Hello everyone, im new to this so i hope im doing this right.
Im getting a pyrenean on Saturday as his owner has passed away and he spends all his time on his own so his family have decided to rehome him.
I have done alot of research on the internet about this breed as i have wanted one for around 2 yrs now and from what i have read they seem like gental giants, i have a child who totally adores dogs and would love to have a house dog but im a little worried bout the way he will be with her, the lady has said that he had been brought up with children and that he doesnt have a harmful bone in his body but i suppose anyone has these thoughts when getting a rescue dog. i have already put a baby gate on the kitchen door so if he wants a break from her he can wonder off into there.
Im really excited about this, he is 7 years old which i know is old but i can give him a good loving home for the rest of his years.
Ill get some photos on here as soon as i can, any help or advice would be great as this is my first pyrenean.
Many thanks

Hiya and welcome to the forum :D Pyreneans are on the whole gentle giants with kids i have 2 Akira my wee girl i have had from a puppy and Storm my rescue boy i have had him for 11 months now , he came with some issues but we have been working on them slowly and we are getting there , making sure your boy has some space is a great start . Pyreneans are a lovely breed but can be very stubborn and independant , as they were bred to think for themselves and work on their own you will find all kinds of help and advice on here , the training and behaviour section on the board might come in useful and we are always around to answer any questions if we can . I dont know how old your daughter is and how dog savvy she is , so its hard to try and think up some of the questions you might have so anthing you feel you would like to know please feel free to ask anything you feel you need to :D

When i got Akira i must have asked hundreds of questions on here and again when i got Storm , poor Vera must have been demented at times but she has the patience of a saint and gives really good advice :D

At 7 i would think your boy will probably have some basic training and manners so he might just slot into your family and be the perfect pet , or he might have some problems settling in to start with , Pyr's are very sensitive dogs which a lot of people don't realize because of their size , so he might be a wee bit unsettled but with the right kind of guidance and love from you i am sure you will be able to work through any teething problems :D

Looking forward to seeing some pics of him :D

Fiona xx

Hi and welcome! Not really much add to Fiona's post ;) . I must say though that 7 is not that old yet for a pyrenean as they easily live to 12 or 14 years old. My husband's previous pyrenees was 14 when he died! Our current one, Troy, is 6 1/2 now and I don't see him as old at all!

Looking forward to hearing more from you! :)

Many thanks for the warm welcome, my daughter is 3 yrs old in september but is totally dog crazy, my daughter had some learning problems and the doctor said that a house dog would be great for her. The lady who is bringing him to us has said that she has grandchildren and he totally loves them but i suppose its everyones concerns when getting a new dog. i really cant wait for the opportunity to own such a beautiful dog, he will be so much loved the only concern i have is where he will fit in my car :D i have a rover 1600 so ill have to think about that :huh: I thought with his age i might have a few problems setteling him in as its understandable that he will be scared and feel very much alone but a lot of love and cuddles will hopefully bring him out of his shell.
Can this breed be let of the lead? i have been looking for all different kinds of research but not found anything to say any different.
Thank you again for the warm welcome its nice to know they are ppl out there who you can ask for advice or help when needed.

Personally i never let my 2 off lead unless they are in a secure fenced off area Pyr's tend to like to head for the hills when off lead and a 100% recall while not impossible is very difficult with our independant Pyr's who like to roam their territory which they might just think is somewhere near the horizon :D

I have had Storm 11 months and he has never been off lead in a public place unless as i said it is totally secure , a 12 stone Pyr running over to somebody barking to say hello could be a recipe for disaster and very frightening for somebody who does not know he is only saying hello because of the sheer size of Pyr's a lot of people can be scared of them before they do anything so i personally would never put him or myself in that position . Akira used to get off led with my Dobermann Taz before he died as he would round her up and bring her back to me if she decided to do a runner , which she did a couple of times so i decided it was safer to have her on lead than take the chance that she would run off and get herself into trouble . They do not run with the pack like a lot of other breeds do and please don't let anyone try to convince you it will be ok as all dogs have a pack instinct , i have been on walks and been told the same thing but i know my dogs and i know they wont stay beside other dogs , ok yes they will run around and play for a wee while and even recall a couple of times but then they would just bolt and no amount of calling them would get them back until they decide its what they want to do , so for their own safety i wont let them run with other dogs , my dobe had 100% recall 100% of the time my Pyr's dont but i knew that before i got them and i love their independant spirit and accepted that they would have to be onlead a lot more than Taz was , he was off lead most of the time because his recall was so reliable .

