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Laurie, You are very lucky that Bacchus is quiet when he is out.
My guys love to be out at dawn and dusk but they also walk the fence and bark (and
all the smaller dogs in the neighborhood respond) so it is completely
unacceptable. My girl, Sweetie, would spend the night outside if I let her but
I do not. Sometimes I take her out on a leash – even in the
fenced yard, because come back is not reliably in her vocabulary at night –
just to sit and enjoy the stars but I bring her in to sleep. Charlie, on
the other hand, got his schedule adapted well when he was a puppy. By
night fall, he was nudging at me to go to bed. He insisted on sleeping in
his crate which was next to my bed so I had to go too. It was ok if I
kept the light on to read, but he had to be tucked in at night. When
Sweetie joined us several month later, he progressed to a crate downstairs next
to hers, and puts himself in at nightfall. My first pyr got his name –
Epitomic Jascha (translation Fresh Water Loving Little Jacob) –
because as a puppy he would paddle in his water bowl until it was spilled on
the kitchen floor and then lay in the cool puddle. I think seeking the
cool damp ground is instinctive. Perhaps relocating Bacchus to a cold
floor rather than a carpeted area would encourage him to sleep in. I
would worry about him being stolen, barking, or meeting the local fauna (we
have many nocturnal skunks and ground hogs even in a suburban area) to let him
sleep out. I also worry about letting a 10 month old get his way too
often. As these guys get to be teenagers, they will test your will
to see who is in charge. It is one thing to redirect a ten month old
puppy, and quite another to modify the behavior of a two year old mature dog.
You may face some whining nights until the weather breaks but you will be
better in the long run to set your rules now. These guys can swim, but I bet the peer pressure from the other
dogs got him into the water. Sweetie needed some therapy after leg
surgery and the first time she got into the pool, I thought the poor dog would
die of the shock. By the third time in – always with a gentle trained
therapist , she figured it out and became a very strong swimmer but it was a
real test of her faith in me that I was not trying to drown her. Amy with Charlemagne, Sweet Madeleine and Harry Pugger From:
owner-pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org [mailto:owner-pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org] On Behalf Of Laurie
McDonough
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