# Hey Pyr people, I need an answer!



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

As I've posted before, we have two Pyr's. A female and a male, male is neutered as they are brother and sister. We will breed Maggie when she is three.
They get along great and are a wonderful working team. I've also fed raw, since they were puppies.
This past week, Maggie has started some very odd behavior at feeding time. I've always locked Murphy up at feeding time, as he wolfs his supper and then tries to get Maggie's. Well, suddenly Maggie isn't eating hers at all. She is wanting to bury her Chicken and simply guard it.
Murphy gets put in the kennel, he eats, and I let him out, but, Maggie in the mean time has buried hers and tries to attack him when he gets within 5 feet of her.
Right now I have her and her 1/2 chicken locked up in the kennel, and Murphy is out. But she still hasn't eaten. I can't just keep her locked up,as we need her back out in the pasture, with him.
Last night, I broke down, figuring she was bored with her chicken, and gave her canned food, she ate some of it. Tonight I tossed them their chickens, and you already know what is happening.
They are 21 months old tomorrow, is she just being a pain, or is this a normal thing at this age?????????:bored:


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

Is she in heat? Could this be a "hoarding instinct"?


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Hmmmm, she isn't right now. But, in doing the math.....She had one in March, then again at the beginning of September...no, I don't think so.
But, she has only had three heats so far, perhaps she's just not as "regular" as I thought already..
She has been mounting Murphy a bit more than normal.... that could be it.
I guess I'll just lock her up for feeding and leave him loose. Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon...


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Could be a false pregnancy or pyometra. You might take her in to the vet and have her checked over.


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

Resource guarding it common in all the LGD breeds. Give her 10 minutes to eat, if she doesn't eat then take it away. The longer she is allowed to guard the chicken, the more the behavior is reinforced and harder it will be to stop.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Well, my vet came by this morning, he was next door checking on a horse and just stopped by to say hi.
I told him about her behavior, and he gave her a quick once over. She's fine, just being neurotic! needless to say, I'm taking the food away after 10 minutes now. We'll see how she does in a day or two when she gets hungry. LOl!:goodjob:
Thanks all!
Btw, no charge for the check up, I love my Vet!:bouncy:


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## CAjerseychick (Aug 11, 2013)

Well, I have similar behavior in my female giant schnauzer who was raised eating raw-- she would just take her meat and hide it, or walk away (luckily not as resource guarding)-- we ended up switching her to moistened kibble with cottage cheese-- and what she likes to do is to wait and finish the other dogs' bowls then take all the bowls out to the back pasture and nibble on her food at her leisure....
I just have to pick up the bowls the next day....
I dont like the big dogs to wolf down their food d/t bloat issues....
(we have a bernese mt dog and pyr/anatolian pup as well)...


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

I was mean this morning, I gave them hamburger meat. Yea, that messed her up, lol.
She tried to take chunks and place them around, pushing leaves over them, Murphy went right behind her and gobbled them up.:teehee:
She finally gave it up and just ate what she had left, then finished his, :croc:


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

Our pyr has always been like that. I pick his food up. We also feed him in a bathroom so he's isolated from the other dogs. If we don't pick his food up he'll eat aggressively i.e. only eats when the other dogs come around and then he's staring at them while he does it.
Our pyr has always been a bit more aggressive and guardy. I do know pyrs who love everyone and everything, ours isn't that way.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Mags has always been very sweet, even when eating, that;s why this new thing freaked me out a bit.
I guess she's just growing into her "Pyr-ness" finally. that whole almost an adult thing. She's acting liked a PO'd teenager!


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

So she's around 2?? Sounds about right. We've always had bunches of big dogs so I've always just managed behavior as best I can. I discourage aggression toward each other with a quick vocal reprimand whenever I see aggressive body language. I also take away anything they try to fight over. My pyr has always been a rather quiet guy. Never wanted to play or anything. Always lays in the dead center of the house so he can appropriately guard it. So he's not so fond of sharing and I have to manage him a lot. lol


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Yea, her and her brother are just 21 months this week. 
They get along great, wrestle and play together just fine, but, she is a typical female Pyr, definitely the Alpha dog! 
I guess she's just decided to show it off a bit more...


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