Great Pyrenees question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Great Pyrenees, and volunteer with an organization that places a lot of LGD. If you're thinking that a GP is anything like a white colored Golden Retriever, you would be sadly mistaken.

GP tend to be nocturnal, and do bark a lot. Day and night. And by that, I mean that if a squirrel farts 5 miles away, they will hear it and bark to let the squirrel know who's the boss. Because they are guardian dogs, they have been bred to a) be suspicious and b)work independently from humans. This can then mean that GP are often intolerant of beings not in their pack (dogs and strangers), and can be difficult to train. It is exceedingly common in GP, even in very young dogs, to see resource guarding and food aggression. GP considers everything they can see (and probably hear) to be part of their territory, and they will wander if loose. They either need to be behind a secure fence, or leash walked, because they absolutely will never be 100% reliable off-leash.

That said, my GP is considered a starter Pyrenees. He has decent recall for the breed. He is ridiculously people friendly. He is somewhat dog selective but not dog aggressive, and especially tolerant of puppies (so I can foster within certain parameters). But, he has all the other qualities of a GP. We don't have any nearby neighbors, so the barking is generally not a problem.

This is all true.

We found our Great Pyrenees on the side of the road. No one was even looking for her, so we got to keep her.

We live way out in the country at the end of a gravel road, so the barking wasn't a problem. It's a deep, low bark and I didn't find it annoying at all.

I agree that it's insane to keep a Pyrenees in a hot climate. And although our dog was easy for a Pyrenees, they aren't good starter dogs. After our dog died, we looked into getting another one, and the Pyrenees rescues are very careful, and rightly so, about where they are placed. We ended up with a St Bernard mix, but our GP was a really special dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a giant estate for them to patrol? Because that's what they were bred for.

Aside from that, I think it's terrible to have a cold-weather breed like that (or huskies, malamutes, etc) in DC's 90* and 100% humidity. They must be so miserable 8 months out of the year.

Do you leave your dogs chained outside?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why this is a good breed to be a family pet in our climate. They are lovely but it makes no sense. I feel the same way about Border Collies.

PP with the GP. I wouldn't get a BC, because I will not be able to meet its needs, either physically or mentally. GP are basically lazy dogs. Mine loves to go for walks, but if he doesn't get one, it's not a big deal. Summer is not his favorite, but he mostly sleeps in the cool basement anyway, opting to go out early and late, so it doesn't really make a huge amount of difference to him. Winter is his favorite of course, and he reminds us to get out and about when we would really rather not (but isn't insistent because like I said, he's happy to patrol the yard and sack out). He is a really nice dog, and pretty enough to stop traffic. He gets by on his looks; my mom likes to say that the fluff is not just on the outside, but between his ears too. And that suits me just fine, because smart dogs are much higher maintenance than not so smart ones.

I would argue that hiding in the basement all day does not mean he’s fine but whatever.

In the winter, he's outside, sleeping under the deck. In the summer, he's inside, sleeping in the basement. Six of one half, half a dozen of the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the honest feedback on GP. They wouldn’t be a good fit so I’ll scroll on past them. Beautiful dogs, though.

Go for a Golden! They are wonderful family dogs. Mine (I've had 3) have never had a wandering instinct at all (want to be close to us!) have always had excellent recall, totally trustworthy even with babies and kids, and my current Golden does actually "guard" in a low key way. He won't bark at a squirrel or someone walking down the street, but if someone comes to the door, he barks. The shedding is real, though I think most Golden owners would say it's worth it. I rake him out once or twice a week and vacuum central areas he tends to spend most of his time in every other day. We have to use the rollers before leaving the house, particularly with dark clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why this is a good breed to be a family pet in our climate. They are lovely but it makes no sense. I feel the same way about Border Collies.

PP with the GP. I wouldn't get a BC, because I will not be able to meet its needs, either physically or mentally. GP are basically lazy dogs. Mine loves to go for walks, but if he doesn't get one, it's not a big deal. Summer is not his favorite, but he mostly sleeps in the cool basement anyway, opting to go out early and late, so it doesn't really make a huge amount of difference to him. Winter is his favorite of course, and he reminds us to get out and about when we would really rather not (but isn't insistent because like I said, he's happy to patrol the yard and sack out). He is a really nice dog, and pretty enough to stop traffic. He gets by on his looks; my mom likes to say that the fluff is not just on the outside, but between his ears too. And that suits me just fine, because smart dogs are much higher maintenance than not so smart ones.

I would argue that hiding in the basement all day does not mean he’s fine but whatever.

In the winter, he's outside, sleeping under the deck. In the summer, he's inside, sleeping in the basement. Six of one half, half a dozen of the other.

+1. Mine was a Pyr lab mix. He'd be on our front porch in 10 degree wind chill sleeping soundly. I'd open the front door and try to get him to come in, but he'd refuse. He would instead lift his head and with a serious looking his face, look out into the yard and bark. He was saying "I'm fine out here, I have a job to do." So cute.

[Anonymous]

I'm PP. My point is, we let our dog in or out of the house as he chose. I had a family member who was always like "oh that poor dog out in this heat," or "you kept your dog outside when it was so cold?!" Eh, when he wanted in, he came in, when he wanted out, he went out.

[Anonymous]

We adopted a Pyr at age 2, he had been a working dog with his sister and the owners moved and didn’t want to take the dogs. He could not be more loving to our family, wonderful with the kids, and loves to cuddle and be loved on. He is a legit guard dog though, once he identified our family as his pack he got very protective. He will be aggressive to strangers coming to the house so we have to be cognizant and introduce him properly to visitors (or keep him in a separate room if we have repair people coming, etc.), but once properly introduced he remembers that person and then they are cool (he knows who our out of town parents are even though he only sees them like twice a year). When I am walking with him he does not like people approaching us from behind. I feel exceptionally safe having him. The breed is not for a new dog owner (we had malamutes previously) but we love him and he’s been a great addition to our family.

[Anonymous]

If you like the look of a GP but want more family friendly then consider a Samoyed. We have had several and they are beautiful and friendly and a lot of fun. They are also surprisingly great at agility trials. They do require a lot of grooming but they smell good as they don’t have traditional dog smell. They are also good for many with allergies. One caveat. You need to either have a job from home or a walker that comes in for a long walk but being home is preferred as they are pack animals and get very sad along and can chews up things. As a working breed they also like a job so we play fetch and do agility exercises in our yard.