pyrless

Sasha had this problem too. Here's what I learned from my vet. They can tell by doing a urine culture if there are crystals present. If there ARE, that is an indicator for the bladder stones. If there AREN'T it is a straight-up UTI. Sasha was on a 3-week course of antibiotics, really strong stuff, about 1000mg a day. It went away and came back two months later, we had her urine tested again, no crystals. My vet said that with a particularly stubborn infection, the first course of antibiotics might not completely get rid of it. So she went back on for 2 weeks and has been fine since. Have your vet test the urine's Ph before you give the cranberry capsules to see if it is indeed imbalanced, dogs can get an infection with perfectly balanced Ph and you don't want to over-acidify it. Re: the water? I would also ask your vet about her kidneys if she is drinking so much water that you have to refill it during the day. Good luck to you, it can be hard to deal with, but she will be okay.

If you are going to breed or show the dog you should know enough to 1) talk to your vet first and 2) know the breed well enough to know whether this is normal for her breed, ie most large breed dogs mature very slowly and may not come into season until they are 1, maybe even 18 months. If you are not going to breed or show the dog you should have had her spayed six months ago. I apologize in advance if I sound angry or upset, but this kind of thing really ticks me off.

okay, whoa, sorry about the double post! :oops:

oh good! Pyrs have this thing we owners call "Pyr pats" which is more like "Pyr punches", they like to paw you or just place paws on your leg, arm, head, whatever. Unfortunately now my other two do this, the funniest is Taz who kind of stomps his feet at you...

oh good! Pyrs have this thing we owners call "Pyr pats" which is more like "Pyr punches", they like to paw you or just place paws on your leg, arm, head, whatever. Unfortunately now my other two do this, the funniest is Taz who kind of stomps his feet at you...

Food! (you are not a bad mom by the way). Get him to associate you with food (the prize stuff-cheese, peanut butter, baloney, whatever) or his favorite toy stuffed with food, or the food bowl, etc. :wink: And don't worry about the yelling too much, I have done that, we all have, I have posted on it before too as I can't believe what an idiot I am sometimes. Also, try always coming towards him or letting him out with a really happy singsongy voice. HTH, good luck to you!

oh MAN! where were these kids' parents?

why does child and family services frown so upon leash laws for kids.... :D anyway. you held your calm pretty well. sometimes i wish some kids WOULD get bit so they would learn. however, that is usually how "bad breed" press starts... anyway. Sasha is hella shy. Pyrs are aloof by nature, but she has an extreme reserve. Unfortunately, idiot people see a big fluffy white dog and think she is a stuffed animal and want to hug her and pet her and they wave their arms in front of her face going "ooooo she is so BYOOOOOTEEEEEFULLLLLL!" now wouldn't that freak YOU out? :wink: You need to simply learn what the dog's limitations are and respect them. Sasha is fine on a leash walk thru the neighborhood, but I can't take her to rescue functions, it is too much for her, it stresses her out and she won't let anyone pet her. She is too big and potentially too dangerous to "make" her do these things. The problem is, sometimes people get [i]offended [/i]that she doesn't wish to be slobbered over and hugged (HUGGED! talk about bad HUMAN behavior) by strange people. I have had several folks snort in disgust when I told them that she is shy. Good luck. You did the RIGHT things by your dog!

great idea, obediencegrrl! you know what makes me the maddest? that your librarian was trying to get you to [i]change your topic[/i]!!!!! First Amendment, meet Librarian. Librarian, meet First Amendment!

you go on!!!!!!!!!!! i love it, you did exactly the right thing! 8) screw 'em, the ignorant a$$holes! (i have neighbors like this as well, convinced that Taz is some kind of a wolf, etc. etc.)

omigod, your dogs do zoomies too? taz likes to do it around the coffee table for some reason. he hunches his shoulders and head down and just goes balls-out. it's hilarious to watch, even as i am moving things out of the way!

