog choosing to scare...  not maim...

My point being that I think a dog that severely bites, is choosing to 
inflict pain and suffering with forethought and is clearly a 
decision on their part to bite down hard.  When I here about a dog
mangling a little baby or even a little boy, this dog is way to 
aggressive to deserve compassion.  If it is not smart enough to know
how much force is needed in a situation then it is not a guard dog,
but a vicious dog, two different types of dogs, yet people are bent on
having vicious dogs as guard dogs, which is a dangerous situation.

One favorite story I heard was about an old lady that had 6 pyrs...
she came home one day to find a robber that had broken into her
house while she was gone.  She walked into the kitchen to find him
flat against the wall with all 6 pyrs laying down in a semi-circle 
around him and he was staying absolutely still.  He later told the 
police that every time he tried to move, the dogs would get up and 
growl not letting him escape.  This is the type of guard dog that 
I would own.  You can take a guard dog in your car to the gas
station and it is not going to attack the attendant through the
window because it knows this is not a hostile situation.  You can
take a vicious dog to the same situation, and well, he just won't
know better, because he doesn't have any brains to think it out
and will try to go for the throat of the attendant even thru
the glass....   a very dangerous situation....

Tim Parks
Sacramento