I cannot remember the wording of the dangerous dogs act but i found it quite scarey that somebody could report one of my dogs just because they felt frightened or intimidated by them , even just the dogs going near them not even needing to bark or jump at them , i know both my dogs well but for somebody that did not know them a huge dog running at them barking would probably frighten them regardless if they knew a dogs body language well or not and that could cause so many problems if they reported an incident , dog owners have to have proper control of their dogs at all times , a cute little poodle running up to somebody barking would not really be intimidating but a Pyr doing it :o

As for him fitting in your car ? That really depends on the size of him and if he is used to travelling , if he gets in and lies down he will probably take up the whole of the back seat , but if he is not used to travelling he might not settle very well you will only find that out through trial and error :D

Phew now i have wrote a book i need another coffee :lol: :lol:

Fiona xx

I totally agree... Troy is never off lead unless the area is fully fenced and secure! He too will just run and trot until something stops him or until he thinks it's time to go home! In addition, he does not get on with most dogs so we couldn't take the risk with him anyway!

Vera

Hi
Well not letting him of the lead is not a problem as my mam is huskie breeder and her dogs aint let off so ill have to invest in a long lead i think for the beach and stuff. Do they need more excerise than other breeds, i have 2 different storys on pyrenean, one is they are extremelly lazy and will lay down all day and the other is that they need Alot of exercise.

I think you will find this very much depends on the individual dog :D Akira has always been on restricted exercise to give her bones , joints muscles etc the chance to develop well and i am so glad i did this as she was recently diagnosed with Hip dysplasia which could have been a lot worse if she had had a lot of exercise .

Storm came to me very over weight and was very slow and lumbered around for a while until the weight started coming off him even now after 15/20 minutes walking he has had enough hopefully the fitter he gets he might enjoy longer walks but i find my 2 really quite lazy to be honest they will go out in the garden and play around for about 5/10 minutes then lie down and go to sleep :lol: :lol:

As your boy is older you might find he has been used to longer walks but i am sure he will adjust to your lifestyle given time and you will soon find out how much exercise he needs , when Storm first came here he would wander along slowly for a wee while then just stop dead and refuse to move , and when a big guy like him refuses to move there really is not a lot you can do :unsure: so i soon learned to take him for a wee gentle stroll and as soon as i thught he was getting tired i would turn around and come home with him

Fiona xx

Lol awww bless him, i suppose ill find all this out from himself but i just want to be ready for him. At the moment he is spending 13 hours on his own as the lady who has works and she said that she doesnt have time to brush him as much as she should and he is only getting one walk a day. Also in the summer do they need a hair cut? Im sorry to be asking so many questions but i just want to do the right thing by him.
Thanks for the replys you have already given me, i have an idea of things that were blank before.

Sam xx

Ask away we are always happy to help if we can :D

Pyr's do not need a hair cut their lovely coats keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer , cutting their coats can cause all kinds of problems for them and for us ;) So no trimming allowed :lol: :lol:

It is great that you are doing as much research as you can before you get him into you home , i did over 25 years research before i took the plunge into the wonderful world of Pyr's to get a good understanding of the breed is really important , but you will still be surprised to realize that you can ask a Pyr to do something but whether they do it or not is entirely up to them to a point , they do it in their own time and only when they feel like it , you can almost see them thinking "and whats in it for me? " "why should i have done that all ready? " "And your point is? " And loads of other "looks " you will soon learn to understand :lol: :lol:

Training a Pyr takes the patience of a saint and you will never get the same level of obedience as say a well trained Dobe or German Shepherd who were bred to work for and along side humans . Our Pyr's were bred to think for themselves and be independant and boy does it show sometimes :D

They can be exasperating, stubborn as a mule and really independant but theres no other breed like them for me i love the challenge of getting them to do as i ask them to do and accept that they wont always listen and do as i ask but thats the fun of these gorgeous dogs , don't get me wrong both my dogs are quite well mannered and behave well now but it has taken a lot of hard work to get where i am with them today and training is an on going thing that i do daily Akira and Storm have both passed their kennel club bronze and Silver awards and are working towards the Gold so it can be done but it does take a lot of hard work and commitment but putting the work in is so worth it :D

Fiona xx

Pyrs generally take as much exercise they get. If you walk them an hour a day that is absolutely fine, and if you offer four hours then they will like that too! And if you have to skip a day for whatever reason, then they won't hold grudges either! They are generally fairly easily pleased in that respect, especially as they get a little older.

