Hi! I am excited to join this subreddit since pyr owners seem pretty cool (especially when they’ve have to adapt to these shenanigans).

So, in 2021 we adopted a puppy after the loss of our precious old puggle man. We are hound fans, and I’ve only had puggles, so a hound puppy made sense.

“Amelia” was advertised as a puppy found with her siblings in a landfill in Arkansas and brought north for adoption. She was labeled as a “hound mix, estimating about 45 pounds max”. She was Tri colored and saddled, like your typical beagle mix but with weird droopy ears. Whatever, shelters can’t be accurate so we accept the puppy with open loving arms.

Well. Amelia turned out to be a boy. How they missed that, I have no idea. At a year old he now weighs 75 pounds and is pretty tall with long legs not characteristic of a hound, and these same weird, almost batty floppy ears. We were dumbfounded and finally invested in a DNA kit. That’s how I’ve come to this group.

He’s over 60% great pyr! The other parts of his mix are husky and Rottweiler, and LASTLY - beagle with a whopping 3%. Talk about dominant traits! (I guess pyr ears outweigh everyone else though!) But that’s just visual. Behaviorally, he’s 100% pure bred pyr (at least what I see owners reference on TikTok and the dog park we visit where he has two pyr buddies).

He’s got the “look” when you try to call him. He listens to me but not my husband. The freaking paw. Barking. Patrolling. Herding the cats. The flopping, god the flopping. I almost got a broken nose from the back of a head to my face once! He had 100% recall until his first birthday - now? Recall is only a light suggestion.

I guess my questions are how do you suggest training with this personality type? We are having some resource guarding issues, and I’d like to help him feel more comfortable.

He knows sit/spin/shake (read: punch in the mouth) and lay down. Past 1 year he is SO slow to pick up commands. Before? He was picking up everything nearly immediately. Are there any tricks to help?

He’s also very fearful of certain things and seems to have low confidence. No, he’s not scared of the bear or deer outside. He’s scared of the trash can, the reusable grocery bags and a laundry basket. Any suggestions for confidence increase tips is very welcome!

He’s a big boy that doesn’t know his size except when around kids who he refuses to jump or lean on and is very gentle with. I love him to pieces but as someone not familiar with a breed I just want to know more so I can be the mom he deserves. Thanks!