Re: Fwd: [PyrNet-L] Re: Chat:Behavior, pyr that bit

[Charlotte & Jack Perry <pyreau@erols.com>]

Colette & Warrick Wilson wrote:
> 
> I've listened to this thread with interest.  I'm extremely puzzled by the effort put into justifying
> what this dog did.

I'm going to have to agree with Colette, Joe, Mitzi and others. A biting
Pyr is not ok and I think we do the breed a disservice by trying to
justify the behavior. We once had to put a dog to sleep that bit a
child.  Although the bite did not even break the skin we did not feel
that we could safely keep a dog that had bitten at a time when our
children were young and there were strange children in and out of our
house all the time.  She simply was not trustworthy. 

My feeling is that a truly stable guardian dog should be able to tell
the difference between children and a real threat. I'm sure many of you
have heard the story of our first Pyr - a dog that my husband kept
saying "would never be a gaurd dog".  That dog loved everyone. One day
in the middle of the day the doorbell rang.  When I went to the door the
man outside thrust open the door and pushed me up against the wall.  The
next thing I knew, my sweet dog who was asleep under the dining room
table leapt at the man, hit him in the shoulders with his front paws and
appeared to be in the process of attacking the man in the neck. I didn't
have time to be frightened, I was simply apalled at my dog's ferocious
behavior, growling, snarling etc.  The next thing I knew the man was
running down the street and my dog went back under the table and went to
sleep.  He never actually bit that man.  It was only later that I began
to realize that the man was obviously up to no good. Anyway, to make a
long story short, this is the type of temperament I want my dogs to
have.  I want them to have the intelligence to do only what they need to
do to guard their loved ones.

My 4 cents worth.
Charlotte