My wife and I may be taking a Great Pyrenees pup home over the weekend.  Do we have any Pyr owners here?

Not I but good luck with the snow covered mountain. Name it "Hund Berg"

I have two.

The litter (obnoxiously cute)


Around 8 weeks old
Tundra:


Arctic:


Last Week (around 10 months, Tundra 77lbs, Arctic 110!)

Tundra on left, Arctic right:


Arctic:


He LOVES the cat:


Out with friends:


Arctic on left, his mom and dad on the right, Arctic is now bigger than both of them:


Out with one of our other dogs Abby (Bernese Mountain Dog)


They have been easy to train for the most part, though due to their size, they can move a little slow and can be stubborn on the "down" command. However, we have not been training with food rewards.
The female Tundra has bad allergies to several common foods (Chicken and Peanut butter).  She's also "moody" and can be downright bitchy to our other dogs.  She would be a great in a single dog family.  She does OK, but it is a challenge dealing with her quirks with the other dogs.  We've got it down for the most part though.

The male (Arctic) is a beast.  He's 10 months old and 110lbs already.  He's a resource guardian.  If there is food, a water dish, the cat, even a person on occasion, he will sit down and growl at any dog that walks by. A few fights have resulted. Again, we have learned to deal with that aspect of his personality and have worked around it.

One interesting problem is their reaction to anything "holding them back" (speaking just about our dogs in particular, not the breed as a whole).  If they start barking and acting aggressive to something, if you try to hold them back, they take it up a notch. If you try to "pop" the collar to correct, again, they take it up a notch and get even more aggressive. So, we have had to find other ways to correct and redirect the bad behavior.  We found prong collars worked well for controlling them without even needing to issue a correction. If they act up, we just need to jingle the prong collar and they go lay down.  We don't even need to put it on them.

Our dogs, however, are not from a breeder.  They are from a working line of pyrs from a farm.  They weren't really bred out for their temperament in our case. Being working dogs, they also have a different coat than a show line would.
Ours were an accidental litter that a friend of our had (They didn't get around to getting their dogs fixed, they thought they were too young to breed and their female got pregnant) and we got talked into taking two of those cute little bastards :)

In general, they are laid back dogs.  They love to play in the yard with our Berner.  If it's hot out, they stay in to keep cool.  They like playing in the baby pool we have for them.  They don't need a lot of exercise and spend most of their time in the kitchen/dining room keeping cool. Our other dogs will walk you unil you drop and want to go back out and walk some more.  Our pyrs are crashed out after a walk around the block and are speed bumps the rest of the night.

They can hear better than our other dogs and are very alert.  They can hear a dog down the road barking while we are all inside watching TV.  This can be a good thing (Early warning alarm system) and annoying too.

Here is what they do most of the time:


Here is a pyr that lives down the street from us (better example of a show line type pyr):



If anyone else out there is looking for a pyr, there is a great rescue here in VA:

http://www.agprescue.com/

ETA: Owning one, much less two is interesting as they generate a LOT of attention when you are out with them.  They are like celebrities. Everyone asks about them.  Driving around with two in the back of your car also generates questions and laughs in my case (Two giant dogs, sometimes three in the back of my little hatchback, it's like a dog clown car when they all pile out)

We have a dog toy that is a ball with a giant tongue on it, yields funny pictures:


Arctic is great with our son:

Tag for puppy pics!

Chris,

Thanks so much for all of the info.  It's interesting that you brought up the farm dog/breeder temperament issues, as the dog we are looking into comes from working stock.  My main concerns are potential aggression towards other dogs, the inherent stubbornness of the breed, and it's desire to roam.

BTW, Good looking pups.

Great pics and decription.  I don't plan on owning GPs, but I am curious about their temperament; especially the working line.  Are they territorial and natural defenders or are they mostly aloof to strangers?

The ones I have seen were very mild tempered and docile, but I'm sure they were not from working lines.  As for your male that has food aggression, I wouldn't necessarily see it as a problem.  He's just dominant.

