Hi, new here in the forum, and am a little concerned with my new pyr, 3 year old female. I got her from the former mayor of my town. When i first met her, was outside her normal environment, so she was quite calm, maybe a little afraid at first, but i fell in love with her, so yesterday i picked her up, and she was perfect last night and most of today. She was very good around my wife and 2 year old son, my son pokes and prods, and she doesnt even bat an eye. Well my father in law stopped by, and the dog went balistic, i know these dogs are territorial, so i expected the barking, but the dog lunged at him and his wife, i even gave them cookies to give to the dog. Well i restrained the dog by his collar, and he sat next to me calm as could be, well, after they had left the house, the dog was sitting in front of me and my wife was sitting at my side, and the dog went over to her and started to growl. My wife is 8 months pregnant, and now im a little afraid to leave them along....I know the dog went to obedience training, and he went to doggie day care every day, so i dont know what to do, i would hate to give her back, but should i be fearful that the dog may attack my wife, and what if i am not home, and someone comes to the door, my wife may be afraid to retsrain the dog. Also my son may get in the middle of my dog, and the person at the door and my son may get hurt....Is the dogs reaction normal? Should i be fearful for my family?
Please help

Oh and by the way, the dog has not been aggresive towards me one bit. before i took the dog home, i spoke with the previous owner for about an hour going over the dog. He told me that she would fall in love with my wife and son, and be partial towards me, but so far, she is really only affectionate towrds me...Ishe lays next to me and lets me scratch her belly..The dog's previous owner lived in an apt in hoboken NJ, and from my understanding the dog was quite social, and got along with all animals and kids. I really love this dog, but am afraid to leave her alone with my wife now.

Oh and 1 more thing, me, my wife, my son and the new dog went to the boardwalk today, and the dog was letting everyone pet him, and he didnt budge, so i am thinking that he is very territorial when at his new home....

Pyreneans are very territorial and they also don't generally deal well with change and take quite a while to adapt.

However, it is impossible to give advice over the internet on aggression without seeing the dog in his environment. I would suggest to contact a reputable behaviourist that can help you with advice and training suggestions.

I am sorry I can't give you any more specific advice.

Vera

As Vera says contacting a good behaviourist is probably the best option at this point , aggression is a very difficult thing to deal with hands on and without us seeing exactly whats going on , we really cannot give you advice , my boy was branded everything aggressive luckily he was'nt but it took me a while to work out what was going on with him , he still has some issues that i have worked hard on and probably he always will , it takes time to work out a dogs body language and what they will or wont react too , i hope you find the time to get through this for all your sakes .

One thing i would say though , please do not let your 2 year old poke and prod her as you do not know her very well yet and how she could react , i am not saying she would hurt your son but letting children poke and prod any dog is not a good idea as like us they will only tolerate so much .

If your wife is not confident around her at this point , she will pick up on that and might just take the mickey a bit , i know this from personal experience , my middle daughter Danielle was never very confident around Storm , my rescue boy and he knew it so took the mickey out of her every chance he got , so it took a lot of training and very careful handeling to deal with that .

If you are scared to leave your wife with the dog is there anyway you can work around that so they are not left together for now until you get some proffessional help to see whats happening ?

Fiona xx