Dog Breeds > Great Pyrenees
The Great Pyrenees
If you like to have huge dogs in your house, the Great Pyrenees might strike your curiosity. This giant gentle dog likes to be around its master and play around with children. Surely, your friends would drop by everyday just to have a good look at this great pet and companion.
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Fascinating Facts
The Great Pyrenees, also known as the Pyrenean Mountain Dog came from the cold mountains of Siberia. This breed is one of the breeds that helped develop the Saint Bernard. It is said to have descended from the Hungarian Kuvasz and Maremmano-Abruzzese.
This breed was used as guardian of the flocks because of its natural alertness against strangers, whether humans or animals. It was even used as rescuers of avalanche victims, property guardians and sled dog. In 17th century the French learned about its existence and became pets of noble families.
Physical Appearance
The Great Pyrenees measures 27 – 32 inches and weighs about 100 pounds. The wedge-shaped head is proportional to the size of the body with muzzle that is the same size of the back skull. The slanted dark brown eyes are medium-sized. The lips and nose have the same dark color. The ears are V-shaped and are drooping low on both sides of the head.
The chest of the Great Pyrenees is wide and strong. The tail is long enough and well feathered; it reaches the hocks and stands up when it gets excited. The double coat is weather-proof; the under coat is thick and the outer coat is flat and thick. The male Great Pyrenees have mane around the neck and shoulders. The coat color comes in white, wolf-gray, tan reddish-brown and yellow.
Grooming
The Great Pyrenees needs extra attention especially when it is shedding its thick under coat. While shedding, make sure that you brush its coat carefully so that too much falling of hair would be prevented. Bathe only if necessary.
Mood
The Great Pyrenees is brave, affectionate, calm and behaved. The Great Pyrenees is naturally distant with strangers, be it a human or animal. This breed is only loyal with its master. It can also live harmoniously with other pets inside the house especially with cats. The only thing that should be changed with this breed is its constant habit of barking loudly.
This breed can become independent and uncontrollable if it sensed that its master is timid. This kind of behavior should not be tolerated because a huge dog leading the household could mean a lot of trouble.
With Children
This breed is excellent with children. It could play for a long time without getting tired. Owners/handlers/trainers should not let small children play with the Great Pyrenees unsupervised so that untoward incidents could be prevented.
Training & Exercise
The Great Pyrenees should always have lots of exercise in order to be in top condition. Daily long walking or jogging is the recommended exercise for this breed to properly spend its great stamina.
When it comes to training, this breed may be difficult to train because of its being independent. You can bring its focus by offering food reward during training. Make sure that you only use calm and gentle words when training it because tough and harsh words would offend it and would surely make it more independent and mindful.
Health & Life Expectancy
The Great Pyrenees can live up to 10 years. This breed likes cold temperatures and gets irritated easily on hot weather conditions. This dog is prone to bloat that’s why owners/trainers/handlers should feed it with three small meals every day instead of one big meal per day. Bone cancer, hip dysplasia and luxated patellas are also some of the health related concerns that should be expected to occur on this breed.
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