Post by Lannie on Feb 21, 2012 13:51:48 GMT -5
Just thought I'd post an update for any of you that were following my other thread when we first got her. She's still "busy" and she still runs me ragged, but she's made huge progress otherwise.
She is, I'm happy to say, now housebroken! LOL! In fact, the last time I posted about that was the last accident she had - she's been perfect ever since. But remember I said she was smart? I underestimated her. She's REALLY smart. Rich and I have been noticing things that by themselves, are not that big a deal, but put together... well, it's almost scary.
One of the things she does that drives me NUTS is not coming in when I call her. She'll run all the way to me, then take off and run away again. But then I realized that every time she does that, EVERY time, it's because one of the other dogs is still out. She's making sure they come in, too. So now what I do is call Cody (he's the only one that can hear me) and as soon as HE comes in, Missy comes in. If Becca's still out, Missy will stay out with her until she comes back to the door, but she always stays with her.
One morning about a week ago, I let Becca out by herself to go poop, and kept Missy and Cody in. They'd just been out a little bit before that, so I didn't want to have to try to collect all three of them. So it was still dark out (very early am) and Becca didn't come back and didn't come back, and I was starting to worry she'd fallen down or got confused and went the wrong way or something. I was about to put my coat and boots on and go out with a flashlight looking for her, when I thought to send Missy instead. So I opened the door and told Missy, "Go find Becca!" 30 seconds later, Becca appeared around the corner, with Missy's nose in her butt, HERDING HER.
For the last several days, Rich has been out pruning trees in the dogs' yard, so he takes Missy out with him because she NEEDS more run-time! LOL! She can still squeeze through the fence, so I don't normally leave her out there unattended, but when Rich is out there for a couple hours, she has a chance to run and play and burn off some of that energy she has so much of. Well, yesterday, he was sawing off some little "watersprouts" from one tree, and Missy came and stood next to him, watching. Then she reached up and grabbed one of the watersprouts in her teeth and tried to pull it off. Rich said he could see the wheels turning in her head, "Oh, those need to be off the tree. OK, I can help!" OMG! It was so amazing. Of course, she couldn't pull it off, but she gave it a go. Then Rich would pick up the pile of branches and carry them to the far north end of the yard to dump them over the fence near the brush pile, and soon Missy was helping him with THAT, too. She didn't always go in a straight line, sometimes she carried her branch around the back yard a few times at warp speed, but she always brought it to Rich when he called her.
I'm thinking with a little focused training, she could do just about ANYTHING! I just need to figure out what to teach her to do. She really wants a job, but I don't have any ideas. She'd probably be great at herding chickens, but not until she's a little older, and I'm not sure the Pyrs would appreciate having her out running the chickens, so that's not an option.
I thought of making her a Frisbee Dog, but we have so much wind here, there are very few days you can throw a Frisbee and not have it end up in Nebraska somewhere. Anybody have any ideas? I need to find her a job!
~Lannie
She is, I'm happy to say, now housebroken! LOL! In fact, the last time I posted about that was the last accident she had - she's been perfect ever since. But remember I said she was smart? I underestimated her. She's REALLY smart. Rich and I have been noticing things that by themselves, are not that big a deal, but put together... well, it's almost scary.
One of the things she does that drives me NUTS is not coming in when I call her. She'll run all the way to me, then take off and run away again. But then I realized that every time she does that, EVERY time, it's because one of the other dogs is still out. She's making sure they come in, too. So now what I do is call Cody (he's the only one that can hear me) and as soon as HE comes in, Missy comes in. If Becca's still out, Missy will stay out with her until she comes back to the door, but she always stays with her.
One morning about a week ago, I let Becca out by herself to go poop, and kept Missy and Cody in. They'd just been out a little bit before that, so I didn't want to have to try to collect all three of them. So it was still dark out (very early am) and Becca didn't come back and didn't come back, and I was starting to worry she'd fallen down or got confused and went the wrong way or something. I was about to put my coat and boots on and go out with a flashlight looking for her, when I thought to send Missy instead. So I opened the door and told Missy, "Go find Becca!" 30 seconds later, Becca appeared around the corner, with Missy's nose in her butt, HERDING HER.
For the last several days, Rich has been out pruning trees in the dogs' yard, so he takes Missy out with him because she NEEDS more run-time! LOL! She can still squeeze through the fence, so I don't normally leave her out there unattended, but when Rich is out there for a couple hours, she has a chance to run and play and burn off some of that energy she has so much of. Well, yesterday, he was sawing off some little "watersprouts" from one tree, and Missy came and stood next to him, watching. Then she reached up and grabbed one of the watersprouts in her teeth and tried to pull it off. Rich said he could see the wheels turning in her head, "Oh, those need to be off the tree. OK, I can help!" OMG! It was so amazing. Of course, she couldn't pull it off, but she gave it a go. Then Rich would pick up the pile of branches and carry them to the far north end of the yard to dump them over the fence near the brush pile, and soon Missy was helping him with THAT, too. She didn't always go in a straight line, sometimes she carried her branch around the back yard a few times at warp speed, but she always brought it to Rich when he called her.
I'm thinking with a little focused training, she could do just about ANYTHING! I just need to figure out what to teach her to do. She really wants a job, but I don't have any ideas. She'd probably be great at herding chickens, but not until she's a little older, and I'm not sure the Pyrs would appreciate having her out running the chickens, so that's not an option.
I thought of making her a Frisbee Dog, but we have so much wind here, there are very few days you can throw a Frisbee and not have it end up in Nebraska somewhere. Anybody have any ideas? I need to find her a job!
~Lannie