Shelter for a cold, wet Pyreness

[TashiMom]

Hi, I need some advice.  I have a female Pyr who is almost a year old.  Her job is is to guard a pond with swans and duck.  She lives in a community with about 50 people.  She was well socialized as a puppy and is VERY good with all the people who come and go. She loves everyone.  It has not been easy for her to bond with pond birds. She sees guarding the people as her job and that is fine since while she guards us,  she is also guarding the moat-like pond that goes around the living quarters. She is not allowed to come into the living quarters but has a very nice pen with a very large house outside and not too far from the pond and living quarters.  The problem is that she will not accept the pen or house - we think because they are not close enough to he people who she loves and wants to guard.We have tried putting a dogloo with a comfortable bed close to the living quarters to protect her from rain and wind.  But she will not accept that either.  Perhaps to small and too low?? -   since she likes to go for high ground. With all the cold wet weather, she is really suffering.  Some people are sneaking her into the living quarters, but it is probable that this will not be able to continue.  We need to build her some type of good protection outside that she will accept and I am wondering if experienced Pyr owners with working dogs could help us out with some ideas.  So far our thought is to have it as open as possible and on as high ground as is possible and as close to the living quarters as possible. What else can we try to get her to accept an outdoor house?  Of couse, we will crawl in there with her and give her lots of treats there.  THANKS! TashiMom
 

[MarleyPyr]

Hi, our pyr Marley is an outside dog. We live in a cold climate and it gets very windy as we are out in the country in an open area. I don't think you need to worry about your pyr suffering as they are lovers of the cold windy weather. It is important for them to have a nice sheltered area to retreat too if they want to however. Is the house in a closed in area? What size and shape is it?
For Marley we built him an insulated house inside a fenced in dog pen where he sleeps. (he is free to roam all day - just not at night) His house is tall enough for us to get into... about 5' high and has an L shaped enterance way where you have to walk into, around another wall and then into the main area. This really blocks the wind. In his main area we find he is too hot with a "dog bed". We have a blanket in there for him to snuggle against and we spread a thick layer of pine shavings on the ground that when he is cold he digs himself into. He just LOVES his house. Until we build the L partition and covered the flooring with wood shavings he preferred to sleep out in the snow. I think because they like to bunker down into things? Anyway I hope this maybe gives you some ideas. If you would like I can post some pictures of what we built so you can compare what you have and see if maybe making some small adjustments will help. oh and about being far from the living quarters...how far? As long as Marley is in sight of our house he is cool. His pen is probably 75 feet away from the house...pyrs are pretty independant by nature especially when they have a job to do.

[Bubbalove]

I have always been told that "dogs are not stupid, if they want to go inside, they will". 
Kana absolutely LOVES the outside...I have posted about it often because it just baffles me that he can take the EXTREMELY cold, windy, snowy weather. 
It's difficult, I understand.   
Welcome to BPO, BTW!

[bigdogs@5501]

Most of my Pyrs sleep inside everynite- Occasioanlly Nicholas the Louisiana rescue will stay out over nite but if it is in the 30's he is in the house.
Pyrs like to be in an elevated place, it gives them a better view of what they are trying to guard. Have you thought about getting another Pyr so that this one is not on duty 24/7? Pyrs work better when there is more than one because they will split up the guarding duty. She will seek shelter if she feels comfortable enough to leave what she is guarding. And if she is the only one with the job she may not be comfortable with going in the shelter to escape the weather.
Pyrs do prefer the colder temps more than a lot of other dogs.

[MarleyPyr]

You can also add a window in thier house. Sounds a bit crazy ...but honestly...we put in a plexiglass window in Marley's house so even in the worst weather he can see what is going on in his yard.