Vera

Thanks alot for the advice, now i no its a big no no to the hair cuts :D also one very last question how much do they eat? my mam has an akitia and she is a very big dog but eats very little so i was just thinking do they need as much food as you would think?
;)

Pyreneans tend to eat a fairly small amount for such a big dog. Our Troy gets 5 mugs of CSJ food a day. In comparison, our lurcher that is just over a third of Troy's weight eats 4... :o

Hi Kittania,

I have a 7 month old pyrie, JD, and also new to the world of Pyreneans.

I have 2 girls (5 and 10) and she has been brill with them. Few slight probs at first with Kiara (anagram of Akira :D ) my youngest. JD thought she was a another puppy and want to play with her , mouthing her all the time but that has stopped now.

I have bought this book and found it useful. I have also met the dog, Rufus on the front cover - he's a cutie.

Petlove Book

Fiona - there's definitely a lack of a lack of good pyrie books on the market, why dont you write one.

Also, the Pyrenean Mountain Dog club PMDC

I am a member and you get loads of info and a monthly magazine. I recently went to Crufts with PMDC on the discover dogs Pyrenean Mountain Dog stand. That was great fun and great to meet other people have pyries. Thats reminds me, I have got to write an article for there magazine about the day.

Gaynor

Hi Cheeks and everyone else.
Well Jake is here :D and he is a giant baby, he just wants loves after loves.
He is great with my daughter my only concern is he licks her hair and then paws her back and try's to climb on top of her, seems he is getting alittle frisky with her so any suggestions on that would be great. He needs alot of attention paying to his coat as all the back end is frizzy and tangeled so tonight is a good brushing for him. I have taken some pics of him but he seems camera shy and i cant get a good one of his face but will do when he aint looking :unsure:
He has only eatten around 2 biscuits which is understandable but he has had a good drink so im not to worried, at the moment tho you cant leave his sight as he barks and crys :( i suppose he is feeling alittle insecure at the moment so it looks like a night on the sofa for me :P He is so loving and all my family have fallen in love with him already, i think it was love at first sight even for my dad who said he has to come and stay next weekend with us (easter).
The lady has said he doesnt have treats well i thought sod that he deserves treat but everything i have offered he sniffs and walks away and she has also said he is trained only to do his business when out on walks and not in the garden which could prove a problem as i have a 2 yr old so last walkies would b bout 6 at night.
Sam xx

Cant wait to see the piccies.

Toilet training - it might be different with your garden. JDs the opposite she only does it in the garden and not on walks. Which says you the embarrassment of having to pick it up. Beson my old dog used to do it when there was loads of poeple about ie next to bus queues. :unsure:

Gaynor

well the garden seems to be working, infact everything the lady told me about him seems to be wrong or maybe thats just him on his first night here.
Its just that problem with my daughter that i need some advice on, he is a hughe dog and i feel really unsettled by it. any advice please welcome :rolleyes:

I think you have got to let him kow that it is not acceptable behaviour, he sounds such a nice dog that I'm sure he'll soon get the message.

What they do at my dog training school for dogs who are doing things they shouldn't ie excessive barking or jumping up is to startle them into stopping what their doing. I small plastic coke bottle with stones in or water spray gun, or chuck a set of keys near them. Shake or spray when he's getting to close to your daughter.

What I have done with Kiara is to get her to turn her back on JD and ignore her when she is going over the top, rather than getting her further excited and egging her on which kids do. I tell Kiara to get off the floor as well, so JD is ot dominating over her. Not sure how this will work with a male dog but worth a try.

Has he been Neutered? Might be a longer term option.

