Tales of a tail

[rpcrowe]

I am just getting used to photographing Serena. Since her tail is large and flowing and since she carries it raised, it is often easy for me to clip off part of the tail when I am photographing the puppy...



Tail clipped off...



Caught the entire tail...



However, I realized that giving her a toy, like this coiled up rope, will distract her from me and allow me to get a full body shot...

[Urbanflyer]

You are having so much fun! Great thing for this isolated time!

[Tom Barry]

These lift my spirits!

[rpcrowe]

Serena is a fun puppy... She has an outgoing personality and (despite what I have read about the Great Pyrenees being stubborn) takes to training very well. However, it is relly important to have a large area for her to run and play in...

She loves to play with my three legged Maltese...



She has just begun playing with our 55-pound goldendoodle. The two dogs ignored each other at first but are now playing. It is fun to watch a 13-year old dog play with a 13-week old puppy...

I don't plan on doing "official obedience" training, but, I am training this puppy to become a viable member of our family.

She will turn four months on the 19th of March and she has mastered several commands that are important to me.

First of all. I wanted her to sit for treats and for her meals (we feed her 3x daily) because I don't want to have a dog who will grow close to 100 pounds jumping on me... She has this down very well. If I see that she is going to jump, I point my finger ar her and she stops... When I call her for a treat, she automatically stops and sits in front of me.

Secondly, she has mastered walking on a lead very well. When I walk, she walks and when I stop she stops. This is quite important since I am an old guy and don't want a big dog to knock me down.

She is learning to "come" reinforced with treats, and is beginning to master the "drop it command". Actually, I am training that command by trading her a high value treat for what I want her to drop...

Our gardener has been here twice since we have had Serena and she now knows him and is friendly with him.

Generally, I am amazed at this puppy and because of her size and her calm disposition, it is easy to forget just how young she is.

Lots of fun with this rescue dog - it is a win-win situation and as with all our dogs, we already have back-up homes (our daughter and the president of our rescue group) if something should happen to us.

Luckily, my wife and I are both vaccinated against COVID-19, so that is a bit of relief...

[lovelife65]

Serena is a fun puppy... She has an outgoing personality and (despite what I have read about the Great Pyrenees being stubborn) takes to training very well. However, it is relly important to have a large are for he to run and play in...

She loves to play with my three legged Maltese...



She has just begun playing with our 55-pound goldendoodle. The two dogs ignored each other at first but are now playing. It is fun to watch a 13-year old dog play with a 13-week old puppy...

I don't plan on doing "official obedience" training, but, I am training this puppy to become a viable member of our family.

She will turn four months on the 19th of March and she has mastered several commands that are important to me.

First of all. I wanted her to sit for treats and for her meals (we feed her 3x daily) because I don't want to have a dog who will grow close to 100 pounds jumping on me... She has this down very well. If I see that she is going to jump, I point my finger ar her and she stops... When I call her for a treat, she automatically stops and sits in front of me.

Secondly, she has mastered walking on a lead very well. When I walk, she walks and when I stop she stops. This is quite important since I am an old guy and don't want a big dog to knock me down.

She is learning to "come" reinforced with treats, and is beginning to master the "drop it command". Actually, I am training that command by trading her a high value treat for what I want her to drop...

Our gardener has been here twice since we have had Serena and she now knows him and is friendly with him.

Generally, I am amazed at this puppy and because of her size and her calm disposition, it is easy to forget just how young she is.

Lots of fun with this rescue dog - it is a win-win situation and as with all our dogs, we already have back-up homes (our daughter and the president of our rescue group) if something should happen to us.

Luckily, my wife and I are both vaccinated against COVID-19, so that is a bit of relief...

She's very cute Richard. What wonderful photographs, and I love her tail and ears.
I like your training plan. I've gone through some trainers and their blogs, and one in particular, while impressive and obviously experienced, seems to push towards training her dogs to be like little "robots". So hyped up in anticipation of what they are going to be doing for her next. Granted, they are herding dogs, but I like a personality. Of course, we are still fine tuning ours and they are very high energy dogs. Our male in particular is very excited most of the time. And yes, his 76 pounds of muscle have pulled my 120 pounds over a couple of times because that squirrel on the trail just wanted to be chased.
I hope to see more photos of your pup.

