|
Joe wrote: opposite. She sounded very Pyrenean. How do you mean, Pyrenean? Do you mean her protectiveness? She is shy and fearful of strangers, Plus apparently a very reliable family member. but Zeus and this bitch are very different. - I fear Zeus is much more severe and pathological. She sounds a lot like Zeus was in the beginning, he never once attacked or tried to attack someone before that fateful night. I didn't go into his other(good) behaviors, in my first post as that wasn't what I had a problem with. Please let me tell you about the other side of Zeus. Yes, he was always shy, and afraid of the unknown. As far as our family was concerned, he was totally loving. He was never fearful of my kids, was always playing and loved to be around them and was very gentle in his play and he protected them like they were his own. If I was angry at one of them,especially my three year old, he would litterly sit between us and plead at me with those eyes, not to hurt her.(Not that I would) I caught him litterly sitting on her in the driveway once, she was very close to the road. My oldest daughter said he had tripped her when she was going toward the highway and just sat on her. When other people or dogs were around he would sit next to them, or follow them around, as if guarding them. In one instance, my brother-in-law was swinging my 3 yr old around, she was squealing, Zeus became agitated, and started barking at him. My brother-in-law stating that he thought it was funny how he was trying to protect her, began swinging her even more, after about 5-7 min of warning him to put her down, Zeus jumped and grabbed his coat and began pulling till he dropped her. He immediately when over to her and checked her all over. Till this day Zeus doesn't like my brother-in-law any where near the girls. Next,when he was 10 month's three wild dogs came on the property, my daughter was on the swings, he right smartly ran them off the property, and again came to check her out. He even tries to clean her ears! Although my neighbors dog can come in the yard and he's fine. He's gentle and friendly to the barn cats, calves and even our pigmy goat! My three year old, can be a lot of child, even for me.(Before quitting my career to be a mom, I was a Young Offender Councillor) I'm ashamed to admit it, even though I have tried to instill the importance of respecting animals, on occasion she forgets "her" training and does something to hurt them. I have actually caught her trying to pull out his eyelashes, all the while he just licked her to go away, I have seen her run and jump on him while he's sleeping, startled, he justs yelps and moves. Is this the Pyrneese instinct that your talking about? Lets not forget that it wasn't till he turned 8 month's that he would turn an bite the lawn mower, he still had yet to show anything but fear of strangers(no aggression) Then, 10 months(Still an Intact male then) that he started guarding his food from them, and the fridge incident(and his first human bite) didn't happen till his eleventh month, he was immediately neutered and put into behavior training. Where he still is at 15 months. So you see there are a lot of variables in this situation of mine which lead me to seek help instead of death. I have no doubt that Zeus loves my children, and would protect them with his life. He has shown that. After the bite, he was segregated to his run till the kids went to bed. Till he could go to the trainers. He seemed to go into a separation depression, not for me, but for them. Once let in he would immediately run up the stairs to their rooms where they were sleeping, and would have to be called down several times each night, because he was going from room to room. Before this he would never go upstairs without me. This is why I, and many others believe that Zeus just thinks of them as litter mates, that when he nipped her he didn't mean to harm her, in his way he was saying, "back off sister that hurts!" I didn't go into all this before because as I said, it wasn't my problem, but maybe now you can see just a little of my reasons and effort to help him. 98% of the time, when it was just Zeus and his family, he was a happy, loving, and oh ya, a 120lbs of puppy brain! Do they ever mature? Geez! Sariena |