“...hamburgers would be great. He said, ‘I was talking about the dogs.’”
Oh. You are SO OWNED! :-D
Well the pictures wouldn’t show by the time I got here, but I see you now own the little girls outright. Good for you!
What little I recall offhand about the Great Pyrenees: Very common for skin to be black under all that white hair. Just like Bill Clinton, they could be our first superficially white black canid presidents! On second thought, I bet they have no talent for prevarication.
For reasons unknown to me, it’s standard to NOT remove the rear dewclaws of GPs. They look pretty odd sticking out as they do, eh? I’d go ahead and remove them unless there’s a medical reason why not.
The daughter of a beloved friend of mine rescued a stray GP from a mall parking lot, then turned him over to a breed rescue. Within a week, they adopted the big fellow right back. That dog is sharp as a tack.
I love him because he has a look in his eyes that reminds me of my long-gone collie. Those eyes say, “You smell like dog and I like you, but anybody who hurts my family is gonna be in a world of pain. Just so’s you know, human.”
I hope you don’t have dark carpet. No more on that from me because you’ll learn soon enough, LOL!
Winston’s humans keep a roll of cheap paper towels handy in about every room he tends to lounge in with them. GPs are droolers. I don’t know if breeders have worked on breeding that out; the trait that distinguishes the English mastiff from the American one is that the Yankee mastiffs have a dry mouth.
Supposedly the breed was bred white to blend in with the flock and better protect them from predators. To have them grow up thinking of the flock as their pack means a minimum of petting, with the puppies growing amid the herd. But I gotta ask how can anybody not cuddle such sweet, intelligent critters? Have them indoors as much as you can stand it. They love “their pack” and want to be near you, no?
In your climate, keep them on heartworm preventative year-round. Don’t skip the months that pass for winter just to save a few bucks. It’s expensive to you and stressful to the dog to be treated for HW. (Has to be kept still to avoid throwing a sudden clot of dead worms into a blood vessel.)
Around 12 months of age you can begin to break them to hackamore and a saddle.
*pause*
Hey, now that they have their names I can see their picture in # 271! Cute. Wow, looks like the grands tuckered them right out!
Oh, with one puppy my vet advised me to always have food in the bowl so she could feed at will. When I looked askance at her, she said not to worry - the dog would learn soon enough that there’s no need to cram full if food’s always available, and it’s better for a deep-chested breed to browse all day instead of stuffing herself all at once. She was right. Even the lab who joined us later picked up on that and only grazes when she needs to. She’s not skinny but not fat either. (Lovable tho they may be, labs are slaves to their appetites.) And I don’t have to worry over stomach torsion, which is painful and fatal if not detected quickly.
Congratulations to all of you for finding each other. Keep posting pics to the doggie list as they grow!
Yes I am. lol
For reasons unknown to me, it’s standard to NOT remove the rear dewclaws of GPs. They look pretty odd sticking out as they do, eh? I’d go ahead and remove them unless there’s a medical reason why not.
That's something I'm going to bring up with their vet.
That dog is sharp as a tack.
I've been reading that about them. We'll start house breaking them tomorrow.
No carpet just hardwood floors. My living room suite is red however. I'll have to train then to jump on the light grey love seat. lol
They love “their pack” and want to be near you, no?
Rest assured, we'll keep them near us.
In your climate, keep them on heartworm preventative year-round. Don’t skip the months that pass for winter just to save a few bucks. It’s expensive to you and stressful to the dog to be treated for HW. (Has to be kept still to avoid throwing a sudden clot of dead worms into a blood vessel.)
We'll do that, thanks.
Congratulations to all of you for finding each other. Keep posting pics to the doggie list as they grow!
Thank you, but JR might start charging me bandwidth if I post too many. :)