I have a 4 month old Pyr. He is by far the most hyper animal we have owned. He cannot get through two commands without losing attention and rolling around on the ground.
Is this actually losing attention, or is this deliberate disobedience? I'd think it's the latter, but it might not be.
In the pups I've known and watched grow up, if they had a habitual behavior they exhibited instead of obeying you, it was actually deliberate and not due to short attention spans. It's more seeing what upfront disobedience they can show you to your face and get away with, delaying tactics before obeying which gradually extends into full blown disobedience.
This is different from all the usual things like actually getting distracted. But rolling on the ground is not the same as being distracted by something, it's a very deliberate behavior.
One of our dogs would always very slowly take the time to scratch his ear before listening to the command. You could provoke a slow and luxurious ear-scratching just by telling him to do anything, literally he would lean back and raise the leg the instant you spoke.
(No, in case anyone thinks something was wrong with his ear, he only did it when asked to do something, and at no other time during the day would you see him scratch that ear, an it wasn't real scratching either, very symbolic gesturing; if he actually scratched his ear as often as he made the gesture he'd have made himself bleed).
He did not turn out well, in fact he turned out very badly, wanting to attack people, and we had to get rid of him, whereas his sister who was raised the same turned out great. Big difference being: she was willing. He never wanted to do anything with or for us, even though he had great working dog genetics and intelligence. She was the same but willing, and what a world of difference that makes.
If it's "the dog's way or the highway", then the dog isn't 'turning out' and if they have no willingness to obey, you have a pretty worthless and self-centered pet, not a worker, not a companion. You cannot put willingness into them, and it's even more of an issue when you need him to be an autonomous worker you can trust alone.
Still, he's only young... But from my experience the signs show young, and don't change, and the dog experts I've talked with who train dogs to work do not waste time on pups that behave like this. If he's no good now, he's better off being rehomed to be a pet.
Just a random idea, though, maybe he's not pretending and he actually is that dim, and the rolling around is his way of expressing his confusion. In which case changing training methods may work better. Some people rave about clicker training, you could try that if you haven't, I think it sounds ideal for the less intelligent animals. Still, if you have him to be a LGD but you keep him tethered to you, I don't see how clicker training or any training could make him bond to the other animals and understand it's his job to look after him. I can see why you have him tethered to you, though, since he's not trustworthy. It's a conundrum.
He continues to prove untrustworthy even though he was born at a farm with chickens and turkeys.
What sort of stock did you get him from?
Did his parents 'work' or were they pets?
You can get great Maremmas here, but you can also get worthless pet-bred Maremmas, who aren't good pets and aren't any use with other animals either. There's always people breeding working dogs to be pets and while some work out, many of them don't and they are some of the most useless dogs out there, terrible pets and unable to work.
I know many people think they are wonderful but I don't see it in this particular dog. I've had labs, poodles, huskies, chows, aussies, etc. The Pyr is the least intelligent. He is beginning to growl when fed. He walks well on a lead (95% of the time) but when he feels like pulling he will not respond to commands. He is constantly all over any person or pet near enough to pounce. As he grows this is going to become a major issue.
My question is will he outgrow this? Will he calm down with age? Will he always need supervision? I've lost two adults to rough handling and up to a dozen chicks were ate.
This is a serious issue for a livestock guardian dog. I wouldn't keep him if he'd eaten up to 12 chicks. Still, he's not supposed to be on a leash and acting like a pet, his breed's inherited intelligence is geared towards being a sole operator alone with the animals.
If he accidentally killed some due to rough handling, that's one thing, and you expect some accidents as LGDs get used to their charges, but consuming a whole clutch is not ok to be put down to youthful indiscretions especially because of what breed he is and the fact that he was born on a place with poultry so they're not new to him.
They free range and the dog is on a run or walking on a lead. I tie him to me all day yet his manners are no better than the day we got him. His size now means I can't get anything done and I know he's not going to improve if I leave him alone on a run.
Any suggestions?
Well, as a working dog he sounds like he's off to a bad start, but I'm not experienced with Pyrs. Someone knowledgeable about the breed may be able to help. So far it sounds like he's well on his way to being one of those duds they don't breed to make sure the breed stays true to standard, lol... Sorry. I've got empathy for your situation, I've also worked with unwilling dogs... To small avail unfortunately. The great dogs you get make the unwilling ones look like a ridiculously bad joke, I have no patience with them anymore. But if he can turn out and does, it would be good to hear, especially if you have any moments you can identify when things turned around and what you did to make it happen.
Best wishes.
