Is it all good press?

[Pyr-intrested]

I have been reading a lot lately about Great Pyrenees. I have read nothing but good about them, and the sceptic in me says it can't all be good news. I do not own a Pyr yet, but the more I read, the more I want one. I want to be an informed owner, if and when the time comes. So does anyone have anything less than flattering to report about Great Pyrenees? Please understand, I am not trying to get a "Let's bad mouth Pyrs" thread going here, I just want all the facts.

[risestar]

No, its not all pudding and applesauce, theres a lot of pros and cons to them. If you are aware of the challenges with the breed and are prepared to work thru them, then you will come to love the breed. Most people that have problems are those that do not do the proper research first or that were only interested in the cute white fluffy puppy and they lost interest when then puppy grew to 100+lbs

I have laid out the bulk of the pre-ownership considerations on this page.

http://www.greatpyr.com/great_pyrenees_finding_your_pyr.php

If you have any more aside from the info pages, thats what the forums are for :)

[Pyr-intrested]

Thank you, that was extremly helpful.

[J.J.]

Well I just joined so I'm late to this discussion, but I'll add a couple of cons. These by no means outweigh the pros but they are important.

Our female pyr was highly socialized during her first year by going every day for several hours to the dog park. During her first year she was the perfect dog with others--she played gently with dogs who played gently, and played rough with dogs that wanted to play rough. (In fact with some of the tougher young dogs, she was the only one who would play with them at all.) Her best friend was a Scotty (talk about Mutt and Jeff). She could deal with the poor whacked neurotic dogs from the shelter. She was just great.

Then she hit the age of two. LOL, and decided she was the Queen Bee. We did have dog-dog aggression. For awhile we were really having difficulty, and almost had to go to a muzzle in order to keep going to do the things she loves, such as hike and go to the dog park. However, she is clicker-trained and we were fortunate to find an excellent clicker trainer with experience in aggression, and we were able to address the problem through positive training, by training a rock-solid recall and using a citronella collar as a failsafe. Now that she's matured to six years, the problem has faded. She will give a serious warning to any punk dog who tries to cause a problem with her, but she won't start a fight herself. Once she warns, she will stand frozen until I call her away (though she makes her own decision as to when she walks off with her back turned to the threatening dog, and I let her do this as I feel I am really asking a great deal of her to not fight back as I know she would prefer to do.)

My point here is that we went to a LOT of time and trouble and emotional committment and some money, too, to deal with this. We came out ok, and it's my belief that's because we took a basically positive rather than punative approach, which I think is best with this breed because they do not back down. But any owner who is not prepared to cope with this kind of thing should think hard about a pyr. My dog NEVER drew blood, and never hurt another dog, but she can turn from a delightful "animated snowdrift" to a huge snarling white grizzly bear in the blink of an eye, and this is extremely frightening to other dog owners. I don't blame them, and it was our responsiblity to address the problem.

The other con issue that we've had is cruciate ligament. We had cruciate ligament ruptures in both knees on our dog, which required major TPLO surgery. I won't go into all the details of that here-there are other forums for that--but the surgeon did comment that he was seeing more and more pyrs with the problem and feared it was being bred into the breed. So this is another possible health issue to add to the questions to ask a breeder about. (On edit: In fairness, I should add the cruciate ligament tears and ruptures are common in all dogs, because the dog knee is just not designed that well, but the surgeon did make this comment about the pyr breed.)

All of that said, we love our pyr to bits and wouldn't trade her for anything. For every con, there is the pro of a gorgeous, happy sweetheart who shares our lives and makes me smile every time I see her.

[Pyr-intrested]

Thanks J.J.
That is just the kind of information I am looking for. Still the more I hear and read, the more I want one (or two). I am in the process of buying over 100 acres, that ought to be sufficient, you think? :D

[Pyrlove]

If you're looking for a Pyr, I recommend them highly! There are a few
drawbacks but nothing that can't be overcome. They are nocturnal
dogs and they bark. Since they have been used to guard sheep, lama,
etc, they hear every little sound. Although that can be a good thing.
The barking can be alleviated either by using a Citronella Spray collar
or if necessary de-barking.

