German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix - your opinions please!

[gritsar]

After weeks of telling everyone I see that I'm looking for a GP puppy and searching the online classifieds of the 5 largest cities relatively close to us, the only pups I can find are GSD/GP mixes.
The mother is an AKC registered obedience trained GSD and the father is a working GP.
In your opinion what would be the pros and cons of this mix, in particular with regard to usefulness as a livestock/chicken guardian?
Knowing some things about GPs and having owned several GSDs the one thing I can say for sure is that the pups would be super intelligent, but what else?
It's ironic that I want a GP and my DH wants a GSD. In fact, I plan on trying to find him a GSD pup for Christmas.
Your thoughts?

 

[gaited horse]

this is a little off topic but how s Charlie

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Charlie goes up and down. It would take too long to try and explain why my DH is being so stubborn about letting her go. Suffice it to say he is still grieving from losing his only brother and his mom within four months of each other and some other hurts.
We had agreed that if Charlie started going downhill again after finishing her meds., we would have her x-rayed and then take the x-ray results to our vet. Well she finished her meds and has gone back downhill again, although she doesn't seem to be in any pain.
My DH's daughters tell me he is resistant to the idea of the x-rays because he doesn't want to know the results. I have been working on him about it a bit every day.
Charlie pretty much stopped eating yesterday, but she'll drink water if we bring it to her. I don't think it will be much longer.
Thanks for inquiring about her.

****A puppy is in no way going to replace Charlie. No dog ever could. I've been wanting a guardian dog for my chickens for awhile now. Even if Charlie were still in good health, she's a full-time house dog now. *****

 

[bumpershoot]

Well...my first thought is: can you get OFA's on the mom and maybe the pop? If you can, esp on the GSD, it might help predict hip/elbow issues in the future. Second thought is, what kind of obedience trained dog is the Mom? If you can get the titles (or letters that make the title) I can translate them for you. Find out how old Momma is and how long she's been working on those titles and if she has a championship. If Momma is 7 and still working on basic titles, then I would skip the baby and look for a working GP.

 

[gaited horse]

I say go for the pup

 

[Akane]

I don't care much for show titles. I've had some awesome animals that were never shown. I've known some I would never have bred that were champions. Other than that I would look into everything I would for a purebred. Full health tests for things like hips and eyes. Meet the parents to see their temperament. Get any information possible on their personalities. Then if they've had any litters before ask about those pups and meet any you can.

The problem with a mix instead of a purebred is it's impossible to gurantee a mix to the same extent. The genetics are so much different that pups in the same litter can be drastically different. One may lean toward one parent and seem completely gsd while another you'd swear was all gp. Then there is an increased chance for something completely random. Mixes of a known cross with health tested parents are easier to predict than random mutts (not that I have a problem with random mutts) but personally I wouldn't pay much if anything for a first generation cross of 2 breeds irregardless of quality of the parents. Even purebreds can have their inconsistencies if the breeding program isn't good or just from differences between one line and another. That increases exponentially when you go outside the same breed. The only way I'd pay for a mix of breeds is if it were part of a breeding program several generations in and strongly culled so that the dogs being produced had predictable personalities and athletic ability. Much the same as someone breeding a purebred would look to strengthen certain traits and cull others. First generation crosses are an experiment with unknown results until the pups grow up. If everything else checked out with the parents and I liked the personality and traits the pups were showing so far then cost would make the decision for me. If I can get a good purebred for nearly the same price I'm not going to get a mix.

 

[astylishgirl]

There are two GP puppies down here. Look on Southeasttexas.com. I bet they would ship. I had a dog shipped once and it was fine.


http://www.southeasttexas.com/class...e=farm_ranch&zipcode=&distance=0&type=general


This is the link... but since I am signed in... the link may not work.

 

[Kev]

Personally I would not go for the pup as a livestock guardian prospect.

Of course there are no absolute guarantees with pure Pyr, and also not a guarantee this pup will be a "killer".. just would worry about the particular pup selected would turn out to have too high energy/prey drive, two things that make training a LGD extra difficult but can make a GSD seem to be an excellent dog in the field/work.

Try hitting Pyr rescues.. Pyr or general LGD breed email groups? Pyrs(including already working Pyrs) needing homes semi regularly showed up when I was on these sort of groups. Many also had members who participated in "trains"- several people working together to bring dogs over long distances, including across states to their new homes etc.

One wonderful thing about those Pyrs needing homes is that their personalities are often already established.. such as this one does not tolerate cats, that one is good with goats but does chase/kill chickens.. best of all some are "proven with chickens"... just bring him or her home, sit back and relax with a new and very good dog...

Or just simply wait.. a pure Pyr or a LGD from good stock will eventually show up close enough for you. No need to get anything "now".

 

[astylishgirl]

Also, I had a german shepherd that I adored who killed livestock. To me, German Shepherds are a risk.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I would want to know the parents heritage... With the hip problems and what not that both of those breeds can have trouble with, That would definitely be a concern. Otherwise, I think it would be an adorable mix! I am a "big dog" fan... I got my mom a St. bernard mix, and he's the goofiest thing you'd ever meet

You must post pics when you get your puppy!!