Author Topic: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.  (Read 9684 times)

Offline mommystarrs

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Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« on: August 24, 2008, 05:17:08 pm »
My husband and I recently adopted a pyr from a fostering family for a shelter. I have a few questions about things with him.

His history as we were told is :
He is about a year and a half old according to the vet. He lived the last few months of his life with previous owner being starved to death with some sort of muzzle that actually left scars on his skin along his muzzle, neck, and forehead. He is fully healed over but has a few places where the fur is just starting to come back in. They had to shave him almost bald to get him clean and free of fleas and ticks so right now his hair is sorta still growing in. The vet at the shelter decided to not neuter him because he was underweight. He is 32 inches at the shoulder but only weighs in at 75 pounds and looks like a bag of bones to me.

They told us he wasn't house trained but he has yet to have an accident and asks to go outside when he needs to go.

One of our problems is a love of cats... last night for instance he climbed? it didn't look like jumping? to go out of the yard, picked up a  stray cat by the neck skin and oh so gently carried him to the front door. He then laid at the door pouting for an hour or so when I wouldn't let it come in. Any way around this or am I going to have to get the dog a pet?

How do you go about teaching them kitchen manners... he has in the week we have had him stolen a baked chicken that was left cooling in the oven (my husband works late and i cook early) as in opened the oven and stole it. He also knows how to open the fridge... he helped himself to the leftover spaghetti the first night here. There is no door to my kitchen its part of our living/dining area. He eats his dog food really well and I was told by the vet to let him eat what he wants to help his weight so he gets a full bowl each day (rather large bowl I might add) and he gets treats throughout the day also. So he isn't hungry. 

And last but not least... he doesn't like his own slobber? I have to change his water every time he goes to get a drink or he will sit in front of the bowl and whimper at it. I finally figured out its because he slobbers when he drinks and he wants fresh water... any ideas on this one?

He's really rather well mannered and does really well with the kids etc. We have a 8 month old, two year old, four year old, and six year old in the house and he has latched himself onto them and rotates sleeping with them. When we leave him alone we come home to him snuggled in one of the beds or cribs with their stuffed toys. (Yes he really does get in my daughter's crib to sleep)And he walks well on the leash for us and plays outside and really we have no problems beyond the ones above lol. I don't know how to train him. I tell him no when he steals food and he hangs his head and acts all pathetic and I feel guilty lol.

Anyway his name is now Goliath and here is a picture (its not the best cause I took it with my cellphone)

Edit to add the dark spot above his eyes is actually one of the furless spots there are really short hairs growing back but we were told when he was seized it was an open wound, his neck and face have similar spots on them .. although his neck has his undercoat grown back already. He literally has no overcoat to speak of at the moment from the shaving they gave him at the shelter.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2008, 05:33:16 pm by mommystarrs »
Goliath (Great Pyrenees)18 months-3 years
Lilly  (Dalmatian/Great Pyrenees)-1 1/2 years

Offline Binky

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2008, 05:55:18 pm »
Oh, that poor dog- he's so lucky you came along.  He sounds like a sweetheart-even with his mischevious side!  I don't have too much advice on his "bad" habits but it's a Pyr trait to watch over their "herd" so maybe he just thought the stray cat was part of his crew.  He sounds very smart and I am sure he'll settle in soon enough.  Welcome to BPO- my crew is listed below.
Binky-Great Pyrenees
Sophie-Leonberger
McDougal-Papillon
Chicklet-Papillon
Sigfried-Cat  RIP Sigs
Spooky-Cat
Jasper-Nigerian Dwarf goat
Ferdinand-Nigerian Dwarf goat

Offline steve

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2008, 06:30:42 pm »
My Pyr Cody is very skinny by his own choice, I think they generally stay very slim.
 
We learned early if you want to eat your own food put it away or it will be gone. He will train you about this over time.

Cody opens all cabinets with brute force, destroying cabinets in the process. I put long boards along the top of the kitchen cabinets with notches at the knobs to keep him from scratching the finish and lock him out.

Glad to here he is going to have a good home. Hope you enjoy him. 

Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2008, 06:56:37 am »
Goliath sound like a total sweetheart :-* :-* :-*
He is so lucky you found him  :)
As for his manners...the best way to teach not to steal is not show temptations. Hide all the food, put locks some sort of on the fridge and oven and if he is that hungry give him two bowls of food. Hey, 75 lbs for 32' tall dog is super little. No wonder he is being creative about stealing! LOL
"To once own a Great Pyrenees is to love and want one always."
Mary W. Crane

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it :)


Offline pyr4me

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2008, 09:56:48 am »
Jenny is also the master of stealing food--she knows how to open the oven, too, and can easily pull things off the counter. I haven't found a way to train about this, basically, she has trained me to not leave anything out--snacks, etc. stay on top of my fridge now and if I have something in the oven I keep my kitchen door closed tight and that seems to work. Since you don't have a kitchen door, what about a child-proof fridge lock and oven lock? Those might work depending on how persistent Goliath is.  ;)

It sounds from your post that you are feeding him once a day? Maybe try two feedings and see if that helps him start to trust that food is consistently available to him now.

He sounds like a complete sweetheart. Pyrs are known for their gentleness and love of smaller animals (lambs, cats, etc.) Sounds like Goliath has this love and looks over your children as well.

So glad that you and Goliath found each other. I adopted Jenny last fall and she is such an amazing dog.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2008, 09:59:41 am by pyr4me »
Jennifer

Tipper (8 1/2 yrs) Golden Retriever/Sheltie mix
Jenny (4 yrs) Great Pyrenees
Gabriel (14 yrs) Sealpoint Himalayan cat
Melanie (11 yrs) Domestic medium hair cat

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us."
~Robert Lewis Steven

Offline ZooCrew

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2008, 11:44:36 am »
Hello and welcome!

Goliath sounds like a complete sweetheart.  I'm shocked that a stray cat allowed him to pick them up like that.......... ...lol.  Could come in  handy if you can train him to do that to the kids.......... ...lol.

As for opening the fridge and stove, I agree to get a childproof lock.  I also have seen some people put alarms on them.  When you open it, a loud noise is emitted that startles the dog and they stop.  Eventually they learn not to do that.

And I agree to go from one feeding to 2 a day.  If we only ate once a day, by the evenings we would be hungry as well.  But break it up into a few meals and it helps to curb the hunger.

Good luck with him, he will be gorgeous when he gets his coat back in.

btw........... my name is Chris, and my crew is listed below.  :)

Offline mommystarrs

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2008, 08:51:50 pm »
Whoops ok I wasn't to clear.. we leave a bowl full of food down for him as per our vet instructions it has eight cups of dog food in it. Typically he munches on that all day He normally eats about 3/4 of the bowl a day)  then after dinner we give him a bowl of whatever meat we had (chicken, steak, etc)mixed into another cup of dog food.

Not sure if the cat was a stray or not because people around here tend to let their animals run loose. My neighbor has a little dog that is up and down the road all day long. I guess its a good thing we live in a cul de sac.

We will have to look into the child lock idea... You'd think that would be an obvious answer with four kids in the house but our kids aren't allowed in the kitchen at all so they know its off limits without an adult lol.

I was reading some posts about how pyrs are like potato chips you can't have just one and I can totally understand that cause my husband is already eyeing the idea of a puppy.
Goliath (Great Pyrenees)18 months-3 years
Lilly  (Dalmatian/Great Pyrenees)-1 1/2 years

Offline maxsmom

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2008, 09:16:11 pm »
Welcome to the pyr world.  He is beautiful.  It sounds like you have a very smart dog, who is going to be a handfull.  Don't worry, though, he will have you trained in no time.  I learned early on, with Max, not to leave anything out where the dogs can see, smell or touch it, or it is theirs.  Luckily, their food is in the fridge in the garage, so they don't understand that good things to eat live in ours.  The oven has never been an issue either.  Countertops are a different matter entirely.  Nothing can be left on the counter, unless it is in a childproof (dog proof) container.  This means metal, with screw type lids.  Glass they can break and plastic they can eat.  Luckily, I have a convection/microwave oven over our regular stove, which I added, to place things in to cool off and to temporarily store.  They can't reach it, either.  Maybe if you gave him some bones during the day, it would curb his hunger somewhat and add some variety to his diet.  The longer they take to eat, the more satisfied they are afterwards.  Good luck and welcome.
Kathy
Max  2 Irish Wolfhound
Jake  2 Great Pyrenees
Cody   3 Tibetan Mastiff
ChiChi 1.5 Caucasian Ovcharka
John and Nicki Maine Coon cats

Offline GoldenPyrs

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2008, 02:13:37 am »
Hi & welcome!  Poor Goliath, what a rotten start to life that sweet boy has had.  :o :(  I'm so glad that he's safe & loved with your family now.  We adopted Sammy from Pyr Rescue last year.  Sam was 68# and shaved when he joined our family, so your Goliath looks very familiar to me.  Sammy had been seized by Animal Control from an extremely abusive "family" where he was being starved and had been physically abused, so my poor boy also worries about when his next meal is coming.  In fact, we laugh that we can tell the time of day by Sammy.  Our pups eat at 11am & 7pm and by 6:30pm Sam is following me around and giving me big, sweet, begging eyes.  So, we jokingly tell time as "quarter to Sammy" (10:45am or 6:45pm).  LOL!  He really *is* that accurate!

