Author Topic: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions  (Read 4441 times)

Offline Dexters Dad

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Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« on: February 03, 2008, 09:27:09 pm »
Hi everyone - My family and I rescued a GP about 3 weeks ago from the local shelter - Dex is 12 months old and a GREAT boy.

We have 4 kids (2-13) a big house and big yard. Dexter has been phenomenal with the kids, neighborhood animals, and is very intelligent, personable, and expressive.

Now for the questions...

He hardly ate at all the first week we brought him home - we figured it was because of stress and nerves and he's been eating much better and more and more as the time goes by.

During the first week and a half, he's was REALLY good about  "pawing" us to take him out if he had to potty. We've had some rainy and cold nasty weather the past couple of weeks and although he's getting out on walks for an hour or more a day, he constantly wants to be outside AND inside. Now we can't ever get him to potty when we take him out - he was fine in the beginning when we took him out without the leash - but he took off 2-3 times and now we've got to keep him on the leash when he's outside.

He has two beds and a huge box "doghouse" we made for him in the unfinished basement where he spends the days when no one is here (which is pretty rare - I work from home with about 50% travel)

So we have a "potty" issue - walks in the morning and afternoon/evening + other walks too and he will not go while on the leash - that's the only correlation we can make

He'll even "paw" us still to go out, but won't do anything when he goes out

Anyone have any suggestions? Dex is very smart - sits on command and usually follows verbal direction. We've had a few instances of him chewing on the kids toys, but we think we've got that under control

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!!!

Offline BigSoftandFluffyLover

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2008, 10:39:52 pm »
Congrats on the new addition!!!  He sounds sweet!!! I know my Pyr hates it when he has a audience when he "potties".  If im watching he will just glare at me, i almost have to turn my back, in between laughs of course!!!  :D  I have never had a dog with such a sensitive digestive system.  Anytime Rasputin is stressed or something is going on, he wont eat or he will get diarrhea  :(  Very very sensitive tract and emotionally.  Plus, he loves sugar.  I thought it was just him but from what i have heard around these rooms its pretty common for pyrs.  Dogs arnt supposed to have the taste buds to for sugar, maybe pyrs do!!  :D

Offline GreatPyr

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2008, 10:46:45 pm »
I would say the easiest thing for you to do would be maybe a small fenced section in the yard that you can take him to and turn him out for a little while and let him do his business and play in the yard then bring him back in.

My Pyr pup goes out on a leash to potty at night,he got to where he would not poop :-\ on a leash so i now turn him out in the side fenced yard to potty then bring him back in,needless to say he LOVES it outside but does want to go in and out,as soon i as bring him in he whines to go out,when i turn him out he bangs on the door to come in :P
very strange...
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Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2008, 10:46:54 pm »
Do you know his history? How did he end up at the rescue/shelter? If he lived on the farm and was roaming free his first year than it is understandable that he is having issues going on lead. I think the "long line" idea is great. You can shorten it day by day but it would give him a feeling close to be off leash. BTW, Pyrs are known for roaming and should be leashed at all times.

We have "wants to be in and out" problem that just started a couple of months ago. Lily is 18 months and she would go to the door and look at you until you take her out. I was taking her out 4 times every evening and got pretty sick doing so. I started to just ignore her when she did it...if she holds 8 hours during the day then she can hold a couple of hours for her second evening walk.

"Pawing" is a dominance sing. Somebody recommended to grab dog's paw and hold it even when the dog will be trying to get it back...kind of making it a bad experience for the dog. It should make it stop  ;)
Good luck  :)
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Offline Dexters Dad

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2008, 11:02:50 pm »
These are all great suggestions

I'm not really in a position when I can pop up a fence - I've got a pretty big front and back yard but can't really do anything on the fence right now. We have tried 3 different ropes to leave him out for about 20 minutes alone on the rope so he could go - but none of the 3 ropes lasted more than 10 seconds  :)

We did get a much longer leash for him - going from a 6ft to a 20ft - but he still won't go  :-\

Any suggestions on how to correct him when he goes inside - we did the "nose to the spot and "No" "Potty outside"

Dexter came from a household, not a farm - so he's been accustomed to being inside

I'll try that on the "pawing" we thought it was him telling us he wanted something

Offline Ouch

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2008, 11:14:40 pm »
Hello and congrats on your new pup.  I rescued a 2 yr old Newf last July and these wonderful people at BPO told me about the lunge line and it worked out quite a few issues with Sadie.  To include wandering off to play with the new calves to learning what is potty time and what is exercise time, coming when called.  I got Sadie's lunge lead at tractor supply in the horse dept.  It's a 30 foot one and to calm her down to do some training I would take her up and down the driveway on the lead while I was in the golf cart - poor Sadie had been crated about 18 hrs a day for I don't know how long until we "got" her. If you exercise her pretty good and she's needs to "go"  that'll do it I found.  Also after about 2 wks .. Sadie learned the long lead was for exercise and play/training/maybe in your case potty and the short lead was for trips in the car and walks in town - but it wasn't an overnight thing.
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Offline BigSoftandFluffyLover

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2008, 11:54:24 pm »
LOL  :D :D :D  Im sorry that hes chewing through all the ropes, it just reminds me of my Pyr!!!!  He would chew through any rope we put him on but not go anywhere!!!  We would check to see if he was still in the back and there he would be, sitting, the same place that we left him but the rope was in pieces!!!!  LOL  :D  They just dont like to know they have limits, they will ALWAYS check their bounderies.

Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2008, 12:19:12 am »
Try concentrating on prasing him for going outside. Have your pockets full of goodies and when he goes just give it all, LOL! Dogs are very smart and learn fast.
When you see him peeing inside, just say stern "No" or "Stop" and take him out. Do not punish for something he has done before you saw it...he will not know what he is getting punished for  ;)

Here is pretty good quality tie-outs

http://www.cherrybrook.com/index.cfm/a/catalog.catshow/catid/133/cname/Tie-Outs
« Last Edit: February 04, 2008, 01:30:26 am by People Whisperer »
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Offline MarleyPyr

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2008, 03:49:05 am »


We did get a much longer leash for him - going from a 6ft to a 20ft - but he still won't go  :-\

When we first got Marley before we had a fenced in area we created sort of like a cloths line for him. We picked up some plastic coated cable from the hardware store and a pulley. Attached it to two area (trees, posts, house etc) and tied a rope to the pulley. He had lots of room - more than just on a rope as he could go in both directions for 40 feet on the pulley. He felt free... even though he wasn't and it sort of gave him some independance to do his business.
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Offline pyr4me

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2008, 04:10:59 am »
Welcome and congratulation s! I just adopted my Pyr from rescue this past October and had some of the exact same issues for the first couple of weeks or so. Jenny didn't eat much at all for a while, I think it was due in part to the stress but also getting used to a higher quality food. She eats just fine now.

When I first got her it seemed to me that she never went pee! I would take her outside to go and she just wouldn't!! But as I continued to take her out at regular times of the day, she seemed to learn that that's when it's time to go and she is much more regular about peeing these days. I use a retractable leash with her when I take her out.

Jenny pawed also and I have 4 yr old twins and it hurts too much when a big dog does this, so what worked for us was to turn our backs and completely ignore her when she pawed and then as soon as she put that paw back on the floor, we lavished her with treats and love. She caught on very quickly and after a couple of days she didn't paw us anymore.

Your guy sounds like a real sweetheart and I'm sure you'll enjoy this site. I have learned so much and love this breed. BTW, you definitely can't let a Pyr be outside in an unfenced area off-leash. The saying goes, "What do you call a Pyr off leash? A disa-pyr!"  ;D
« Last Edit: February 04, 2008, 04:15:02 am by pyr4me »
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Offline GoldenPyrs

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Re: Recently rescued a Pry and have a few questions
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2008, 09:19:02 am »
Welcome and congratulation s! I just adopted my Pyr from rescue this past October and had some of the exact same issues for the first couple of weeks or so. Jenny didn't eat much at all for a while, I think it was due in part to the stress but also getting used to a higher quality food. She eats just fine now.

When I first got her it seemed to me that she never went pee! I would take her outside to go and she just wouldn't!! But as I continued to take her out at regular times of the day, she seemed to learn that that's when it's time to go and she is much more regular about peeing these days. I use a retractable leash with her when I take her out.

Jenny pawed also and I have 4 yr old twins and it hurts too much when a big dog does this, so what worked for us was to turn our backs and completely ignore her when she pawed and then as soon as she put that paw back on the floor, we lavished her with treats and love. She caught on very quickly and after a couple of days she didn't paw us anymore.

Your guy sounds like a real sweetheart and I'm sure you'll enjoy this site. I have learned so much and love this breed. BTW, you definitely can't let a Pyr be outside in an unfenced area off-leash. The saying goes, "What do you call a Pyr off leash? A disa-pyr!"  ;D


I totally agree with Jennifer regarding the Flexi, pawing & the disa-pyrs!  You really don't want to let him off leash for even a nano-second.  Pyrs may act big & sleepy, but the second that leash is off they can run like the wind!!!  If you read the Great Pyrenees Discussions posts, you'll find some stories about this 0-60 in zero second phenomenon.   :o  ;)  :o  So, the Flexi-Leash has been wonderful for my Pyrs.  In time your new boy will get less shy about doing his business, but in the meantime he can mostly ignore the Flexi.  I would just walk him and act like you aren't noticing that he's going potty for now.  Then once he's pretty comfortable with that part (a week or two), start praising him when does his biz and saying something like "good job, you went potty!" (or whatever your are comfortable being overheard saying to your dog, LOL   ;)  ;D) so that he will learn a pee/poop command at the same time.  That command comes in very handy when you want them to "go" in a hurry and all they want to do is sniff forrrrever!  Congratulation s & welcome, again!   ;D
Marie

And my pups:
Daisy a 9 y/o Golden/Lab mix
Sammy a 6-7(?) y/o Great Pyrenees adopted 3/07
Cassie a 3 y/o Pyr/Mystery Snuggle Bunny mix adopted 2/07

My angel girls waiting at the Bridge:
Cara 1989-2001 Great Pyrenees
Sally ? - 1993 Dobie(rescued '92)
Halley 2002-2006 Great Pyrenees