Pyrrha

STATS

NAME: Pyrrha (*pronounced “peer-ah”), from Greek mythology and Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which my husband and I loved.
FULL NAME: Pyrrha Louise Pratt
BREED: German shepherd dog
DATE OF BIRTH: 6 March 2011
DATE WE ADOPTED HER: 17 May 2012
HISTORY: From Southeast German Shepherd Rescue, who rescued her from a backyard breeder in NC.

PitaPata - (OEaO)

BACKGROUND

It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve been waiting my whole life for this dog. Since I was a little kid, my dream of having a dog of my own has been an ever-present obsession, culminating in the creation of this blog and my year of concentrated canine research.

That long-held dream was finally realized on 17 May 2012, when we welcomed Pyrrha home, from Southeast German Shepherd Rescue.

Pyrrha was rescued, along with 14 other shepherds, from a backyard breeder in North Carolina who decided to close down his operation. Pyrrha came to us very sweet and curious, but quite under-socialized as a result of her upbringing by a less-than-scrupulous breeder. Pyrrha is very much a blank slate at this point, and we are looking forward to sharing our journey with her here.

OBEDIENCE REPERTOIRE

Sit (Verbal: “Sit” / Signal: Index finger raised)
Lie down on the ground (Verbal: “Down” / Signal: Palm moving downward)
Target a palm (Verbal: “Touch” / Signal: Open palm facing her)
Go to mat (Verbal / Signal: Pointing at mat)
Go to your house (Verbal / Running into her crate)
Ringing a bell to be let outside
Sitting back on her haunches and waving her front paws (Verbal: Be pretty!)

Working On

Stay
Drop it
Leave it
Premack’s principle (come and release)
Off-leash recall (gradually)
Leash reactivity

8 thoughts on “Pyrrha”

Hello, Pyyrha! ^.^ Nice to meet ya! 🙂

She’s a beautiful girl, Abby!

BTW, I’ve started a blog for my Golden Retriever, Dixie. 🙂 I’m still getting used to blogging so there’s not much on it yet. It’s called “Living with a Golden and…Loving it” 🙂

Adorable! My hubby and I always joked that after we bought our first house, we were going to get a dog before we even unpacked the boxes! We DID end up waiting a couple of weeks, but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we brought home our little sweetie (she is 13 now!). Good for you for taking so much time to educate yourself – you are a wonderful role model!!