Our new girl, Nilla!

[Alumatube]

In response to Cameron (and Kai and Samm!), I am attaching some photos of our new sweetie, Nilla. We got our other dog, Shadow, as a dropped pup, and he has turned into an "interesting" dog. Our property was burgled a couple months ago (thieves went through our vehicles and made off with a few things) and he did not bark. I needed an alert dog on the property, and found her at a local rescue, after a little searching.

Here she is with Shadow:


She is part Great Pyrenees and part Lab, and a real sweetheart. She is about a year and a few months old.

In the doghouse (it's obviously not done yet...):


She is exactly what I wanted in a dog--she is very alert to what is going on around the area, and will bark if something is going on. The good thing is she does not nuisance bark--she just lets me know something is up with two or three barks, and again if the status changes.

Here's Shadow giving her a kiss, and the two of them after some hard playing:



I took her with me on my weekend excursion to Airstream of Arkansas this past weekend, and she did GREAT! Everyone liked her.

Thanks for letting me share our sweetie with you!

Susan

[Mel]

Nilla and Shadow are both beautiful dogs. Thank you for sharing pictures of them!

[soldiermedic]

She's a really sweet dog.....here's another pic of her with two other sweeties!

Steve

[clancy_boy]

Great new Pup, and thank you for getting a rescue dog. They all deserve a good home.

[whitsend]

Alumatube -
You are absolutely gonna LOVE your Pyre. Suggestion - They make strong protective bonds with whatever or whomever they are put out with as pups, and then will guard them with their very lives. A Pyre bonded to & guarding a herd of sheep or goats will kill anything threatening that herd. They will even eat a baby goat that is born dead (or dies shortly after birth), ONLY to protect the rest of the herd from predators smelling the dead animal and coming in for more. If they bond to you, I suggest you warn your friends & family not to approach your house late at night. But once they see you & that friend or family member together, your Pyre will love your visitor. You & your visitors will also have to learn to not hear your Pyre's night time barking, barking that can be heard in the next county. We got over her barking but our visiting kids never did and we could hear them at 3:00 am shouting out the window for her to shut up!!! Our Pyre found a very unusual (in Central Texas) porkepine (I know, sp ???) around the house, decided it was a threat to us and promptly killed it & walked away. When the sun came up, I called Flower (our Pyre) up to the house and up she came for her morning loving. That's when I found the quils buried in her lips, tounge and inside her mouth. I tried removing a few quils, and she just stood there with all this love streaming from her eyes. Then I remembered the barbs at the end of the quills, so I took her to the vet for them to remove the quills properly & painlessly. Flower NEVER showd the least pain or discomfort.

After more than 14 years with us, her old body joints gave out on her and getting up to eat or go to the bathroom was just too painful for her and we had to make that hard decision to let her go to sleep. We had her cremated and are keeping her ashes in the house with us to mix with our own ashes when we also take that final trip.

Please do keep us posted as your Pyre grows, along with your love. Pay special attention to her eyes. They will graphically show you her love and devotion.

Warning - They love to dig and the holes can be huge, so much so that most of the time the only thing you can see of them when they are lying down in the hole is their nose & eyes - watching their herd. You will NOT be able to teach them not to dig, or at least we couldn't. We finally accepted them and named Flower's digging as her Flower Pots.

[Sugarfoot]

Great Pyre and Lab, sounds like a great and interesting combo. Funloving and protective all in one. Congrats, Nilla is a beautiful pup and it looks like Shadow gets along well with her.

[Airhog1]

Nilla is a beautiful dog with a great attitude or should I say gratitude towards life.

Great save Susan and Brad!

G

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by whitsend@mom

Alumatube -
You are absolutely gonna LOVE your Pyre. Suggestion - They make strong protective bonds with whatever or whomever they are put out with as pups, and then will guard them with their very lives. A Pyre bonded to & guarding a herd of sheep or goats will kill anything threatening that herd. They will even eat a baby goat that is born dead (or dies shortly after birth), ONLY to protect the rest of the herd from predators smelling the dead animal and coming in for more. If they bond to you, I suggest you warn your friends & family not to approach your house late at night. But once they see you & that friend or family member together, your Pyre will love your visitor. You & your visitors will also have to learn to not hear your Pyre's night time barking, barking that can be heard in the next county. We got over her barking but our visiting kids never did and we could hear them at 3:00 am shouting out the window for her to shut up!!! Our Pyre found a very unusual (in Central Texas) porkepine (I know, sp ???) around the house, decided it was a threat to us and promptly killed it & walked away. When the sun came up, I called Flower (our Pyre) up to the house and up she came for her morning loving. That's when I found the quils buried in her lips, tounge and inside her mouth. I tried removing a few quils, and she just stood there with all this love streaming from her eyes. Then I remembered the barbs at the end of the quills, so I took her to the vet for them to remove the quills properly & painlessly. Flower NEVER showd the least pain or discomfort.

