Female puppy upset on the farm

by Susan McCracken
(Tn)

We took our 3 month old female Pyr pup to our goat farm for an introduction. She met the older pyr male and female pair, a couple nannies pushed the pup around. Within 10 minutes, the 3M female Pyr pup vomited, laid down and cried like a baby. She has lived at our main farm (our house) with a 10 week old male pyr since mid Dec. 2015. Was this separation anxiety? My husband brought her back home.

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Feb 05, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Introductions
by: Donna

She is only three months old. She is way too young to be alone with the goats just for this reason. It could be she was upset and perhaps the goats hurt her depending on how hard they pushed her around. Goats will do this.

I don't think it was separation anxiety.

Do not let them push her around. This will traumatize her.

She should only be left alone with the goats when she is 1.5 years old. Big enough and a little more mature to deal with the silly goats.

Until then, she should only be with them when you are there and you have her attached to you by leash. DO NOT let the goats push her around.

Make a pen for her near the herd in which she is safe but will get to know the goats without being hurt when you are not there. Make sure she has shelter and clean water.

Depending on how big your herd is, you'll want another working dog to relieve her from her duties once she is of age. Perhaps your male pup. You can bring her to the house to groom her regularly for a break. You don't want her to spend too much time at the house or she won't bond with the goats.

Make sure she is spayed at the appropriate age (one year) and neuter your male (one year old). Make sure that when your female comes in heat that the male isn't near her.
Feb 05, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		upset pup
by: Anonymous

There was a time when, if a pup showed that much aversion to being with a flock, she would have been removed. Permanently.

Fast forward to today. It looks like a Pyr, its parents are Pyrs, you would think it must naturally be able to become a guardian on the farm. We have some knowledge that assures us that we should expect this to be a natural thing.

But the very strict requirements once needed for life in the mountains have become blurred somewhat since people have taken a working dog and declared it a pet. When we acquired our Pyrenees puppy my cousin, who lives in a mountain village in the south of France, sent us an information handout given to tourists hiking thru the mountains in France, where the Pyrenees dog is still used as of old. It showed us a very different dog than we are used to here in N. America.

The question for you then is not so much about separation anxiety, but about how much of that very deliberate mountain dog is still retained within the generations of pups we have bred here?

There is certainly a lot you could have done differently for her on the day you brought her to the farm. Perhaps she just needs time to mature. Perhaps the true Pyrenees character traits so prized by the mountain shepherds has been altered enough that what we now have as our Pyr pet, is a mere facsimile of the original.

This saddens me.
Feb 06, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Puppy
by: Donna

Sorry. I should have read more closely. You already have working dogs who can show him the ropes. However, he is still too young to be alone with those butthead goats.
Feb 07, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		GLDs
by: Donna

The instinct has not been bred out of them although you will always have a few who would rather not be guardians.

The key is to having the moms show them their job but unfortunately, this isn't happening.

It's up to the human's to help them along.

Again, 3 months is way too young to ever leave them alone with their charges-to-be. However, you already have, again, working dogs who can help your youngster as he grows and matures.
Feb 07, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Evolutionary time
by: Ed A from NJ

I find it funny, the term pet pyre. I took thousands of years for the he great Pyrenees to be shaped into the powerful breed we know today. For this great dog to get ingrained into it the ability to guard on its own without supervision. We give our self's much to much credit that we can just flip a switch and bam it is a pet. This is exactly why so many of these wonderful dog are in rescue! You can't fight thousands of years of evolution and expect this dog to just become a pet. Yes you can have one in your home but of you think you can train out the Pyrenees that is where the problem starts. You need to work within what the dog was breed to do. It has to have excersize, it has to have a job to do. It has to be socialized and never allowed to roam. If you didn't do your research and understand what this dog does DO NOT GET ONE. He won't play fetch, he won't go jogging with you, he will shed, he will drool and oh boy will he BARK. Please get a golden retriever, a lab, if it must be big and white get a English cream golden retriever but not a great Pyrenees! There is no such thing as a pet pyre! He will in time show his true nature. This b eed is not for the faint of heart. You can't change a breed in a couple generations. That is why cockapoos are not in the AKC!

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