They are often called "Gentle Giants"

[rpcrowe]

Which is a fitting nickname for the Great Pyrenees...


There is a lot of love between Serena and my friend's baby. The little girl's face lights up whenever she sees Serena and Serena loves to sniff her...

[pnodrog]

A lovely looking dog. (and baby)

[John 2]

Gorgeous animal. They look gentle and so elegant.

[Cantab]

Richard, I've seen some of your other photos of Serena. But this one demonstrates her actual size!

[rpcrowe]

Serena is actually a small example of a Great Pyrenees. While most female Pyrs average 80 pounds or so at the minimum, Serena weighed 65 pounds at her last vet visit. At 18 months old, she should be pretty close to full size!

The vet says she is in perfect health and may just be a smallish example of the breed (often nick named a "Pocket Pyr") or she may be a mix with some other breed.

I ordered a DNA test and sent it off last week. I am curious and want to find out if Serena is pure bred or a mixed breed.

It really doesn't make any difference. She is, at 61 pounds, plenty big enough to discourage any coyote from climbing my fences and she demonstrates all of the protective yet gentle characteristics of the Great Pyrenees bred.

This Christmas picture might also give you an idea of her size...



BTW: She may not be large but, she is exceptionally powerful!

[rpcrowe]

We had Serena tested with the Wisdom Panel DNA test and have just received the results. Despite her relatively small stature, Serena appears to be 100% Great Pyrenees.



I can't say that I am really surprised. She exhibits all of the good (and a few of the not so good) characteristics of the Great Pyrenees breed. However, her "good" characteristics, loyalty, gentleness and protective instincts far out-weigh her "not-so-good" characteristic - mainly her decision to occasionally not to come in when called. She does that when she decides that the property needs some additional protection...

[tbob]

I was always happy to have one of this breed come in for exam or therapy. Absolutely predictable in temperament and behaviour. Which was always good. Even the ones that were dedicated to sheep and property guarding, and had minimal to no human interaction. Always accepted whatever had to be done. However, I would never muck around with these guys if you were on their territory uninvited. Never got bitten, but having a 60 kg (130 lb) dog make it absolutely obvious you needed to leave was quite intimidating.

[rpcrowe]

I agree - the Great Pyr is not generally a biter but, can defend itself quite well. Serena's jaws are strong enough to bend a chain link fence out of shape. I have seen her angry against a coyote and I certainly would not want this dog as angry at me! BTW: Mr. Coyote did not linger long outside our fence.

I talked to a professional dog trainer who told me that she never had a Pyr in for training because of aggressive behavior.

[Jim A]

Have not read the responses above, Richard, but your first two pics are gorgeous!

[tbob]

I talked to a professional dog trainer who told me that she never had a Pyr in for training because of aggressive behavior.

There may be some variation in temperament and tendencies depending on genealogy. I was mainly working with dogs bred and selected for sheep guarding. Even the individuals brought into households were from that gene stock. Sheep guarding requires intelligent, strong willed, self reliant animals as they spent 99% of their time intermixed with sheep and have to identify and deal with threats with no human direction. They are incredibly independent and Intelligent. I would suspect training would require them to be "on board" with the program and would respond very poorly to any coercive techniques. (I do not want to imply the trainer uses those, not knowing them) It would definitely be a partnership proposition. I had to do some painful procedures (joint and bone surgeries) and manipulations. As long as myself and the staff did things in a way the animal understood we were trying to help, they were compliant and cooperative. I truly believe they were intelligent and conscious enough to assess this. And inherently cooperative.

[rpcrowe]

Unfortunately there are far too many Great Pyrenees who are given up by their owners. This is mostly a case of the dog being put into the wrong environment. These dogs do not fit well in a small yard and are totally wrong for an apartment.

Serena was purchased by a teenage girl who lived in a rental apartment. Her landlord gave her a choice - either the dog goes or she gets evicted. Luckily for all concerned we were able to rescue Serena.

We have a large fenced in property of just over an acre. Serena has taken charge of the area and just loves it. A large active dog should have a place to run...



I also believe that a Pyr needs a flock to protect. We have four other dogs - all of whom are small. We decided to get a guardian dog when some lone coyotes began displaying a lot of interest in our property and dogs.

The first thing that Serena does when she goes out in the morning is patrol the fence line to insure that no intruders have breached the fence during the night. It is a good feeling to have that type of security.



I just read on our local neighborhood Internet Site, that a coyote grabbed a small dog not too far from where we live.