Great Pyrenees - to buy or not to buy?

[Karlyann20]

My boy is an Anatolian Shepard and Great Pyrenees mix he is two now and an absolute angel. He doesn't have a fence at home I just let him out and keep an eye on him. he is great with people pets and children. he is only cautious of new people and will bark. my boy had no training, all I did was socialized him a few times a week as a puppy. I would say his only issue as a puppy was excessive barking but its part of the breed so I just adapted to it. this breed is designed to scare off predator's and humans it doesn't know and at last resort fight off anything that it sees as a treat to its flock. I believe raising the dog well and some hands on time should be fine with this breed.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Sharing my experience here. I have a 2 1/2 yr old Great Pyrenees-Husky cross. When she was about 11 months old, she killed one of our young chickens who made the fatal mistake of going under the fence into our backyard. To make matters worse, she growled and snapped at me when I tried to take it away from her. To be fair, Huskies are known for a high prey drive. I also cannot allow her off a leash. She has a mind of her own and couldn't give a hoot if she is supposed to come or stay.

All that being said, I let her in the backyard a few weeks ago before I realized there was a chicken in the backyard again. I ran outside in a panic calling for her. To my surprise she showed absolutely no care whatsoever that the chicken was in her space. She never tried to go after it.

I still don't trust her around the chickens but I do think maybe she has matured past her interest of attacking them. Our fenced backyard shares a side with my chicken run so she is exposed to them every day.

My point is that I think breeds can have a genetic predilection but I think it really comes down to the individual personality of the dog itself.

 

[MorningGlory16]

I have an almost 7 year old great pyr. We actually had him years before we got other animals so he wasn't trained to guard as a pup, but he's amazing with all of them. Never so much as snapped at my chickens, goats or turkeys. I've never heard of them being aggressive towards anything. We bought him from a reputable breeder and his parents and grandparents guarded sheep and goats, so it just seems to be in his blood. They're great dogs if you've got the space for them- and a job for them to do. They will wander if they don't have a job though. We learned that the hard way! This is my boy Samson❤

 

[goats-n-oats]

I haven't read through all of the responses yet but my advice would be to do TONS of research.
Pyrenees, Anatolian, Gampr, Akbash, Central Asian Shepherd, Komodor, Maremma, they ALL have the potential to kill poultry and they ALL have the potential to be excellent guardian dogs, the key is in breeding and training.
Unless you get a grown proven poultry safe dog you will be looking at a minimum of 1 year of training with 2yrs old being most common for them to stop acting like puppies.
You may have luck looking on facebook groups LGD Finder and similar groups for an adult dog in need of a home.
Whatever you do, do NOT get a LGD breed mixed with another type (herding, hunting, other working breeds that are not LGDs), they aren't always troublesome but they may be harder to train and come with their share of instincts that just don't mesh with an LGD breed.

Ok thanks good advice

 

[TJAnonymous]

Oh yeah....and if you decide to get a GP, be prepared for all the HAIR! They shed like crazy!

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Bought electric fence. Would Anatolians be better?

If you are unwilling to take the time to teach a dog it’s role then invest in an electric fence with multiple strand of hot wire. The best guardian dogs were trained to be the best. No dog, base purely on breed characteristics will inherently know to guard chickens and not to kill chickens. Don’t set your flock or a new dog up to fail based on what AKC standards report. You will only be disappointed and resent the dog.

 

[AgnesGray]