I have 2 pyrs, both female and live in the city. My dogs are inside at
night when we sleep and for the most part we are bark free through
the evening. They are wonderul, loving dogs, good with children and
other animals and since I have owned one, any new dog I get would
be a pyr. There are many in the rescue's, even puppies, returned by
owners who didn't realize they grew to be so big.

Once you have one, they will steal your heart!

[PTVroman]

I realize I am VERY late coming to this discussion.

We adopted a rescued pyr this summer - one of the 43 rescued from Geneseo, IL, and I was looking for updates to the case (none yet - case has been delayed), and stumbled onto your website.

Dreyfus is a wonderful dog. He is gentle with our kids, and loves romping with them in the yard. We were warned as part of the adoption process about barking (especially because we have little league baseball fields right behind our house). Shedding has not been a problem (we'll see about that next spring.....). Barking at the baseball fields has not been a problem. Dreyfus does bark at any passing truck / loud noise (including kids running up the stairs), but it is not prolonged barking - usually just one "woof".

Here's the problem that no one warned us about - drooling. He is a slobber monster. He has the nasty droopy jowls. When he lies around, he tends to drool on himself, so his chest and forepaws are always matted and dirty. When you finnish scritching him on the head, he inveriably shakes his head, spraying spit all over the room. When I get up in the morning to let him out, there are wet spots on the kitchen floor - not from urine, from drool. When my wife described the breed (she has wanted one for quite a while), I immagined a smaller jowl. All she would have had to do to describe the dog would have been to say "It's like an all-white St. Bernard" and I would have understood.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love my dog. Slobber is an anoyance to me, but not enough for me to give him up. But it is something that a neat freak will have to worry about. Rumor has it that female pyrs have less jowls and less slobber.

When our other dog dies, my wife wants to get a newfoundland. I will make sure we don't have the same problem. Then again, the dirt won't show up as much on a black coat.

[Christine]

oh my gosh, that last description was pretty funny (at least from here) the head shake and flying spit was hilarious ... my Pyr is a female - she does not drool --- except after drinking water --- in which case she leaves a river running wild behind - we try to keep most of her water drinking outside - however with winter coming I expect this will change - maybe she can just eat snow instead (Ontario, Canada)! :rolleyes:

[PTVroman]

Oh, you're in Canada, eh? Isn't there snow there in July? ;)

[Christine]

ya eh! - haha! - snow in July, but not till the very end of the month :)

[jeimsin]

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[lovesthem]

This is my first visit to this site and I have already learned a lot. We were given a half great pry this weekend. She is six weeks old and the first couple of days just looked at us. She would play and interact with our other four dogs but would not have anything to do with us but tolerate us petting her. In fact, my nine year old grandson said "Grandma, you got a broke puppy." The evening of the second day was like a switch turned on. Now she is very social with us. She plays and tumbles and chews on stuff. She was given to us for our goat who is pregnant. Penny is spending most of her time in the pen with the goat and they seem to be bonding. We do let the dog and the goat loose in the yard and big pasture in the evenings when we get home. After reading some of the posts I am getting concerned. We have a female Rott who has always been the goat's best friend since we got the goat when she was three months old. When the goat is loose Bubba-Ann always stays where she can watch her. The goat has gotten caught in the fence and she just sat there and barked occasionally until we came and freed the goat. The goat thinks she is a dog and chases rabbits with the dogs. Now, I am wondering if Penny is going to have a hard time adjusting. Penny's other half is Border Collie. What do you think? Am I headed for trouble?

[FATDOG]

The only two things i can think to mention would be barking and fur. My pyr is a natural born barker and he is well versed in the finer points of woof woof. it doesnt bother me because of where i live it is acceptable and often appreciated but for some this is a definate factor to be considered. as far as the other goes we have a saying in our house "it's called 'fur'-niture" if you dont like it dont come over. You must be devoted to at least 3 hours of brushing a week to maintain that regal image for a dog that goes out quite a bit. but if your pyr spends more time in a not so rugged enviroment this could be significantly lowered.

[cheryl]

Regarding drool!
Our male has a short bottom jaw, he actually had to have surgery on his lower canine teeth so they wouldn't grow up into his palet.
But you want to talk about drool!!! The kids say he slimes them.
I have a terrycloth bandana I put on him while he eats. This helps a lot.
I think I have also heard about lip tucks, don't know much about it.