Sitting Pretty

Here it is December of 2013 and Izzy has grown into a beautiful adult Great Pyr. She has also developed a very unique personality that is often so incredibly cognizant of her environment that it is difficult to fathom how we could ever not place this breed on the top of the intelligence list.

One of her more pronounced displays is in how she mimics human behavior.

Izzy has pretty much claimed the couch as her spot and considering that we rarely use it, we tend to let her have it as she pleases, covered with one of a couple of her favorite quilts... to save the fabric of the furniture.

When she's here with just us, she sprawls out, occupying it from end-to-end but when we have family or familiar company over and are sitting at the dining room table in just the next room over, she always places her front feet on the floor, apparently copying the human act of sitting.

Besides this, she has a fairly good grasp of language; both spoken and by observation, knowing when we are about to go out as she runs to the small hanger where her leash and out-collar stay. She carefully tries to remove them to then bring it to us... making sure that we know that she WANTS to go, too!

Izz constantly surprises us with new things she has learned and has endeared herself to all she has ever met and gotten to know.

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How Time Flies

It's been quite a while since we've posted here and it's mainly my fault. The daily grind and routine just takes away so many minutes you'd like to spend doing other things.

For a brief update, we're offering a small pair of images to show how much Izzy the Great has grown.

The top picture was taken on 10 May 2012. Izzy is sitting on the back porch steps. It was taken using a cell phone cam that was less than perfect for this kind of shooting so... that's why it is a bit fuzzy.
The picture was originally taken to demonstrate how long her tail had suddenly becomes... as if some part of her body were growing faster than others. And a little research shows that this breed will often do just this sort of thing.

The second image was taken today, 4 May 2013... just short of one year later. In this pic, she has part of herself on one step and part on another.

Izzy has really come into her own and besides being a beautiful example of the Great Pyrenees breed, she is also a very loving, very active and very attentive member of our family.

:)

Hope to update more often...

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Izzy - Still Great

It has been a while since we've updated so... will do the best we can without making this post overbearing.

Izzy is growing. On 23 July, she was six months old. Her weight was about 57 pounds. But aside from size... which really means little because it wouldn't matter if she never grew another inch (LOL), she is developing into a fine dog. She has become something of a young lady, displaying a kind of grace and fortitude not generally seen in many other breeds.

Let's do some pictures...

Always smiling

Izzy is a very upbeat animal. She rarely finds herself in a position where she is not in total control. Be it inside or out, she's always ready for a snapshot.

As for size...

Outgrowing her favorite chair

She has had to adapt to simply not fitting as well in places and spaces she once called her own. Momma's chair, being one. The image above is a few weeks old so... the fit is even tighter now than when this one was snapped.

On a recent trip to a nearby state park, she was headlong into the lake, under the falls and finally, up on the rocks. We kept her tethered simply because this was her first encounter with water deeper than her legs. But she neither feared or a lacked of skill...

In the swim

On the rocks

Upon arriving back home, she did not appreciate having her picture taken while still wet... and her hair less than sparkling white...

No pictures please!!!

By the end of the day, she was ready for a nap...

Izzy will be 7 months old on 23 August 2012.

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Bent But Never Broken

Izzy has healed well from her surgery and she's as happy as most any 50+ pound puppy you might imagine.

Yup, now well passed the 50 pound mark, she's become a major force in size. Places she once found an easy rest are now a tight squeeze. But she has a unique flexibility that I have never seen in dogs; she can (evidently) bend herself in ways to make those tight spots work...

How does she do that?

It really does look painful.

During the heat of the day, Izzy and Mya like to come in and soak the cool air from the A/C floor vent. They generally take in a midday nap before going back out to play in their pool...

Taking a midday chill

On a side note, both dogs have developed some rash on their bellies and the vet says that they appear to be an allergic reaction to something. We are investigating their brand of dog food as well as possibly grass pollen or ant bites.

More on this last item as information arrives.

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It's a Dog's Life

In spite of her surgery and the stitches, Izzy is doing just fine.

The following images were taken today... the first at about 6 am and the second, during the heat of the Alabama summer day about noon...

Outgrowing Momma's chair

Izzy has lost what I consider to be a substantial portion of her white coat... likely due to the season and temperatures. But even less the mass of fluff, she is quickly outgrowing her favorite resting spots.

Izzy, less a little doggy dignity

About midday, Izzy likes to crawl up under the porch swing where the fan blows down and keeps the concrete slab a bit cooler. Once in a relaxed state, all dignity goes out the screen door, lol.

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Oh, the pain of it...

We found Izzy by way of an ad on Craigslist. She was the daughter of two Great Pyrs that live just outside the small, rural community of Notasulga, Alabama. Prior to her adoption, we had a male, toy poodle that had recently passed. We also had (and have) a female Aussie.

We wanted a dog.

We both have a history of many pets and over the 14 years we have been together, we have never had a period longer than a few weeks when we didn't have a pet of one kind or another. Izzy came at a time when we all had a big blank spot in our hearts after the loss of our poodle. There was never any intention to breed our pet...

Izzy at normal speed, lol!

Izzy was to become a member of the family, not make a profit by way of reproduction.

So... last Friday, Izzy had her puppy machinery removed and now, she's bearing a few stitches, taking various medications and worst of all, instructions to keep this 47 pound pup from getting too active for a spell.

Yeah, just a little like trying to tie a ribbon around a passing cloud, lol.

But... so far, she has done well. She doesn't seem to have any respect for the pain she SHOULD be feeling. In truth, she wants to run and play just like normal. And she doesn't appreciate it that we don't let her!

Anyway, she'll be fine soon and she can spend all her days in the lap of luxury as a beloved member of our family.

A note from Izz

Growing Up

Izzy is gaining in size and weight. She now barks like a full grown dinosaur and can defeat most barriers we put up to hold her back...

Izzy on a roadtrip rest stop

This week, her brother is here for an extended visit as his owners (parents) have gone on holiday to the beach in South Carolina. Jock... actually spelled Jacques, is a little lonely for his folks but bearing up well with what is now a five-dog yard.


Pictures will (hopefully) follow... 

Great Days for a Great Pyr

It's tough these days to know what to share and what not to share... especially when children are involved.

Back in April, we went on a roadtrip to Reynolds, Georgia to a strawberry field to do some picking. As it happened, a class of elementary schoolers were there as well and for a few minutes, Izzy was the life of the party. The image below has been saved for all this time because the faces were too easily seen but... after dragging out an old bit of software, I think we made the scene a little less dangerous...

Additionally, thought I'd share this one... of Izzy's first night here with her new family after falling fast asleep next to her first bowls of water and food...

What a pup!

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A Day in the Life

The following is four images of Izzy taken taken over 72 hours on my cell phone. My apologies for the quality of the photos.

Lazy days as the warmer weather sets in and in this case, wetter as well. The porch is refuge... and the swing has become one of her favorite parking spots! But... noting the image in the top right, I still have not figured out how she was wrapped around that chair, lol!

The adventure continues!