I have owned LGDs for 15 years and altho’ I first got purebred Pyrs bc of their rep as “calm & good with young children as well as livestock” (I had 3 yo twins at the time), what I personally discovered ab the Pyrs is that both of your main concerns are valid at some point or another (which is why I no longer use Prys…read on)
1). My purebred Pyrs did indeed have a wanderlust that regularly took them outside our fencing on ‘adventures’, so instilling a healthy respect for fencing at a very young age is PARAMOUNT. Once your dog is big enough to really start doing his/her job, it’s too late. At 100 lbs, a dog can pretty much do what he wants & fencing becomes a ‘suggestion’ not a hard & fast boundary; so puppyhood is the time to institute that respect. As puppies they will test fencing by digging underneath or pushing through holes or loose gates, so the best & most reliable “correction” I have found is with electricity. You can’t always physically be there every time bad behavior strikes, but electrical fencing can. That said, my mature 140lb LGD will still take a hit of electricity in pursuit of a predator…if he is after a fox or coyote, we will hear the “yip!” as he clears the fence & hits the hot wire. He always comes back after he has run off the offender, but not until he has made his way around the entire outside perimeter & peed on every living tree & bush as a reminder to any other predators not to get close. He always gives us a tired, withering look when he returns as if to say, “you 2-legged idiots…of course there’s no danger INSIDE the fencing, it’s OUTSIDE the fencing where I’m needed!” To fence train, start with puppy inside a small area that you can electrify so every time he ‘tries’ a fence, it ‘reminds’ him to stay back. It may sound a little harsh, especially with a cute puppy, but these early lessons will pay off big later. Enlarge the area over time & if you see him starting to disrespect fencing, backtrack & put him where he will get a ‘correction’ if he messes with fencing. Raising a good LGD is not a hands-off endeavour…it takes some effort in the first year +, but once you have laid down the ground rules, as the dog matures & his centuries-long breeding becomes evident, you will have a truly masterful guardian who will give both human & animap predators pause about approaching.
2). Harrassing young animals during puppyhood is part of the growing-up that all LGDs do in their first year & it’s up to you to make sure it doesn’t end tragically. That LGD puppy should never be left alone with younger weaker animals that he could harm. I made a tragic mistake one summer with a 1yo Pyr puppy & a young llama about the same age. First off, never put a dog & llama together in same pasture…llamas do not like canines & are used as guardian animals themselves so what was I thinking, right? I thought raising the 2 babies together…blahblahblah, stupid human thinking she could reverse centuries of innate breeding…I thought for sure that even if the dog chased, the llama was swift enough to get away; but I hadn’t counted on the dog’s endless energy to chase. He never caught the llama but he literally gave it heat stroke bc he constantly wanted to “play chase”. It was all a game to him & he literally wore the young inexperienced llama out. I will carry the guilt of the death of that animal to my own grave, so believe me when I tell you that a young unsupervised dog’s appetite for stalk-chase-capture, even in a supposed guardian dog, is hard wired, boundless & must be shut down early & often. Many times this can be done by having an older & experienced LGD (never worked for me…my older female just sat & watched as the younger one tried to stir up sheep) OR by only penning the young dog with older livestock who won’t put up with any misbehavior & will dominate the dog by charging it. I have a very cranky old doe who will “straighten out” almost any young canine who gets rowdy with her. She has “taught” several of my young LGDs about how not to act around livestock & while it is sometimes difficult to watch the education (she dominates by butting & sometimes rolling the dog who yipes & retreats), she has been very effective. The dog learns to walk slowly & with deference through the herd & not to make trouble. I had concerns that such treatment would produce a cowering dog, but never fear. Reliably, once mature & faced with a real predator threat, the dog & the goat traded places in the hierarchy & the dog protected the very animal that had been “schooling it” so harshly for months.
Truly amazing to witness. When my dogs were young, no mstter the breed, they ALL tried to harrass young livestock (both lambs & kids & also chickens, altho the latter could generally run faster & fly up out of reach or over fences). That said, once the dogs matures, they have been magnificently effective at keeping any sort of predator, both 4 legged & 2 legged away. An LGD is not fully mature until age 2, so there is always going to be a period of behavioral exhuberance. That’s why God made parents & consider yourself a canine parent. You don’t have to “train” an LGD to do his job, but while he’s young & maturing, you DO have to make sure he has fewer opportunities to do the wrong thing, ie: curtail him & keep him out of trouble until his brain has time to catch up to his body. Same as with human youngsters. I promise that if you do this, you will have YEARS of worry-free guardianship of your herds & flocks. There is no more perfect predator repellent on earth than a good LGD. I prefer the Akbash…a Turkish breed, same all-white coloring, curlier tail, overall bigger body, less overtly friendly than Pyr…just a little more standoffish & less of a wanderer.
Best of luck to you.

^^This.

Here is a picture of our great pyrenees now, approaching his second birthday. Leading up to this point, he was born to working parents and when we picked him up he was lounging in the chicken house, but still... he killed a few in his "teenage boy" age and it was a labor of love that paid off, but it was a LABOR of love.

We ended up adopting our female LGD who is a mix of GP, maremma, and Anatolian Shepherd when she and another female in her previous pack were fighting (a common thing for LGDs to have same-sex aggression). She was also an escape artist. We've invested in hotwire on top and bottom of our fence and she's still found a way out a time or two. We now have subscriptions on trackers for both of the dogs.

They're amazing creatures and unlike any of the many dogs we've had before them. Being different comes with perks and drawbacks, but we do love them dearly. I would say that they are not an easy solution to avoid securing your birds via other measures. They need a lot of securing themselves and for the first year or so need constant supervision when with the stock.

There is a whole section on Backyard Herds for LGDs that you may find helpful if you decide to pursue this.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh yeah....and if you decide to get a GP, be prepared for all the HAIR! They shed like crazy!

Dewclaws need to be cared for also. Or clipped at birth, I suppose. We inherited an older GP that hadn't been cared for, and the nail on her dewclaw had grown so long it had curled around in a spiral and was digging into the flesh of her leg, poor thing.

 

[amandah807]

Hi all, new to the forum. I have 27 lovely chickens, 5 goats, and one dog (friendly dingo-shepherd mix). We do have foxes, bears, and large coyowolves here. I lost one hen last summer, not sure what happened to her. The different animals mostly get along mingling in the barn. The pyrenees seems to be the most popular breed in my area (northeast ohio) for protecting herds from predators. However, the breeders I have spoken to (one a backyard breeder, and one an AKC breeder) both said their puppies' parents have killed chickens. How much of the dog's behavior is nature and how much is nurture? Also unrelated to chickens, Pyrenees are known for running off, and I don't think I can handle a dog with no recall, it would be too stressful for me if it got out and I had to chase it across town (if it survived the cars). Also, I know myself and I would not have the time or patience to devot to extensive training. (The way I trained my current dog, I told him loudly, if he peed in the house again, I was taking him back to the pound. He got the message.) My current dog is pretty good about alerting me to predators, and I imagine I could just go outside and shoot them if there was a problem. I work from home and currently sleep in the barn. While wildlife predators are a threat, I'm actually more concerned with human predators. What do you think?

We have a pyrenees. She is fine with the chickens. She had never taken off, but she doesn't listen despite training. She definitely keeps predators away, human and animal. Barking is a huge issue. She barks at everything which seems to be pretty common and it is a loud bark so if you have neighbors nearby they probably won't appreciate it.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I won't tell someone whether or not to get a dog.
We got Kipper 3 years ago Sunday. She had to learn everything the hard way. She's 3/4 Pyrenees and 1/4 Bull Mastiff.
She wanted to baptize every chicken she could catch as a teenager. Literally would hold the chicken under water in the kiddie pool until it died and go get another one. Like I said she had to learn the hard way.
Now she ignores the chickens but wants to protect the geese, that try to bite her. She's a great guard dog and keeps all of the wild animals out of our yard all night long.
She never barks at people or cars, but barks at night to keep predators away. She loves all people and is very curious about everyone. Everyone LOVES Kipper.
The day we got her:

Teenage years:

Now with my oldest son: