RE: [pyrnet] Hi, I'm also new here

[Sherri Artz <SArtz@wiche.edu>]

Adrienne,
Hi, I work in Boulder and I am just curious which shelter you got her from?
Her behaviors do sound much like those of my 16 months old female pyr. She
is fine on walks up where we live (gilpin county), but she gets super psycho
when I bring her down to Boulder.  The first time I walked her under a under
pass, she freaked out to a point where I almost couldn't physically restrain
her.  She was fine the next time.

Thanks,
Sherri

-----Original Message-----
From: Custode, Adrienne [mailto:acustode@rational.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 10:21 AM
To: pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org
Subject: RE: [pyrnet] Hi, I'm also new here


Hi folks,

I am also new to this list and wanted to ask about my unique situation in
lieu of Sarienas situation. 

I adopted a pregnant and very unsocialized female 1.5 yr old Pyr from our
local humane society 7 months ago. I could be described as a Pyr owner who
didn't know what I was getting into when I adopted "Luna".  I thought to
myself... "oh, what a beautiful white retriever".  Over the past 7 months, I
have been trying to educate myself about Pyr's and accept their attributes.
No one knew Luna was pregnant when I adopted her... the shelter missed it
AND my vet missed it on her first exam.  The shelter let me take her home
without spaying her because she was swollen with milk and they assumed she
had recently had pups, and we agreed to have her spayed as soon as she dried
up.  Two days after adoption, imagine my surprise when she went into labor
during a dinner party and dropped her first puppy on my kitchen floor!!!!
In hindsight, my heart just breaks for this beautiful girl... she wasn't
able to build a proper den and just imagine how stressed she must have felt
knowing she was about to have puppies and being dropped off at the pound,
then finding a new home surrounded by strangers etc.

The first two months our life together were spent raising her 3 Pyr puppies
(obviously this was her primary focus) and we didn't do much
training/bonding during this period.  She was a FANTASTIC mother and VERY
protective of those pups.  Anyone who would come in the house would get
charged with loud barking, but she never bared her teeth or growled. I
learned that she had been strictly an outdoor dog and her owners were
planning on breeding her with their huge male and didn't realize she had
gone into heat.  They said they brought her to the shelter because she was
barking nonstop and kept escaping the fence to chase the coyotes.  She was
completely filthy and matted when I adopted her and didn't look like she had
been taken well care of. My vet says the reason her litter was so small
could be because she wasn't properly nourished during pregnancy.

Fast forward 5 months later:  Luna is the most cuddliest, sweetest dog I've
ever had.  We have bonded and I love her deeply. She has done pretty well
with training and I'm pleased with the progress we've made. The issue I
struggle with is her protectiveness and fear of people she doesn't know.
What I'd like to know from the group is about Pyr protectiveness and whether
I am seeing "normal" Pyr behavior or whether I should be concerned.  Again,
I want to emphasize she has never shown any aggression toward people or
animals, but her bark is loud, deep, and scary for people who don't know
her. At first I thought she was abused because she was so afraid of people,
but now I just think she wasn't socialized with humans and therefore cowers
from all strangers and reacts defensively when confronted with unfamiliar
situations.   She is very gentle with ALL other creatures and even when she
was attacked recently from 4 off-leash miniature bulldogs, she didn't fight
back and kept trying to just get away.  I was screaming at her to fight back
while I tried to pull the pack off her.

Her behaviors which have me concerned:  
1) when we walk on the trails (on leash), she will sometimes charge/bark an
hiker coming toward us as if she feels threatened and needs to protect me
from them.  Its sort of unpredictable, she doesn't do it to everyone, but
does it about 40% of the time.  Its really scary for them and my muscles get
a work out trying to restrain her.
2) when strangers come in the house, she barks for a solid 3 minutes or more
until the person sits down and if they get up, she barks/charges them again.
(this is obviously a real pain to manage and can ruin a get-together)
3) when bicycles go by, she wants to chase them away while barking.
4) she won't let anyone touch her except for our immediate family.  She is
so beautiful, everyone wants to touch her, but if she if off-leash she runs
away, and if she is on-leash, she gets very stressed and won't let them near
her.
5) she will cautiously take treats from strangers and even kids, but still
hasn't let any kids touch her.

I have seen the above behaviors improve and I'm hopeful we will continue to
make progress since I work on these issues daily and its really only been 5
months of training. On the other hand, I am concerned that her Pyr
protectiveness will always make her an "unfriendly" and aloof dog and I
wonder if I'll really be able to socialize her properly so she is confident
with children/strangers.  I am also concerned about fear-biting since I keep
hearing most biting comes from fear instead of real aggression.  Any
thoughts about whether this is normal behavior or suggestions?  

Also, separate topic... since I am new to this list, can anyone summarize
for me any successes which have been discussed with reducing the nighttime
barking Pyrs are so famous for?  

Thanks in advance,
Adrienne/Boulder CO

PS.  I didn't tell you the whole story, I actually adopted Luna AND her
sister from the shelter and they BOTH had puppies within 8 hrs of each other
on the night of my dinner party.  Luna had 2 pups, her sister had 1 pup.  We
decided to put the three pups on one mom and we found a new home for her
sister since they went from being loving sisters to wanting to kill each
other because they wanted to protect their pups (and because it didn't seem
right for one mom to raise a single puppy when there were others it could
bond with in the next room).  Her sister and the three puppies are in
wonderful and loving homes and doing very well.







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