I have met two Great Pyranees, and find them so pretty, and they seem kind and quiet. I have noticed someone in my area advertising a Great Pyranees/Labrador Retriever cross, so I’m assuming a pet, and another advertiser says good as pets or LGDs. Are they? Do they make good pets, having a bed in the house at night? Or are they so dedicated to livestock duties they wouldn’t be happy as an indoor/outdoor house dog. We do have acreage, and could roam a bit during the daytime.
A Great PyRENees might make a good pet if you can afford to feed it (they are LARGE dogs!) and if your lifestyle matches the exercise and other needs of this particular breed.
Why don’t you go to westminsterkennelclub.org and look up the breed information, and any links to the breed that you see there?
Without knowing you, or your lifestyle, no one here could advise you on whether or not you might be suited to a Great Pyrenees or any other breed.
If you want to get a Great Pyrenees-Lab mix, consider why on earth anyone would deliberately cross those two breeds? They are not in the same group, they were developed for very different jobs, and there is no reason on earth to support a backyard breeder who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
If you want a mixed breed, support a rescue, if it is a reputable one.
I have met so many rescue dogs that were rescued from abusive situations and cannot be trusted around strangers, on leash or off.
As to “roaming a bit,” would the dog be confined to your property? Are you sure? How would your neighbors feel about your dog roaming if it got off your property? How would you feel if it got shot, hit by a car, or lost and you never learned what had become of it?
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I don’t want a mix, I mentioned that because clearly it is a cross with an entirely different breed, known for good pet qualities. I do a lot of rescue, so please, I don’t need a lecture. I live in the country. I’m curious if anyone has any experience using a GP for anything other than a guardian dog. Anyone? And also thanks; I have looked up the breed in the past.
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I have friends who keep them as just pets. No “purpose” other than being a friend. They are perfectly good family dogs from what I’ve seen and none of the people I know with them have acreage. They live in subdivisions and have fenced yards… dogs are indoor dogs. The shedding is too much for me to deal with, but I like the dogs otherwise.
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rockonxox, thanks.
I have a 14 month old GP. He is purebred that I got from a rescue situation. His parents and his other surviving brother was taken by a county shelter when the puppies were 5 days old. I was supposed to foster the 2 puppies. One passed away immediately after transport. The other I ended up keeping. He is an absolute love bug. Only behavioral issue is resource guarding and I am always working on that. He is 99 percent couch potato. We have property, but neither he nor my Australian Shepard are working dogs. They run and play but he is quick to chill. They do not stay outside unless we are with them, so yes they can be indoor pets.
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I’ve had 2 - they are beautiful, sweet dogs, but have a very strong desire to roam and protect the property. We installed an invisible fence, had to shave their necks for them to feel it, but even then one of them would run thru it. I would come home from work to find him sitting outside the boundary waiting for me to take off his collar so he could go back in. He ended up being hit by a car about mile away, so unless I had a better fencing system or lived very far from any traffic, I wouldn’t have another. They do not eat as much as you might think for such large dogs, so that wasn’t a problem. Mine had beds and a doggy door into the garage, so didn’t come in the house, but keeping them contained at night might be a good idea because mine would also bark at night - probably at coyotes, but it was still annoying. They got along great with our cats and horses, I assume would protect them if necessary.
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I fostered one and he was THE SWEETEST dog I have ever met. Bar none, best personality of any dog I have ever encountered. He was actually a Pyr/husky mix. I’m also a volunteer for Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, which rescues a ton of Pyrs. They have very clear “rules” on adopting a Pyr, and for good reason.
These dogs ROAM. A physical fence is an absolute must. They are also not terribly “obedient,” in the sense that they believe coming when called is optional and only a fool would “sit” just because he was told to.
In my opinion, these dogs can make great family pets because they are so sweet and loyal. But that’s for a family that understands them and can properly confine them.
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My cousin has a pyr pup she bought in the fall. He is a good boy, but she notices a big difference in training him vs her previous dogs, who were of more biddable breeds. They are independent thinkers, bred to work things out on their own vs receiving input from people. He can not be trusted off leash at all, but is great with her young grand kids. He is on a run right now, until spring when she is going to fence her property for him. He is a good house dog. She takes him often to the pet store that offers self serve wash bays, and it takes her over an hour to wash and blow dry him. They brush him out every night.
If you plan to add a pyr pup, my suggestion is to check the breeder out carefully. They need a ton of socialization starting from very young, and continuing throughout life. IMO Positive reinforcement training is going to work better than traditional methods with any of the less biddable breeds.
Some other people I know had a pyr and did not continue with socializing once the pup grew bigger She ended up showing aggression to extended family when they came to visit (which was fairly often), eventually resulting in euthanasia.
Thanks; I really appreciate everyone’s input.
I’ve only known one, from about the time she was a pup until about a year old, then I moved across the country. She was owned by one of the barn staff who lived on the property.
She wasn’t a roamer, but I think that’s because there was always other people and dogs around when she was outside. She was out with her owner most of the day, and inside with her at night.
She was very friendly to people and other dogs, and submissive to other dogs.
She was an independent thinker though. If she wasn’t ready to go up to the house for lunch, etc she would just lay down, the bigger she got the harder it was do pick her up or drag her. Treats and toys weren’t very motivating for her.
They’re way too hairy for me though, and that’s coming from someone with an Aussie X Bernese.