Mine are typically aloof, but cautious. With them out and about (pet stores, dog walks, etc) they tend to be on the shy side.  The male is down right a scaredy cat. We are still socializing them as much as possible, however.
In large groups of people and dogs (Like big dog related festivals and such) they warm up to being touched and relax a bit.  They have done well in several very large events.
In the cautious category, I was walking our female outside a large outdoor mall type area. A homeless dude was sitting against the wall wearing a hoodie and holding a sign.  He moved around a bit (not getting up or anything) and Tundra went off. She would not stop watching him as we past, kept her eyes on him the entire time and was letting out a very low growl. Generally, she does not like men wearing hoodies.

The female in particular can have issues with other dogs.  She has gotten snappy with a few during training class.  I would say it is more about the energy level the other dog presents and watching for the signs of aggression with her.
If an excited dog come up in her face, she will give a few signals (head will retract back, lips and nose will curl) and then she will snap at the other dog.  I watch for these signs and will turn her focus to me to avoid the issue.  If the other dog is more submissive and not in her face, no problems arise.  The male is similar, but less prone to snapping.

Aside from the male being a resource guardian and both of them being protective over toys and other objects, I have not noticed any other territorial type behaviors. However, I'm not too experienced and may not know it if I saw it.
They are pretty good off leash as well. Out in the front yard, they don't really wander off.  We don't test those waters much though. They get put out in our fenced back yard, so not much roaming there.

They are great on leash.  The really stick to your pace as long as it's normal to slow, they are no runners, and loose lead the whole time.  Our first two dogs were real pullers and these are not.  They are awesome to walk around because of that.



He is also not food aggressive towards us.  My wife and I both can go up and mess with him, his head, his food, etc. No problems. It's also, not just food.
My mother came over for a visit and sat on the couch to pet the dogs more at their level.  He came over, sat in front of her and would not let the other dogs near her.
He has done the same with me as well.  We have to watch out for fighting over toys and other objects as well.  But that can be true in any multi-dog home. We try to supervise playing with toys to avoid fighting.
Our GP's are prone to fighting over things, more-so than our other dogs, especially when objects (toys, etc) are involved.

great pics

 

I've got a Kuvasz which is a close cousin of the Pyrenees. The main pic in Wikipedia looks nothing like a Kuvasz, the ones at the end of the wiki entry do. Actually if you go back a few thousand years, they're probably the same dog as the Pyrs. Mine is still a pup but most of what you read about them holds true for mine. She is very smart, but she decides whether she wants to follow your command or do something else. She lays around a lot as well assuming she's been exercised. Sometimes with us, sometimes down at the front door to keep an eye on things.

I would not let her run loose without a fence, anywhere - not the type of dog that sticks to you like glue. She will wander off to check everything and everyone out. I've socialized her a lot with dogs and people so she is generally very friendly, but when we are right outside the house, she will growl and posture if a person or dog walks past. She about tore the door off her crate trying to get out last week when someone dropped something at my front door. So they are territorial, and the trick is to try to teach them what their territory is - if you don't, they'll decide for themselves.

also had a Kuvasz.... most loyal, protective dog I've ever seen

 

I've noticed that as well. I take my Kuvasz different places, including dog-friendly outdoor malls, and I'd say at least half the people walking by ask me, "WTF kind of dog is that?"

Most people guess GoldenDoodle, Great Pyrenees, or Samoyed. I've had exactly one guess right, and that was a lady who had owned a Kuvasz before. It's a good opportunity to educate people about the breed and about LGDs in general. I'll usually just tell them that she's a very similar breed to a Pyr, and then they understand what she is and what she was bred to do.

When I bought mine I had over 200 sheep and was starting to lose some to feral dogs.  I got her when she was 6 mos. old and wandering was a problem for the first year.  After that she settled down and never left the flock.  Her attitude towards feral dogs was different from the way she acted around coyotes.  With coyotes all she would do was place herself between the coyote and the flock and watch.  With feral dogs she was much more aggressive.  Funny thing though, my neighbor had an English Setter that would come over occasionally and Anna was very tolerant towards it.

As far as stubbornness was concerned I never really had a problem.

Kuvasz typically have a more dominant personality than GP's.

Sorry to disappoint you, Snow.  There will be no puppy pics.

The timing was/is wrong, and the pup thing will have to be put on hold.