Great Pyrenees

History

Known for their incredible ability to guard sheep, the Great Pyrenees is believed to be of the St. Bernard, Hungarian Kuvasz and Maremmano Abruzzese bloodlines. This breed soon became popular after people started to learn just how great these dogs were at guarding livestock, buildings, cart pulling and sled pulling. Today, this breed is very popular in the USA and families have learned just how loving and loyal this breed can be as a family member.

Appearance

The Great Pyrenees is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 27-29 inches in height and weighing 95-120 pounds in weight. This breed is built very tall and thick from their head to tail. Their large, triangular head is accompanied by two pendant shaped ears that fall gently along side of their face. Their muzzle is rectangular in shape and very flat on either side. Their two almond shapes eyes are not great in size, and are generally dark brown to black in color. This breed has a tail that is almost as long as they are built, that should hang low and upwards when relaxed. This breed has a double layer, thick coat that is available in solid white, off white, gray, red to brown, and white and brown bi color.

Temperament

The Great Pyrenees is a wonderful breed to add to your family even if you have little ones! Be sure to note that this breed does best when growing with your children from the puppy stage. This breed is extremely loving, gentle and devoted to his or her immediate family within the home; however this breed can be standoffish towards strangers and those not around on a regular basis. This breed is a natural herder - proper and early training classes are highly recommended to ensure an understanding of how to handle certain situations and to properly guide your Great Pyrenees through situations without him or her trying to herd small children within the home or while outdoors. This breed is very protective of his or her family and will always protect those within the home, even if their life is at risk while doing so with an intruder. This breed needs a firm and confident owner who is consistent and able to set rules and boundaries from the get go. Please note that this breed does surprisingly well with other types of pets and is known for their close bonds with cats! This breed requires a good amount of daily activity as well as a long daily walk in order to remain calm and to the best of their behavior while indoors with family. When this breed is not receiving the proper amount of mental and physical exercise needs daily, they will become very anxious and act out in destructive ways. This breed should never be left home alone for long hours every day and is best suited for a family with someone always home and who can give their dog daily tasks and jobs to help with.

Grooming

Please note that this breed does drool. This breed also has a weather resistant coat. Daily and thorough brushing is needed for this double, thick and long coat of the Great Pyrenees. Professional grooming at least twice a year is highly recommended. Some owners prefer to shave their dog.

Special Notes

Please note that this breed is known for barking. We highly recommended a properly fenced in yard for your Great Pyrenees to be safe within while outdoors for play time. Fully educate yourself prior to adding a new dog to your family to ensure you are able to meet the life long physical and financial needs of your new addition. This breed is prone to bloat, hip and disc issues as well as sensitivity to heat. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.