After more than 14 years with us, her old body joints gave out on her and getting up to eat or go to the bathroom was just too painful for her and we had to make that hard decision to let her go to sleep. We had her cremated and are keeping her ashes in the house with us to mix with our own ashes when we also take that final trip.

Please do keep us posted as your Pyre grows, along with your love. Pay special attention to her eyes. They will graphically show you her love and devotion.

Warning - They love to dig and the holes can be huge, so much so that most of the time the only thing you can see of them when they are lying down in the hole is their nose & eyes - watching their herd. You will NOT be able to teach them not to dig, or at least we couldn't. We finally accepted them and named Flower's digging as her Flower Pots.

Hi Whitsend,

I lived in Rolling Oaks back in the ’80s. I got my ’67 Trade Wind in San Marcos in the mid ’80s. Back then I used to ride my bicycle on what shows up on Google Earth as Lone Man Mountain Road, although I don’t remember it as having a name, just a number designation. Wimberley Valley Winery was located there then, and a friend of mine was cellarman at that time.

Sometimes I would come up on a herd of goats being guarded by a Great Pyrenees. When I would pass by a few minutes later on my return trip, the herd would always be gone. Always.

And yes, Nilla is a very sweet dog. I took the picture of her with Susan and Amy Saturday afternoon at Airstream of Arkansas. Nilla charmed everyone.

[yukionna]

What a couple of cuties! I guess you never can figure in advance if a dog will end up being a guard dog or not (i.e., barking at strangers). None of my Golden Retrievers have ever barked a warning (except when they see squirrels...they start to whine). But my neighbor has had two Golden Retrievers who are great watch dogs. Go figure!

[cameront120]

Thank you for posting this and thank you for rescuing. She's a sweet looking dog and looks to be fitting in really well. Welcome home Nilla!

[Alumatube]

I just can't understand why she would end up at the pound. She has no habits bad enough for someone to kick her out, but I guess people do things for many different reasons.

Thanks for the info, whitsend! Fortunately, she only barks when something is actually going on. Unfortunately, the deer are usually going on... But they usually go by reasonably quickly and Nilla does not bark long. And also fortunately, she does not really dig (that's Shadow's forte, dang it!).

Your Flower sounds like she was wonderful. And the really ironic thing is that the name they gave this one in the pound was Petal. Miss Stocky, Sweet and Solid just did not fit "Petal" in my thinking, so she became Sadie, at least until I went to Petco to get her bathed and there were two other Sadies there. So she became Nilla, and Nilla she will stay.

Thanks for the pic, Vaughan/Steve!

Susan

[yukionna]

Originally Posted by Alumatube

I just can't understand why she would end up at the pound. She has no habits bad enough for someone to kick her out, but I guess people do things for many different reasons....

Yes, we have wondered that same thing too with the six Golden Retrievers we have adopted over the years. I will never understand why the dogs are given up so I just chalk it up to their loss...my gain!

[Alumatube]

Originally Posted by yukionna

I just chalk it up to their loss...my gain!

Exactly!!

Susan

[CombatMedic]

Nilla is an awsome dog she reminds me of my childhood dog Joey who was great pyr and malamute. I really got attached to her.

[soldiermedic]

Notice she didn't mention that Joey bit me on my A$$ one day when her brother and I were doing a push up competition. I was doing reps and all the sudden a bite.....that's why we're married cause I guilted her into it

Steve

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by soldiermedic

Notice she didn't mention that Joey bit me on my A$$ one day when her brother and I were doing a push up competition. I was doing reps and all the sudden a bite.....that's why we're married cause I guilted her into it

Steve

Whatever it takes, my friend. She’s well worth a nip in the behind.

[Alumatube]

She mentioned it to me--repeatedly, and there was a lot of laughing involved.

Susan

[overlander63]

Nilla looks like a cutie.