Best guard dog for chickens and very small children.

[Lu King]

I have been offered a female Great Pyrenees - lab mix puppy. I'm considering giving it to a relative who has a two-year old son, and who raises chickens, turkeys, goats and sheep. The puppy is two months old. Is it a good or bad idea to get this puppy for my relative?

 

[nzpouter]

how good is your rellies in training dogs?

 

[greenpeeps]

Great Idea!!! I have a GP and she's a wonderful dog around small children and the chickens. Like any other dog they need training to be gentle. We had a lab years ago and he was also wonderful around kids. But with these dogs they can be very protective towards their familys, whick makes them great guard dogs. As long as the family has time to train the dog ( they are very smart and train easily with treats) and play with them, they will be thankful you gave them the puppy.

Oh and don't feed the puppy, puppy food. Our vet told us that the larger bread dogs will grow to fast with all the extra protein in the food causing more problems later in life.

 

[greenpeeps]

Oh, and keep in mind that the GP loves to roam, it is a hearding dog. We keep ours on a 75ft rope when in the yard(whick gives her 150 ft), and don't waist your money on invisible fences. We found out that even after training and the large bread collar, they just don't care. We spent a couple hundred dollars and tons of time. A few months later we purchased a book on GP and read that the invisible fence just doesn't affect the dog.. Should of bought that book sooner. haha

 

[Whisper]

You should absolutely absolutely feed a "Large Breed Puppy Food." Adult dog food doesn't have the minerals and vitamins in correct proportions for puppies. Purina makes a perfectly acceptable Large Breed Puppy Chow that I've sucessfully raised a couple Pyrs on. You don't want them to get metabolic bone disease from having the wrong calcium/phosphorous ratios.

That said . . . if the pup has Lab mixed in, there's really no telling what side of the genetics will prevail. It could get the prey drive from the Lab side and want to "hunt" birdies just like it would retrieve ducks or quail or whatnot. I have a Pyrenees mix, looks to be mixed with German Shepherd, and she's a hopeless chicken killer. She does get along great with the children, though. My purebred Great Pyrenees male was excellent with all of our pets and livestock. Didn't even pay attention to the rabbits and guinea pigs if they got loose, and scared off everything from javelinas to humans. They've got a high pain tolerance and low tolerance of strangers. They've also got an IMMENSE bark that will drive you batty if you don't have a large property, and they shed long white hairs like nobody's business.

Great dogs, but surely not for everyone.

 

[chixie]

I have a 4 month old great GP and he is awesome. he stays in the house at night and sleeps with my 16 yr old daughter( he actually belongs to her) he is huge and takes up 1/2 of the full size bed. luckily my daughter doesn't take up much room... he doesn't bother small children or any of my chickens,ducks,goose goats or anything.. he kind of just lays back and watches what is going on. he is also a big clutz. he will trip over his own big feet. my nephews puppy is his best friend. my sister lives on my property and every morning he sits on their porch to wait for him to come out to play.. he has also been known to scratch on their door so they will put his buddy outside. we love our "phantam". he is the best puppy we have ever had.
I feed him puppy chow and he also eats adult dog food when he steals it from my older dogs.I can barely pick him up anymore

 

[Lu King]

Thanks for the replies. Now, how much food do the large dogs like the Pyrenees eat?

 

[Countrywife]

Suprisingly, not much food. They run a very slow metabolism, in that they spend a great deal of time sleeping. Mine will walk across the field and just kind of fall over. No, he is not sick, he just gets tired. He's a whole year old now. Idiot dog. Anyway-back on point- my GP eats less than the GSD or Labrador. I also feed him all the table scraps, cause the other dogs are inside dogs and he is an outside dog- I figure he needs a little extra love. We raised him on large breed puppy chow, and everyone now eats pedigree. I also have a lab, and the only trouble I have with any of them is they occasionally get bored and play with goats for fun. Not good for the goats, but not bad for the dogs, they like to play, all three dogs do it, and all three get punished.

 

[Lu King]

One more question...my relative has a few raccoons and possums at his place. Can a 2 maybe 2-1/2 month old GP defend itself from these critters?

 

[cobrien]

Quote:
I only think it is a bad idea if your relatives are not 100% ready and committed to getting a puppy at this time, and a large furry puppy at that. The dog can likely be trained to be good around chickens* but may not reach the point where s/he can be left alone with the chickens - they should be okay with this. I think it is a very bad idea to give animals as surprise gifts. The relatives should be prepared to care for the dog for 10+ years, pay for food, vet bills, training, grooming, etc. A big dog needs more training than a small dog simply due to their size - you don't want them knocking over small kids or grandma.

*It will take a lot of careful training with the puppy to make sure chickens don't get killed. There are some great posts on here on how to do it. Feel free to email me. Important thing at first is to keep the puppy on a leash when around the chickens at first, do not let the puppy play or mouth the chickens at all. I have 2 mixed breed dogs that are great with the chickens, both can be left alone with them, one is a hunting breed mix the other is a herding dog mix. I took them to group obedience classes first, then did a lot of training at home, it was well worth the effort.

Good luck!