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Hey Carol,
I've not had the pleasure of chatting with
you yet. Nice to meet you.
I do agree that introducing an animal
slowly is the best way. Whether you have some sort of "stupid" fear or
not, animals can be very intimidating. Especially one as large as a
Pyr.
I will tell you that when we went to view
Bear I just couldn't believe the size of his dad. I just know that his dad
is bigger than standard. My husband is 5'10" and Rambo's back was nearly
to Todd's belt!!!! I was scared to death that Todd was going to want one
of those big monsters. I even asked him several times if he was sure he
wanted something so large in the house.
Long story short, we ended up with
Bear!!!!!!! He is going to be 1 year old tomorrow and he weighs nearly 100
pounds already!! Can you believe that????? He is huge!
BTW...should he be this big already???
Now with me being a little perturbed about
my friend's children not liking Bear...down right afraid! We've had Bear
for 9 months already. They are over here all the time. Not once in
the times that they've been here has the mother tried to get the children to go
anywhere near Bear. She will tell them that he's not going to hurt them
but she doesn't try to get them anywhere near Bear. I do to no
avail. Her oldest child isn't as scared as the rest and I think that once
he has won her over the middle child will be more at ease. Kinda like big
sis does this so it must be alright thing.
Even when he was small (32 pounds @11
weeks) they didn't want to have anything to do with him. I would put his
collar/leash on him and wrap it around my leg, sit down on the sofa and have him
sit on the floor right next to me. They stay on the other side of the room
and avoid him at whatever expense. Including not going outside because he
could walk to the door if I let him have some slack in the leash.
Now I'm thinking that after 9 months they
should at least be able to stay in the same room with him without screaming the
whole time they are here. Which, BTW, is what they do!!!! By the
time they leave I have a screaming headache from them screaming and Bear
barking.
I had to baby sit the two youngest ones
last week and let me tell you I won't make that mistake again. The whole
time they were here they were screaming like always. Every time they would
scream Bear would get up from his nap and come get right in their faces which
only made the situation worse!@! Now I've said that I'm not going to crate
him anymore. They have had more than enough time to get used to the
dog.
I finally told the middle child (5 yrs)
that every time she screams Bear is going to get up and come looking for
whatever's screaming. I tried to explain that they are bred to watch over
a flock. When the dogs sheep bleat they get worried and go check on the
sheep. That a wolf or bear might be trying to hurt his sheep and so he is
worried.
I also told her that at night he will look
for everyone in the house and make sure that we are all alright before he will
go to sleep and if he gets up in the night he comes and checks on us again
before lying back down.
Well, if nothing else I succeeded in making
her screaming stop. I think I may be making progress with her but only
time will tell. I do really wish that her parents would help in this
matter but so far it's on me.
By the way...when Bear came close to the 5
yr old I told her the worst that would happen would be she would get lots of
kisses she promptly told me No and started the screaming again and said that
puppies have worms in their tummy's and she would get the worms if he kissed
her! Have you ever heard of such? I told her that I didn't think
that all puppies had worms in their tummy's and told her that Bear took
different medicine to keep him from getting them and she was still
screaming.
When I took her home all she could talk
about was how Bear was trying to make sure she was alright because he kept
coming to check on her.
Bridget P.S. Is any fear a "stupid" fear if it is
your fear?
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