I have a friend who has one she got through Big Fluffy Dog Rescue. She can be a sweet dog with people, but she is different. She is a farm dog (no livestock, just equines), and spends most of her time outside (which she does prefer). When I farm sit, if the dog is out at night, I do not get much sleep because she BARKS. ALL. NIGHT. Foxes, and deer and whatnot must be kept away. If I keep her in at night, the barking starts around 3 am, and I give up and throw her out.
She does like other dogs, but only on neutral territory. She is very protective of her territory, and she will rough up non-resident dogs, even if she played nicely with them somewhere else. She roughed up my cocker spaniel more than once, even when we thought she was over it. I never trust the Pyr with my dog, she is good at the sneak attack.
While she is sweet with me, I do know of people who are intimidated by her. My friend got her to protect her and the property, so the dog is doing her job. Oddly, she is not food motivated, so when she is in a mood, there is no moving her to do what you want her to do. (But she is food bowl aggressive, with people and other animals, go figure).
I live in a townhouse, and had a neighbor with one. Also a female. She was sweet, and I don’t recall her being barky
Beautiful dogs. A lot of them seem sweet. Some of them are more aggressive to strange dogs, other animals, and even people outside the family that they encounter routinely in real, modern life (aka not on farms hundreds of acres, and located within populated areas on smaller and smaller properties…within those unnatural limits the dogs are bound to get it wrong. And of course some are poorly bred. And who can blame the breed for confusion…are they livestock guardians or pets or ???
But regardless, I just couldn’t handle the grooming required to make one semi-suitable for life inside my house. They are big, hairy, and STINK in their natural state. And their natural state is very hard conquer. I’m not overly fastidious and have lived with several very stinky lab/hound cross house dogs that that are not nearly so big, furry, shedders, nor as stinky as the average GP that I have encountered in exam rooms, over and over. Granted, I think most are not regularly bathed or groomed. But how awful. Terrible. So stinky and gross. Can’t imagine living with that stink.
I’m sure it actually varies from dog to dog, etc. But I do think the above poster that mentions how much time, bathing, and brushing efforts are involved with a house pet GP speaks the truth. So how much time and grossness are you willing to deal with? No enough for a GP, but that’s just me!
I would question the wisdom of anyone crossing a LGD with a sporting dog designed to hunt. But then again, I’m generally against cross-breeding for many reasons.
You do not know that you’ll get only the best qualities of each breed if you just randomly cross two different breeds. You may just get a giant hunting dog with a thick, stinky, oily/water repellent coat.
We had a GP that I got at 6 months old. She was a good dog, EXCEPT she barked, A LOT and she roamed. We “raised” her with my son who was a toddler at the time. Whatever you raise a GP with, they will guard, remember that. No one could even raise their voice to the child in the presence of that dog and if you would have smacked him I think you would have lost an arm. For the most part, she was a good dog. She loved people, left the chickens, cats and horses alone, but she patrolled the property, barking, all night long. 60 acres so she had room to roam. She was also untrainable and you could not put a collar and leash on her.
NoDQhere, thanks for your post. A friend of mine who lives in a suburb considered a GP offered for adoption through a rescue out of her area. Her particular town has a shortage of rescue dogs. She has a toddler, and it sounds as though a GP would be entirely wrong for her.
I have a friend who rescued one. Very beautiful and sweet bit absolutely a hard nut to train, even SIT was unreliable. And she wore a path along the fence line.
My parents have a GP. They got her as a puppy and she’s now ~3 years old. They live in a college town, so starting as a puppy she was very socialized (walks through campus with the hoards of college students wanting to pet the white fluff ball). She’s a super sweet dog with the family, not too energetic, and is not as big as you would expect. The have a fenced in yard so she can run/ stretch her legs/ protect (in her mind) and she likes that. They also take her for leashed walks 1-2 times per day.
The notes of caution I would mention:
-even though she was socialized as a puppy, she’s gotten very particular about who she likes and doesn’t like as she’s aged. There seems to not be a rhyme or reason to who she dislikes, so my parents are very careful to only walk her in uncrowded areas.
- they had to teach her to not bark at night as she wanted to keep guarding the house. During the day she will bark at passing bikes/people/the mailman and only howls for fire engines. The howling is a little funny because it is just the fire sirens that cause it. She will not how for police or ambulance sirens.
-the shedding is like nothing I’ve seen before. They “blow out” their coats 1-2x a year and I was visiting the last time. CLUMPS of hair would fall out…CLUMPS lol
I think some of her occasional aggression towards people stems from her need to have a job and not having one. The aggression could also be just an individual quirk but I wanted to mention it as it really is the dog’s only flaw (IMO). Again, it’s manageable but a little bit of a pain because they do live in a moderately populated area.
If I were to get a GP for myself, I would want to have a house with some land. I would also try to do as much socialization and obedience training as I could starting from a young age in a effort to have a better handle on the general guarding tendencies.
The untrainable comment surprises me because mine is VERY trainable. He was reliably housebroken by 6 weeks.
And by about 8 weeks he had learned sit, come, down, stay and heel. He walks beautifully on leash. He also knows shake, speak, whisper, up in car, off, leave it and other things. He is not a barker unless there is a good reason to bark. But then again, keep in mind that I raised him from a 5 day old puppy and he went EVERYWHERE with me. And I spent time every day from the time he was old enough to start comprehending things, training him. Mine is VERY food motivated and I did use clicker work and shaping behaviours that were natural to him.
My neighbor has two as LGDs. They do bark all night, but I’m far enough away it doesn’t bother me. They are behind hotwire and have never strayed, even when the fence was off and the sheep were going in and out.
Cutter99 has one that she got because it was a roamer. She’s a sweet and beautiful dog.
StG
