Rescue

I love rescue and am very involved in it.  I have many friends who are involved in rescue.  Then problem with rescuing puppies at a very young age is that they are taken away from their Mom too soon.  There is a reason breeders keep puppies for 8-12 weeks before they adopt them out.  There are certain things that the adult dogs teach the puppies and it is something different every week.  I took Emma at 6 weeks because I was impatient. Now I cannot get her to go down stairs.  Well, Mom teaches them how to not be afraid in the 7th week.  So this is a person mistake and not a problem dog.  I have to deal with it.  So when you get a dog that was taken away from Mom too soon, it is very important to get that dog socialized with as many other dogs as possible so the dog can learn how to be a dog and how to not be afraid.  This takes a lot of work and a lot of patience.  So if you adopt one of these type of puppies, please be aware and don't give up.  You can always call me.

Spoiled dogs

Do you consider your dogs spoiled?  I do.  My dogs have the best of everything.  They have good food.  They are allowed on the furniture if they want to be there.  They get lots of hugs and praise and treats as rewards for good behavior.  They sleep in the warmth in the winter and the cool in the summer.  Lots of cool water.  They usually get what they ask for--like asking for a Kong to be filled.  At night they sleep where they want, inside or outside, in a crate or not.  They get scraps of people food when we are done eating.  However, my dogs have rules and they know who is in charge here, and it's not them.  I just fostered a very spoiled Pyr.  He was rather big at 140 pounds and stood almost as tall as my waist.  His owner just loved him to death.  He wore a bib when he ate.  He went to the groomer every day.  He had been to formal obedience classes.  His owners split up and lost their house and his Dad had to go live with his parents.  He couldn't take the dog because the dog has resource guarding issues.  He was not to be trusted around little people and food.  He was adopted by a couple who had him for 3 weeks and then sent him back to rescue.  Why? It seemed that the dog claimed the ball was his and bit the man to get it.  Here is where he ended up.  I decided to work with this dog.  I tried hand feeding him--that wasn't happening or I would not have a hand.  For four days, I held his bowl while he ate.  On the fifth day he bit me.  He had a fit if he was in his kennel with the gate closed and I would pour water into his bowl next to his food bowl. The funny thing was he would take a cookie from your hand with no problem.  It was decided last week to send this dog back to TN, where he had come from.  This morning I was transporting him to Catskill for the first leg of his trip.  I could not put him in the backseat because I had my grandkids back there.  He was riding with his paws and head on my right leg.  When it came time so shift, I reached for the shifter and he attacked me.  He must have decided the shifter was his.  When I reached for my coffee cup, he grabbed my other hand.  I was being attacked while I was driving with 2 little kids in the backseat.  I managed to get control of the situation, drop the kids off and put the dog in the backseat.  From there he was no problem.  This was also not a warning bite, it was a bite and hold type bite.
So the question is how spoiled do you want your dogs?  Do you let them know who is in charge?  There is more to dog training than obedience classes.  This dog should have been corrected the first time he tried resource guarding, but he was probably a cute little puppy and he would grow out of it--right?  This guy claimed to love his dog beyond compare and yet he created a dog that will most likely have to be put down at the age of 2.  Do you love your dog enough to make him a responsible citizen?  This speaks to the matter of BSL.  Pyrs are on the list.  I have been working with Pyrs for a great number of years.  This situation is not a matter of what breed the dog is but how he was raised.  So do you and your dog a favor and practice leadership skills that let your dog know who is in charge--and it hadn't better be him!