Great pyrenees owners - I have questions!!

[gritsar]

I am in the process of looking for a good quality great pyr puppy and learning all I can about the breed at the same time. I know the breed would be well suited for life here on the farm, but I have one concern.
It's said that great pyrs like to wander. One website on the breed that I particularly like even stated that "a great pyr off leash = dis a pyr".
How does this mesh with them being livestock guardians?
Here's our set up. We have 80 acres. The outer perimeter is fenced with a barbed wire fence. It'll keep cows in and out, but not dogs. The only road leading in and out of our place has a cattle guard at the end closest to the main road (which is really only another dirt road, but has traffic). It's 1/4 mile from the house to the main road.
Our yard (1+/- acre) is fenced. There is a gate that I usually leave open a few inches between the house yard and the chicken's yard and coop. Their yard is open to the rest of the property. I would keep this gate closed initially.
My intention was to keep the pup in the house and fenced yard with us until 12 weeks or so and then gradually start introducing him to the rest of the property, on leash.
Is he still likely to wander off the farm if introduced to his boundaries this way? If he's going to be with the flock he'll need access to the whole farm the same way the chickens have access to all of it.
Also, we currently lease our pastures to a neighboring farmer to graze his cattle on. The cattle are shy of humans, but are very nosey about our animals. Will the pup bother the cows?
My Charlie dog, who is a wolfhound mixed with ?, but may have some great pyr in her used to love to wander far and wide, but has learned her boundaries this way and now never leaves the farm.
TIA

 

[kawonu]

We got our puppy a little older...I think he was about 10 weeks. We have 14 acres fenced and electric. He doesn't try to go through the fence. As soon as we brought him home and put him in with the goats he went straight to them and hasn't left since. He barks most nights and all night at that. He is the most energetic Great Pyr that we have ever seen. Usually you seen them just laying around. He is a little over 2 years old now and still acts like a puppy. I don't know about cows but I would say that a pup wouldn't bother other than to try and play with them.

 

[Katy]

I've never had a Pry, but two of the neighbors did and neither one of them stayed home. One had sheep and goats to take care of but still wandered the area and the other was adopted and didn't really have any flock to take care of. They both eventually disappeared. Reading all the posts about everyone so happy with their Prys I've alway wondered what made those two different.

 

[Whispering Winds]

My friend who is boarding my Alpacas in Missouri has Pyrs and she just told me that they alledgedly have an "inborn" three mile radius built in. Her little girl disappeared when someone left the gate open, and she looked all evening for her, and about 4 hours after she wandered off, she was back at the barn. She thinks that she was out for the three mile radius before she came back. Now, this just might be hype, who knows, but we have two coming and they will be totally fenced all the time, but that is a very interesting question . . .being able to get out of the fence might give them that inborn gene to take over and they would roam for awhile outside the perimeters.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
A question about the barking if I may. We're used to alot of barking, we have a border collie

. Since the chickens don't need protecting at night - they are locked in Coop Ft. Knox at night - I would probably make a habit of bringing the pyr in the house at night. This should minimize nighttime barking, no?

 

[Ridgerunner]

A friend of my wife has three Great Pyr, two adults and a pup. The adults stay with the sheep and goats 24/7 and have stopped all coyote attacks. They do not wander around and desert the animals. She is extremely pleased with the adults.

The pup is something else. When he was a few months old, he killed a baby goat playing with it. She had not trained him so did not really blame the pup. A Great Pyr is like any other dog. They have to be trained to know what is to be protected. I imagine they also have to be trained to know where their boundaries are. Too many people are too pleased with the Great Pyr as livestock guard dogs for them to automatically run away if they get the chance. I suspect a lack of training. Maybe you could contact someone at that website and question them as to what they based that statement on?

 

[DTchickens]

we got our puppy 9 years ago at 3 months old... At first she killed 2 chicks, but after trying to teach her the chicks are OURS and not HER TOYS.. she learnt quickly, i think it was a total of 4 days training. From there she protected them fending them off from every thing that could have harmed them.. She was friendly to other dogs and people, but if it wasn't in-family and it tried to mess with chickens she jump, Pounced, held down.. waited for us to get her off. Dogs she growled at, people we're not sure since she never knocked anyone down.. just a few times when we had chickens and some buddies came over messing around she would come out of the house and jump up to look them in the eyes barking and growling. a quick "NO" though and she calmed down and went back to sleep.

