Great pyr

[babyrnlc]

I have heard so much about this breed. My mom actually wanted one a while back before we even got chickens. My dog and her dog are both getting old. We have two houses in one yard about 3/4 acre. We are thinking when our dogs go we might get one. I would love to free range all day.

My question is will a great Pyrenees be happy in a yard? Do they try and get out if it is too small? I have 5 children still at home and my mom has 21 grand kids that come over often. Are they good with children?

 

[LotsaChicken]

My pyrs are great with kids. My special needs daughter climbs all over ours'. We have 10 acres, but not all of it is fenced. You need good fences for pyrs. You will also have people tell you that pyrs can't be dual purpose, pets and livestock guardians, but that is just not true, as mine prove. My dogs really work hard to protect our livestock and property. We haven't had a single chicken disappear since they hit our yard and the neighbor dogs haven't crossed into our fence once...both of which use to be daily occurances. They also love to spend time guarding our pigs. Our dogs came from a shelter and had never been on a farm before. It's just instinct for them to do what they do. If you were going to put them with goats, or sheep, on a 400 acre field somewhere, then you would have to leave them with the sheep and not allow them to become people oriented, so that they will stay with the sheep, but if you want them to guard a smaller farm, with different types of livestock within it, you don't have to be so hands off. In fact, I want mine guarding the people, as well as the animals. I adopted mine as adults and they are perfect for us. Be sure and check shelters and humane societies in your area. Alot of pyrs end up in rescue. People get them as cute Santa Paws puppies, but then aren't upto handling a dog so large. They have animal control called on them alot because owner's don't have good fences and they are roamers, strangers are afraid of them because of their large size.

 

[zzGypsy]

ditto on the fencing - they will climb, go over, get out and ramble your neighborhood if you don't have fencing properly sorted out.

they can be excellent with kids, if they are socialized for that. if you're going to have LOTS of kids around, ones they may not know, you're going to want to really work that part out before you decide - either a grown dog that is already socialized to kids, or a pup that you can make sure is socialized. pups take a bit more work to make sure they're safe with birds and critters - mostly because they want to play and can play rough because they're big - but with supervision it shouldn't be difficult to do. read up on training them on line, there's lots of material out there.

the LGDs in general will accept what you accept, they watch you for their clues as to who's allowed and who isn't.

 

[watchdogps]

x3
Pyrs are also generally the most people friendly of the LGDs and also tend to bark the most. That's 31 complaint I hear about them. Just keep the neighbors in mind on that note.

 

[carolinagirl58]

yep....I agree. They tend to bark because that's their style of guarding. They let any potential predators know they are on duty to keep them away, rather than waiting until the predators show up and then dealing with them. So they will often stand outside at night (usually outside your bedroom window) and bark.

 

[Miyashi]

I just brought a GP home. She's nearly a year old.
The people who had her were not satisfied with her. She was supposed to be stand offish and guard the sheep...well she didn't want to. She wanted to be with you. She wanted to sleep on the couch. She wanted to be a people!
She's nice with all the farm animals, but she doesn't want to live with them like they wanted her to.
She wants to be praised and loved and spoiled rotten.
>_<
She has that now. Hardly any room on the couch for my other dogs when she's up there.
She has only barked once since I brought her home and she's been here about a month.
She was tossing a blanket over her head and the fact that she couldn't see surprised her. So "bark!"
Nausicaa is a good girl though...not every dog in the breed will fit it's "purpose" I suppose...but that's okay!

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
interesting...
we've got a pair of 1/2 pyr 1/4 anatolian 1/4 kangal pups (littermates, male and female). they're 5 months, and bark under 2 circumstances only - something/someone in the yard (good dogs!) and playing with one of my young goat bucks (bad dogs!). we're working on reducing the play-with-goats barking, mostly because I don't want them in the habit of roughhousing the goat babies. this buck is big enough to take it but they won't all be.

we don't seem to have any miscelaneous barking at all - we hear coyotes and while that makes them get up, they don't bark about it. wonder if that's the kangal / anatolian influence.

interestingly, these 5 month old pups already have a BIG DOG bark that will make folks seriously think about proceeding or retreating... on the equavalent of full grown german shepards or rotties. wondering what they're going to sound like once they're grown...

right now they're taking about 2 minutes to decide to accept new animals. we got a new border collie - their first reaction (predator, you know) was hackles up growling, low head, tail high, threatening. brought her in on a leash, to their fence face to face with them, petted them through the fence, petted her, good dogged everyone. within two minutes they were all licking lovey wagging on her.
really interesting, they're my first LGDs and I've not worked with dogs that would make this swapover like this before. the "they accept what you do" thing really works.

very observant dogs.

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
We have a lab and a german shepherd mix now, so we like big dogs. I trained the lab to be a service dog for my son when he was younger. He doesnt need her like that now, so she is just a pet.

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
The only time we hear barking dogs is when the window is open and apparently noone in the neighborhood cares about that because some dog across the street barks ALL night long. I know because our AC was out for a week and the windows were open

 

[LotsaChicken]

Quote:
The only time we hear barking dogs is when the window is open and apparently noone in the neighborhood cares about that because some dog across the street barks ALL night long. I know because our AC was out for a week and the windows were open

My pair bark ALOT at night if they are left out to guard, which atleast one of them always is. If I have them in the house, or shut up in the barn, they don't bark at all. If they are left out to guard the animals at night, which, as I said, atleast one of them always is, they will bark off and on all night long. They have a deep, loud bark that is as big as they are. You probably do want to keep that in mind if you live in a neighborhood. It's not a problem for me. We live at the end of a dirt road!