[rpcrowe]

Sharon,

Although my goldendoodle takes to training quite well, she has dumped me on my butt twice when she began to chase something. This was because I had her on a flexie lead and wasn't paying attention. Since, Serena will grow to be larger than my 55 lb. doodle, it is very important to keep her under control on a lead. I used a Euro lead with the doodle. The harness has "O" rings at the top and at the front. This is a very effective and humane way to keep a large dog from pulling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ul_IjvdL8


Standard obedience training, has the dog sit next to you every time you stop when walking on a lead. I personally could care less if she sits or just stands there, as long as she stops when I stop...

Having her sit for food and treats is very important, again because of her eventual massive size. She knows the command "no!" when I shake my index finger at her and will usually stop what ever she is doing.

The "drop it" command is very important but, is a little harder to teach; especially when she has something in her mouth that she likes. I am starting to use the "trade!" command, offering her a high value treat (like chicken jerky) if she drops whatever she has in her mouth. I trained my golden doodle to do this by using an obstacle course with a line of treats on the ground, walking with her and having a higher value treat to give her if she obeys the "drop it!" command worked with the doodle. The puppy is having a bit of a hard time learning this. but, we will keep working on it.

Another thing we like to do is to introduce her to lots of people. However, she gets car sick (we are working on that also) so, taking her for a ride means cleaning the car. Our vet recommended giving he a Dramamine tablet but, that did not seem to work.

[lovelife65]

All sounds reasonable. Or male Kulshan knows what is expected. He will bounce back squeaking and walk with me if I ask him to "settle up", but boy if he sees something to chase all bets are off... he's constantly scanning and excited. I've had to use compressed air at times to get his attention back. (never AT him, just a quick squirt behind my back for the noise). He's a great dog, but he is a young field lab. It is part of having such a breed. Love him to death.
I'll look that harness up. We use slip collars and also a y harness at the moment with a retractable leash ... usually locked unless it's safe to let them have some freedom. (and have used head collars as well, although they can get out of those if they really really want to).
Introducing to people is important. Very hard to do during COVID, our two younger ones have taken a step back in social skills because of the isolation. Our momma girl River was a fearful puppy, and remains a pup we need to manage in terms of her environment.... no allowing anyone to just come up and pet her on her head. She needs to do things on her terms.
Sorry about the car sickness. We luckily don't have that, altho River does not particularly enjoy the car. Have you tried Happy Traveler? That seems to at least take the edge off for her.

[rpcrowe]

Sharon, you mention a very significant fact... "He's a great dog, but he is a young field lab. It is part of having such a breed. Love him to death."

Although each dog has its particular personality, pure bred breeds generally somewhat conform to a general set of behaviors. That is where not knowing or researching a breed can become problematic. If a person wants a certain general set of behaviors and selects a dog whose breed will probably not exhibit these behaviors, that selection can be a source of problems. Trying to train a dog to become what is not natural for the dog can make both dog and owner unhappy.

A perfect example is your selection of field Labs who have more energy and higher spirits than say, the more sedate English Labs. Trying to make a field Lab into a sedate low key dog would not only be difficult but, could be detrimental to the dog.

I selected a Great Pyrenees for several reasons... First is that they are protective of their area and the animals and people whom they are charged to guard. Second is that they are generally "safe" guardian dogs - in that they are not known to be biters (although it is said that a full grown Great Pyrenees has enough strength in its jaws to break the back of a coyote). We decided to get a guardian dog after a local small dog was killed by a coyote within a fenced yard. Coyotes have no problems scaling a six foot chain link fence. I figured that if a Great Pyrenees can protect a free range herd of sheep from coyotes, protecting our small rescue dogs within a fenced in property like my yard should be no problem for the Pyr...