We never had any problems with predators and our area isn't fenced in. We live next to my aunt/grandfather though so since my cousin and i walked around all the time. She would run in a circle every night, starting from our property steady barking down past grandfathers, around aunts. back up.. finish it off. And then she'd go lay back down for 2-3 hours and do it again until daylight.

By 5 months old she alerted us of 3 possums (back to back, one a night..) 2 we shot, one ran down on the ground.. Next we knew she jumped on it and we heard "crunch".

Get a great pyrenees and teach it to stay and guard whatever you want it to guard... Will be the best dogs you've ever had.

-Daniel

PS.. if you notice most dogs after training them to not chase/kill chickens anymore.. They'll still have that desire to chase when they see them run by in their eyes. i never saw it in her... OH and if you live down south.. they do require a lot of upkeep since all the hair makes them pretty hot, Be ready for a bath everytime you walk up to them (Slobber).

ETA: Also by 4 months she WHINED.. scratched, etc.. Wanting outside. We couldn't keep her in the house. And we were told chaining them can make them seriously mean by the guy (friend) we got her from, He chained the father and now he is the only one that can come within the chain length... Not sure if that was just the individual or breed itself though.

 

[danielle82]

The two pyrs that my Mom has have designated "their" protection area to extend far beyond her actual property lines. The neighbor across the way (about 2 miles away) said they guard at the base of their hill. Not really doing anything, just laying there, watching out. I have heard tht if you walk them around the perimeter of your property lines at leasdt twice a day for a minimum of one month (but longer is better) you can teach them where your property lines are and they will view it as their protection area, but you have to do it when you first get them, before they make their own boundaries. Very cool dogs.

 

[gritsar]

When I got my chicks and they were about 10 days old, I forgot to put the puppy gate up one day and Charlie walked in and picked up a chick. She dropped it the second I told her to and the chick was unharmed. Charlie has a very soft mouth and I don't think she meant to hurt it anyhow.
She got a spanking that day - one of only two I've ever given her - and she has never even looked sideways at a chicken since. She has chased off something? that was out by their coop one night. She likes to be out by the coop, just laying around, but she's getting old and frail and we keep her in the house most of the time.
When she is outside the chickens walk all over her and she ignores them. On more than one occasion a chicken has walked up and taken food right out of Charlie's mouth and she just allows it and looks the other way.
If Charlie was a bit younger I wouldn't even need another livestock guardian, but I trained her and I'm confident I can train another.

 

[thebritt]

I took our pyr to puppy school at 12 weeks. I practiced with him all the time and I think that might have helped A LOT. He's now 4 yrs old, and if the gate's left open, he goes out to the road, marks THAT side of the fence, then comes back in. I was sure to bond well with him, which is the opposite of some pyr advisers - they say to allow the pup to bond with the herd, and that's what keeps them on their property (for the most part). If you are getting one to guard your flock, I'd probably follow the advise of others with herds/flocks to protect and lots of land. I'd teach that pup that the flock is its family, etc. If you keep it separate from the flock until 12 weeks old, you've missed the initial bonding period of the pup. As for being in the house at night, I think he'll have a pretty hard time doing his job...
Our pyr's dad spent the days on the porch sleeping, and at dusk he left for work - protecting the property/flock. This was on a 1200 acre sheep ranch, but pyrs definately recognize different boundaries than the ones we do, and neighbors had reported seeing him off the property, but within range of the sheep.
I do think any time you spend walking your property's perimeter will help.
So will spaying/NEUTERING.
One benefit to your neighbors - he'll be protecting THEIR borders too! I would definately introduce the pup to the cows so he doesn't think they are intruders.
The way a pyr works is by barking at anything out of place. That's what they've been bred to do - so teach it what IS ok, and ideally he'll only bark at what ISN'T ok.
That's my 5cents worth...Have fun, pyrs are AWESOME!