# Can you please help us with our Pyrenees?



## Zookeeper (Sep 7, 2006)

She is becoming increasingly aggressive towards people who come onto our property. She will not listen to me when I call her off of them (she has come to see me as one of her "livestock" she needs to protect and does not see me as an authority over her). Problem is, she does not seem to have good instincts or judgment about *when* I need protecting. Poses a huge problem when I have people I want to come visit, delivery people, etc.

Another problem is now she is not even staying on our property. We have an electric fence which is no longer keeping her in. DH thinks it has gotten weaker for some reason and he's going to try and figure out how to fix it, but we have watched her muscle her way through the fence before. Just not sure what has happened there, the electric fence worked great for a long time, now it doesn't, even when it seems to be on and her collar working. Now we are getting complaints from people around us that she is on their property, acting aggressive towards them on their own property, which we obviously can not allow to continue.

I know there are people on this BB with experience with this breed and I'm hoping you might have some insight. Unfortunately, putting a solid fence around our 9 acres is not an option for us right now. Even if we did, it would have to be a 7-8 ft tall fence, as she has shown she can jump/climb over regular 4-5 ft. fences. If that's what it will take to keep her in, we will have to give her up. 

Do you see this as a realistically "fixable" problem, or do we need to proceed to find this dog another home? I can work with her SOME but DH and I both work so I can't put a ton of time in with her, a little while each day. I just don't want to wait until she bites someone to do something about it, it could be awful.


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## Shoupie (Mar 21, 2009)

Pyrs (especially females) can be particularly neurotic if everything isn't just right they get agitated. I really wish you had researched great pyrs more before you decided to purchase one as these are all instinctual behaviors. It sounds like you need to do two things socialize her with a lot of different visitors and work with her on some basic obedience particularly a strong recall or a leave it command. She needs to see you as a master and not one of the flock working with basic obedience will cement your roll as "herd" leader, and she needs to see that other humans are not a threat and should be barked at but not harmed.

Are you using an underground fence? You mentioned she wears a collar, a lot of times a dog will build up thick skin around the shocking area and the perpetual shocks will damage and numb her nerves. I would recommend using galvanized wire at her nose level and a few inches off the ground and a horse charger with a strong ground. And your electric fence needs to be on at all times. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make with electric fences. Every time an animal touches the fence they are trained to leave it alone, if it is off they will learn that they can challenge it and win.


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## Zookeeper (Sep 7, 2006)

It is an underground fence. We have taken the collars off occasionally for a day or two at a time to let the skin rest. Usually when she has gotten out, it has been when she had the collar on. The fence has kept her in fine for the past 2 years or so, except for the past 2-3 months.

We have worked with her on getting used to letting people come over and being okay with it. Now she is not only going after people she doesn't know but also people she has already been okay with in the past :shrug:

We knew about the behaviors to expect...and we thought we had done the right things to work with her, but we don't understand the NEW behaviors and nothing here has really changed...except the getting out. Things were fine for a long time. I guess she has gotten out enough that her boundaries have now changed (in her mind) and maybe somehow...her sense of security?? Like a child when they don't have clear "boundaries", either physical or behavioral? I don't know, trying to play dog psychologist 

Thanks for the comments, I will think on what you have said.


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## longshadowfarms (Nov 27, 2002)

How old is she? 2-3ish? If so, that is about the age where they really come into their own and start behaving like an adult.


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

they can be a challenge as they have a mind of thier own and are convinced that their way is the best way.

in your situation, i say check your fence. mine is terrified of electric wire and i think she can smell it when it's not working right.

i use 4 foot woven wire fence with a hot wire on the top and bottom. when the fence is good and hot (50 mile box) she won't even try to get out.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

How old is she?
Is she spayed?

Pyrs have wanderlust, more than other LGD breeds. I know you do not have a ton of time to spend with her, but can you once a day leash her and walk your property boundaires, making her heel, sit and etc during the walk? Once you get back to being the pack leader I would take her places, if you feel safer with her wearing a muzzle, then do that. But take her to Petsmart, the feed store and such. People do not have to touch her just be around her not growling or anything.

I wonder if her wandering has scared people and they have be on the mean side trying to get her away without getting bit.
When people do come over I woulld leash her and correct her each time she showed any aggression toward people. If she behaved in a positive way, have the person toss her a treat. 

Search the net, I know their is an LGD site that has good info, but it is too early for me to recall it


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

i don't disagree with what was said, but imo pyrs are livestock, not pets. if you treat them as a pet they are useless for working.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I would put a up a good HOT electric fence and then trick her into getting shocked by draping a piece of bacon over the fence.


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## MARYDVM (Jun 7, 2004)

Underground fence wires often get corroded over time. You need to test the collar to see if it is firing when it crosses the fence line.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> We have worked with her on getting used to letting people come over and being okay with it. Now she is not only going after people she doesn't know but also people she has already been okay with in the past


She's doing exactly what thousands of years of selective breeding is telling her to do


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Is her coller prongs getting thru her fur? You may need to trim the hair down. I ahve had to do that before for clients with dogs pushing their luck, usua;lly the closer contact with the skin stops the issue.


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## HappyFarmer (Jun 17, 2006)

I highly doubt the invisible fence would be effective, many a dogs with a hard drive have been killed because this type of fence best works for the meek/timid animals. Pyrs are strong minded and sometimes difficult to stop once they get going/riled.

Lose the invisible fence & collar. Run a wire 18" off the ground and again at the top. This will discourage digging and climbing, and she will likely try both until she's trained -might as well only do it once. Use the bacon trick already posted. If her habit has been going on for a while create a smaller training pen with electric for training purposes, so there is NO WAY she can get out without getting zapped. 

That visible barrier goes much farther than invisible fences.

I would do this before she gets hit by a car or bites someone.
HF


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