I knew that generally, the Pyr doesn't take to standardized training in either AKC obedience or AKC Agility because it thinks for itself and doesn't follow commands blindly. IMO, the trick in training Serena is to use strategy to make her WANT to do what I want her to do. Any example of this is that although she is learning house training better than I expected, she is not totally reliable in house training (the Pyr is slow to mature). Thus she sleeps at night in a large crate with a soft bed and several of her toys. I keep the door open during the daytime and she is free to come and go, It is surprising how often we will find her sleeping in the crate during the day with the door open. When I want her to retire to her crate for the night, I have a large Kong toy into which I stuff some chicken jerky treats. I toss this into her crate and she follows it in for a good chew. Since she only gets the Kong at that time, Serena will run to her crate whenever she sees me with the Kong in my hand. Along those lines, shaking the treat bag will generally attract her from anywhere in my large yard.

Speaking about yards, I a fortunate in having sufficient property for a large dog like Serena.





Trying to keep a large dog with guardian instinct in an apartment (or even a very small yard) could be counter productive. Additionally, while in the process of house training, if I had to take her for a walk every time she needs to go out - that's all I would be doing. Also, I have enough property to provide an area for leash training.

I knew that Serena will grow very large but, although I dearly love our small dogs, I absolutely adore big dogs... I knew that a Pyr can be gentle with the animals like lambs it is charged to protect but, it makes me feel great to see her playing with one of our younger Maltese who has only three legs. Although the play can become quite animated, Serena is very gentle in her actions.



What I didn't realize about the Pyr is how her guard hairs will keep her from getting dirty... Although she can get dusty and dirty playing outdoors, the dust and mud soon flakes off from the guard hairs and never reaches the undercoat.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how much Serena enjoys playing with toys. She entertains herself for long periods of time tossing around a toy and playing fetch with herself.

All-in-all. rescuing Serena has been (so far) a win-win proposition for both Serena and her new human and dog family!

[lovelife65]

Sharon, you mention a very significant fact... "He's a great dog, but he is a young field lab. It is part of having such a breed. Love him to death."

Although each dog has its particular personality, pure bred breeds generally somewhat conform to a general set of behaviors. That is where not knowing or researching a breed can become problematic. If a person wants a certain general set of behaviors and selects a dog whose breed will probably not exhibit these behaviors, that selection can be a source of problems. Trying to train a dog to become what is not natural for the dog can make both dog and owner unhappy.

A perfect example is your selection of field Labs who have more energy and higher spirits than say, the more sedate English Labs. Trying to make a field Lab into a sedate low key dog would not only be difficult but, could be detrimental to the dog.

I selected a Great Pyrenees for several reasons... First is that they are protective of their area and the animals and people whom they are charged to guard. Second is that they are generally "safe" guardian dogs - in that they are not known to be biters (although it is said that a full grown Great Pyrenees has enough strength in its jaws to break the back of a coyote). We decided to get a guardian dog after a local small dog was killed by a coyote within a fenced yard. Coyotes have no problems scaling a six foot chain link fence. I figured that if a Great Pyrenees can protect a free range herd of sheep from coyotes, protecting our small rescue dogs within a fenced in property like my yard should be no problem for the Pyr...

I knew that generally, the Pyr doesn't take to standardized training in either AKC obedience or AKC Agility because it thinks for itself and doesn't follow commands blindly. IMO, the trick in training Serena is to use strategy to make her WANT to do what I want her to do. Any example of this is that although she is learning house training better than I expected, she is not totally reliable in house training (the Pyr is slow to mature). Thus she sleeps at night in a large crate with a soft bed and several of her toys. I keep the door open during the daytime and she is free to come and go, It is surprising how often we will find her sleeping in the crate during the day with the door open. When I want her to retire to her crate for the night, I have a large Kong toy into which I stuff some chicken jerky treats. I toss this into her crate and she follows it in for a good chew. Since she only gets the Kong at that time, Serena will run to her crate whenever she sees me with the Kong in my hand. Along those lines, shaking the treat bag will generally attract her from anywhere in my large yard.