Poor babies, once they've suffered so badly from starvation, I don't know if they ever get past the fear of being hungry again.  So, food anywhere that Goliath can reach it is going to be hard to keep him out of.  For now anyway, it's kind of beyond training (IMHO), it's more like survival for him.  I'd just concentrate on keeping your food out of his clever paw range, as everyone's suggested with locks, etc.  In time, as he gets to feeling more secure and gains his weight back, you should be able to work more on his kitchen manners, but personally I'd probably not worry too much about that for the next few months.  He has a lot of healing, both physically & emotionally, to do right now.  I'd definitely 2nd Tina's suggestion of some basic training though.  We started "sit" & "down" with Sammy & Cassie right away with yummy treats.  They both loved all the praise & treats and it's a good way to help establish the pack order that will help you later with more training (like keeping out of the kitchen or off counters, etc.) once he's feeling better.

Cats & kids?  Yep, that's a Pyr for 'ya.  ;D  Miss Cassie has been seen quite a few times sacked out on the sofa with our cat Blackberry napping on top of her all snuggled down in her fur.  It's very cute & pretty funny, but don't tell any other dogs though, she might be embarrassed to have everyone know what a softy she is.   :D  ;)  If you don't mind adding another furry person to the family, I'm sure that it would make Goliath very happy to have a kitty to love.  Guarding a cat (plus your kids) will also give him a job to do.  Just a thought.   :)

My pups sleep at night either in our bedrooms, in the hall outside the kids' rooms, or guarding just inside the front door.  That's very typical of Pyrs as they love to be near us & guard us, especially at night.  One of my sons will only go to sleep if Cassie is in his room.  After he's asleep, she often moves to the hall or another bedroom.  They really are amazingly sweet & intuitive about who needs them. 

Welcome again & personally, I'd dearly love to see pics of Goliath in the crib.  That must be priceless!  ;D  He does know though not to hop up there when the baby's in there, right?  ;)  Ha, ha!
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

Offline London_Pyr_Lover

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2008, 08:05:04 am »
Poor Baby Goliath, but what a lucky boy he is to have found you.  I makes me so sad to see all that beautiful fur shaved off, and specifically due to the abuse and negligence of humans.  I hope Karma kicks those people in the a$$. 

As for the water issue, you can get continuously running water dishes for him, probably from places like Petsmart.  You just fill up the dish, and it'll pump the water around, keeping it from sitting, and hopefully making it more appealing to him.  I'll try to find one, and post a link for you.

Good luck with Goliath, He'll bring you so much joy that you won't remember what you did without him in your life.  And welcome to the board!  I'm Alex, My monsters are in my signature below.  :D
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Offline London_Pyr_Lover

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Offline AspensDaddy

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2008, 01:40:39 pm »
Hi,

My pyr had the same problem with water he would just sit and bark at his bowl and how we cured it was believe it or not I started giving him ice to chew on and he loved it, after awhile we could put ice into his water bowl and he quit barking at it and just started eating the ice and drinking the water. As for the food thing goes he is going to want whatever food is around my pyr seems to have a bottomless stomach and Ive also noticed that if I give him a bone or something ya better leave him alone until hes done or he may snap at you it goes back to his territorial nature though, thats the only time he gets protective unless you try to hug my mother and he wants all her attention then he gets a little irritated at you lol.

Hope it helps

Joseph

Offline GoldenPyrs

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Re: Hello we are new to the Pyr experience.
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2008, 03:54:46 am »


Hi,

My pyr had the same problem with water he would just sit and bark at his bowl and how we cured it was believe it or not I started giving him ice to chew on and he loved it, after awhile we could put ice into his water bowl and he quit barking at it and just started eating the ice and drinking the water. As for the food thing goes he is going to want whatever food is around my pyr seems to have a bottomless stomach and Ive also noticed that if I give him a bone or something ya better leave him alone until hes done or he may snap at you it goes back to his territorial nature though, thats the only time he gets protective unless you try to hug my mother and he wants all her attention then he gets a little irritated at you lol.

Hope it helps

Joseph


Hi Josept (AspensDaddy) & welcome.  When you get a moment you should post an intro for yourself and your pup.  We'd love to hear more about you both.  Again, welcome.
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