Great Pyrenees Traits, The Quintessential Homestead Guard:
~2 themes to be aware of with purebred Great Pyrenees: Roaming tendency & nocturnal barking~
Territorial Guarding:
One consistent issue the breed does have is a desire to wander off your property lines. Not all of them do, but many of them do. They're not being "bad" when they roam, because you see....a Great Pyrenees thinks that 'their' territory ought to be 15 square miles. :-) So to them, if a good fence isn't in place, they see no reason to not take off a ways and make sure your whole street is safe from predators. For this reason, good fencing that is either 6" tall, or fencing that has a hot wire is paramountly important. If they have goats, sheep or other livestock to look out for at home, a Pyrenees dog is less likely to wander off.
Barking (It's a GOOD thing!):
Great Pyrenees bark a lot at night in order to put out the memo and establish a boundary line to unwanted intruders. After a while of a Great Pyrenees barking on your land, the predators in your area will have dubbed your property as a "No go zone".
18 years ago my earliest influence in this breed was a lady who raised Great Pyrenees on a huge ranch in Idaho. My first Great Pyrenees puppy came from her, and she said, "You know, the most comforting sound to me is hearing our Great Pyrenees barking at night. The barking means they're on the job and nothin'll go wrong.". I've never forgotten that statement. After all of the years with Great Pyrenees since then, my family & I feel the same way. So.... don't be a prude & get annoyed at nocturnal barking. Instead, be grateful for it. Nocturnal barking means your Great Pyrenees is doing their job right, so no predators are gonna kill your other animals nor a burglar ransack your house. Especially these days, everybody ought to think a lot about having security in place. How amazing is it that God gave us these devoted canines!
Fencing:
The smaller the acreage you have, the more crucial fencing is. All dogs need some kind of fencing in order to ensure they never go somewhere they shouldn't, but especially purebred Great Pyrenees. Over time & with habitual training/habit forming, older Pyrenees might stay at home with the livestock without fencing, but seriously- you can't hold any dog to staying put without some kind of fencing or electric line. Great Pyrenees have a tendency to want to roam, simply because their scope of what their territory is is a lot bigger than yours.....remember like I mentioned above, a Pyrenees's idea of 'their' territory is like a 15 miles radius instead of just a few acres). The fence must be a minimum 4 ft. high with electric hot wire in order for there to be any chance of containing a Pyrenees. If you don't want to have a hot wire, that's ok, but if it's not hot wired then the fence should be 6 ft high.
- Emily
If You Live in Town Instead of Rurally:
Great Pyrenees make wonderful family companion/guardian dogs for those who live in the 'burbs as long as they are managed with the right understanding. They are huge dogs who bark a lot if left outside, and also will try to escape a fence and wander off if left outside with a wimpy fence system. So you'll need to keep them indoors at night or when you're not at home, otherwise neighbors will fuss big time.
Our Family's History & Goals For Our Great Pyrenees:
I got my first Great Pyrenees in 2004. Once I was married & had my own family, my husband and I have had Great Pyrenees for many years and are raising our children with them. They watch over our family, our property and our goats.
When we sought out our foundational dogs, we didn't want just run of the mill Great Pyrenees. We wanted the best quality dogs we could afford. So, we purchased our foundation Pyrs from working farm stock PLUS show winning stock from old proven bloodlines. From our foundation dogs, we are building our own bloodline where we carefully select the best puppies from each new generation who have the qualities we are breeding for. EVERY GENERATION SHOULD BE AN IMPROVEMENT UPON THAT LAST GENERATION!