Speaking about yards, I a fortunate in having sufficient property for a large dog like Serena.





Trying to keep a large dog with guardian instinct in an apartment (or even a very small yard) could be counter productive. Additionally, while in the process of house training, if I had to take her for a walk every time she needs to go out - that's all I would be doing. Also, I have enough property to provide an area for leash training.

I knew that Serena will grow very large but, although I dearly love our small dogs, I absolutely adore big dogs... I knew that a Pyr can be gentle with the animals like lambs it is charged to protect but, it makes me feel great to see her playing with one of our younger Maltese who has only three legs. Although the play can become quite animated, Serena is very gentle in her actions.



What I didn't realize about the Pyr is how her guard hairs will keep her from getting dirty... Although she can get dusty and dirty playing outdoors, the dust and mud soon flakes off from the guard hairs and never reaches the undercoat.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how much Serena enjoys playing with toys. She entertains herself for long periods of time tossing around a toy and playing fetch with herself.

All-in-all. rescuing Serena has been (so far) a win-win proposition for both Serena and her new human and dog family!

I love this post Richard, because it shows just how much you know. I have so many people telling me that I need to train our field labs out of their prey drive. Uh, no. I don't find that possible nor desirable. NOW, having said that I plan to work with him/them to try to calm the response a bit. Some of that involves lots more engagement in mind activities as well. Many trainers put great emphasis on this saying well if you physically exercise your dog too much, they will only get stronger (the be careful what you create attitude). Well, I kind of WANT them to be strong .
I also love how you have analyzed what your wants and needs are. Chosing such a beautiful creature is wonderful, maybe she can teach our labs to self entertain
Your property is wonderful and kind of rare for southern California yes? We have just under 2 acres, and I am slowly getting it set up for fun things for them.
Thank you for a great post, just love it and your lucky dogs

[rpcrowe]

Sharon...

Our Pyr also has a prey drive... This seems unusual for a guardian dog but, the Pyr seems to be able to differentiate between "legitimate" prey and the animals it is protecting. In the Pyrenees Mountains, when guarding flocks of sheep. the Pyrenees will often catch rabbits for food but, will never harm the baby lambs.

We have lots of rabbits on our property... Both our Pyr puppy and our Rough Coated Jack Russell Terrier deem it their life's work to rid the area of rabbits. Occasionally, they will catch a rabbit but, mostly it is a game of chase...

Our Pyr puppy is extremely fast - even at her age but, the 14-pound terrier is a bit more agile. What is usually mentioned about the Pyrenees breed is how low keyed they are generally but, how fast they can spring into action from a resting composure to a full-speed chase mode. This could be essential in a guardian dog. We have noticed this about the puppy already...

She seems to have. in the month she has been with us, taken charge as the lead property guardian. The older but, smaller dogs are beginning to follow her. Our goldendoodle was once leader of the pack but, she is over 13-years old and is slowing down noticeably...

As I mentioned in my last post, there are characteristics of breeds that a dog will often show naturally and I think that training should try to build on those characteristics rather than stop them. One characteristic of the Pyrenees, that we have noticed with Serena is that they tend to be a bit nocturnal. She loves to be outside in the dark of night and will patrol the edges of the property continuously... Since coyotes are also nocturnal animals, this fits in perfectly with Serena's guardian instincts. We ensure that she is up to date on her heart worm medications, although we don't have much of a mosquito problem where we live.

Our plans for Serena when she reaches full size, is to slip her out the door first in the morning, before we let the others out for a potty break. A 90-100 pound dog will keep the little dogs safe in case a coyote has invaded the property at night and is still in our area. Serena is already larger than any coyote we have seen in this area.

This nocturnal instinct will be great when it becomes hot in our area. Except for a few occasions, even when the days reach 100 degrees F. or so, the nights usually cool off. We plan to let Serena rest in air conditioned comfort during the day and let her out to roam after the sun goes down...

It is loads of fun to have this puppy sharing our home and we are sure that Serena is happier with us than she would ever have been living in a small apartment.