I have a question for you. Is she showing teeth, growling with her lips pulled back? Taz (the lovely boy in my signature) was still teething at seven months and putting everything he could into his mouth. Getting him to give something up is still hard today at 3, you can imagine the time i had! 8) Anyway, when he plays his little games, he grunts, growls and generally makes a scene, but never shows teeth. I occasionally got too close and got nicked. And it seems like your girl has already turned this into a game! (who trains who, right? :D ) Keep working on "Drop It", you are doing all the right things. Use something yummy that takes awhile, like rawhide or stuffed real bones. If she IS showing teeth, though, talk to a professional, either your vet or a behaviorist.

sigh. all right. i hate to do this too, but here is some corrected information for you: The Great Pyr's weight range is 85-110 in a female and 100-130 in a male. "Obedient" is not a word anyone would use to describe a Pyr. Ever. Good luck. "Aggressive" needs to be changed to "dog-aggressive." A Pyr should never be aggressive towards a person. Ever. They also have quite a slow metabolism for their size and do not need "lots" of food. The Pyr is not a "cross" of the Maremma, Kuvasz or Akbash, though similar to those breeds they developed independently of each other through being isolated in their respective territories. Sasha (see left) lives in Cleveland and is quite a happy city dog. The description of the Elkhound is pretty right-on though. I know you are trying to do good and I appreciate that.

Is it possible that they are just Shelties that are on the small side of the standard (which is pretty small to begin with), or are they toy-sized? (just fyi, the sheltie is actually a completely separate breed from the rough collie). :wink:

Hey, your English is not so bad, there! :wink: The best thing to do is talk to a vet about the feeding, there might even be commercially-available puppy formula. (test it on your wrist, like you would with a baby's bottle, to make sure it's not too hot). Keep him warm, with blankets wrapped around a hot-water bottle. Good luck!

xavierandrea...ROTFLMAO!!! :roflt:

Not only should you spay/neuter, you need to either rehome the Dane or the Shih Tzu or keep them separated. Permanently and always for the rest of their lives. Neutering an adult male does not always have the same "calming" effect that it does on a six month old pup. The Dane will most likely kill the Shih Tzu if given the chance, for no other reason than the immense size difference. Please take this very very seriously.

omigod! :lol:

six months, my friend! easily. (what breed is he? i am assuming a herding type?) anyway. don't worry, this is not behaviour that will continue into adulthood, i worried about that myself with taz. some dogs need a firmer hand than others. what worked with taz was pressing my thumb firmly into his jaw, under his tongue, and saying [b]"NO".[/b]

nice!!! :lol: i like the Jackshitz and the Thai-Chi!

what kind of a dumbass mugger approaches someone with a dog anyway? i hope he gets what he deserves. :evil:

I made these up myself! :lol: For fans of 80s New Wave: the Husker Tzu (husky/shihtzu) For cigar aficionados: The Pumidor (pumi/labrador) For space geeks: the Skyelab (Skye terrier/labrador) Yes, i do have too much time on my hands! :wink:

oh my! [b]ostriches?[/b] (what do they call a group of them anyway?) :P that is one thing i could see being a problem...Taz loves to chase squirrels more than life itself. It has gotten to the point where he knows the trees they live in and actually [i]looks[/i] for them... so we would need to work on that... 8) i am going to try working on some of the commands while walking him and see how he does...PTM, if i come up with a good one to get him to stop i will let you know!!! (how about "oh no, that tree is getting awfully close...")

what is a Biewer? Seriously, I would go look in a shelter or on Petfinder, then you can find an adult with the look you want. The chances of you getting this mix from a breeder who knows what they are doing is slim to none. I am not trying to discourage you, I can certainly see why you fell in love with those guys! :D Just, caveat emptor, you know? Good luck!

okay, that looks like ALOT of fun!!!!!!! :P You must have a pretty consistent winter up there. Here it is up and down and craziness, the Siberian Husky club sponsors a race every year that they have to cancel 75% of the time because of the weather not being right...plus I live right in the city so anything we can do on pavement would be excellent. I don't think encouraging him to pull will be too hard-i have had to train him NOT to pull on walks so i think if i let him have at it he will have a blast. On the site it said to practice some of the commands while on a walk. How do you get them to stop? I have put his photo here, this is him in my siggie.