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Old March 26th, 2011, 09:00 PM
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luckypenny luckypenny is offline
Doggie Wench
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: St. Philippe-de-Laprairie, Qc
Posts: 11,812
Welcome to pets.ca, GrizzledYeti .

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
One of the big issues is that three days ago she was spayed/neutered (term dumb), and the next day, was our adoption day. We're under orders from the vet to not walk her or allow her to run until her stitches are removed, which will be another 7 days. Ysobel, the dog, doesn't seem to really notice the fact that she needs to be recovering, and is walking fine and will even prance and run about if she thinks we aren't paying attention to her. This has led us to break the vet's orders by taking her on short, calm walks to help keep her occupied, but she needs some thing to keep her interested while she's adjusting to our home so she doesn't start playing tricks on us and thinking she's the boss since we can't make her work for us.
Nothing wrong with taking her out for short frequent walks. Just try to prevent her from running/jumping about and insure the incision site remains clean and dry.

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
Secondly, she has food issues. Until she was found in Missouri (we like to call her previous life as being "a state of Missouri"), she had, to our knowledge, only eaten human food. Her foster mommy had a time of it getting her to learn what doggy food was, but she's still more interested in our food.
Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with mixing in a bit of leftovers with kibble. Just make sure the foods are safe to feed (no raisins, grapes, chocolate, large amounts of onions, garlic, etc.).

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
Usually she's awesome with come and stay, but she's a real stickler with sit, and simply laughs at you when you try "lay down", but when you're eating she'll just hover her huge, drooly head as close as she can get to your food and won't back down. So far my response has been to distract her into walking away, and the using my body to make a blockade in a doorway to show her she can't get past me, and then close the door. We have a "kennel" room that we feed her in, but it would be nice to get tips on curbing and then stopping this behavior so she doesn't have to be segregated whenever we eat.
Now would be a great time to patiently teach her the "place" command. Ideally, you would want her in a certain area while you eat. Here's a great video to show you how (you can replace the clicker with a verbal marker word such as "yes"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQzXdAA3vk8 Also, if you don't ever want her bothering you while you're snacking, then don't give into her begging. Even once will teach her that begging works.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
Another thing is that she has mild food aggression. She will growl if you mess with her food too much. I've read that a good way to stop this is by putting her food in the bowl, allowing her to eat a bit, picking it up and holding it for about thirty seconds, before giving it back and repeating. Is this truly a good way?
No, it's not!!

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
Or is hand feeding better at first?
Absolutely.

Resource guarding can be a serious, and dangerous, issue. Here's a book I strongly recommend you get your hands on, MINE! - A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESOURCE GUARDING IN DOGS by Jean Donaldson http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB740 .

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
And lastly, that I can think of, kennel. Is having a room to shut her in okay enough in most cases, if we provide water and maybe a nice marrow bone for her to suck on, if she's been good, or is it better to have an actual kennel? Or is a room fine? It's pretty much empty any ways, but, you know, I trust experienced people on these things.
As long as she's getting lots of time socializing both indoors and out, and if she likes her room, I don't see a problem with using it instead of a kennel. Just make sure she doesn't start to guard her room (I really, really think the above-mentioned book will help you avoid this).

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
ohhh yeah, and pulling carts. I've heard many people talk about making their Pyrs lug around carts for something to do if they're not actual working dogs. I was thinking of doing that when she gets better, but what do people actually make them do while carting? I was thinking of strapping one on her and taking her on the bike trails I live near so I can pick up trash and have her lug it around so I can clean up the trails and have her be my dump truck dog... is that a good, interesting type of chore that will keep her from getting bored?
I think that's an excellent idea! As long as she walks well and is not reactive towards other dogs/people you might encounter on your outings. Do you know yet if Ysobel is great with others?

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Originally Posted by GrizzledYeti View Post
What do others do with their working dogs?
I take our male on bike rides and have recently added his backpack. We use a device called a Springer so I don't have to worry about him running into the bike and I can keep both hands on the handlebars (and brakes). He loves to run and pull so I don't even have to pedal (not much exercise for me I must add ). I do have to be careful as he's very easily distracted and has a high prey drive though so the places I choose to take him have to be quiet areas.

I'm hoping you get a chance to share photos of Ysobel with us soon .
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