Gaynor

i dont think he hes been to be honest, he seems to know tho coz this morning he want over and i shouted Jake NO and he walked away.
I saw the stones in a bottle on a training programme i watched once and seemed to really work. Had a really bad night with him, he barked and howled till about 5am so being totally knackered i opened the back door so he could go out but he then started all of the villages dog barking lol so had to bring him in and he just stood in the kitchen barking instead, i was gonna sleep on the sofa but he needs to learn that he has to be on his own sometime but ill be coming back. i finally got to sleep around 6am as after that i could just open my door and shut down jake lay down and he did for about an hour then he started again and i had to shout down to him again, i got up around 8 with my daughter, so im knackered. but i need him to learn quickly as my neighbours moan about dogs and last time i got nasty letters from one of them who has a dog that barks allday :D he wont be left for long just like shopping trips and stuff.

I am so excited for you Kittania :D Having one of these gorgeous dogs join your family is a great experience and a learning curve for everyone involved , until you get to know Jake better i would take things very easy with him to start with .

The jumping up on your daughter is obviously something you have to deal with straight away , sorry Gaynor but at this early stage i would not dream of using any kind of aversion tactics with Jake ie the stones in a bottle as his personality is not well enough known yet , I know if i had used the bottle on Akira she would be a nervous wreck and on the other hand if i had used those tactics with Storm he would have probably have eaten the bottle ,the second suggestion you made might be hard to do as well considering Jake is a full grown Pyr boy and not a pup and a small child turning her back on him is not going to be much of a deterrant for him .

Does Jake understand simple commands ? I know when Storm came here the only word he responded to was move :( I think the first thing i would be teaching Jake in these circumstances is the "off" command , your daughter being so small is going to make this a bit harder than if an adult was turning their back and giving him no attention when he jumped but it is not impossible for you to teach him but it might take you a certain amount of second guessing him the second you see he is going to paw your daughters back tell him "off" firmly , and the second he listens to you get in there with a lot of cuddles and praise , if he is not food orientated he needs some kind of treat for the right kind of response and if he likes cuddles i am sure he will respond to that kind of attention :D I would try as Gaynor says ask your daughter not to sit on the floor for a while until you know Jake will get off when asked .

The first few days Storm was here he was not really intrested in treats either but he soon learned that doing something when he was asked got him something yummy , please remember that Jakes whole world has just been turned upside down , he has lost his family , been taken to a strange house with strange people and he will not know what is expected of him at all , he maybe sees your daughter as a puppy to play with and he just needs some gentle reminders that she is not a toy but a tiny person , as small as your daughter is get her involved with Jakes training straight away , once he has grasped the basic sit , down wait commands get your daughter to ask him to do it for her under close supervision

I find with both mine positive reinforcement is the best way to deal with them , you dont know Jake well enough yet to know how he will react to certain circumstances and the last thing you want to do is challenge him or back him into a corner when you dont kow his reaction to things yet :D

Constant training begins for you straight away he needs to learn your rules and what is acceptable behaviour and what is'nt you can never let a Pyr do something once then expect them not to do it again , you have to be consistant and kind and i am sure you will soon see a difference in his behaviour .

When Storm came here he had no manners at all , and over 12 stone of dog trying to shove you through doorways was not much fun , so i had to teach him to wait until i went through the door before he did , Pry's are very intelligent and will soon get the hang of what you are teaching them , as i said you have to be consistant and pick them up for things they do every single time , they need to learn what you will let them do and what you wont , so it is very important at this stage for you to decide what you are willing to put up with and what you are not , as i said earlier in this thread , training can be a real challenge but it is so worth while when they realize what they are allowed to do and what they are not , you will find that Jake will come to respect your rules and that will lead to a happy secure dog .

I have had Storm for nearly a year and we have had some ups and downs but he is basically a well mannered dog these days but he came to me with some issues that i have had to work really hard with , even after all this time there are cetain situations where i would not be sure how he would react but as his mum its up to me to make sure he is not put into situations where i dont know how he will react . I can read him a lot better these days, his body language what he is going to do in most situations but that has taken me a long time to work out so my advice would be take it easy with him , never ever challenge him under any circumstances as Vera said tome with Storm , he is a lot quicker than i am and a lot stronger and i could not physically make him do something he did not want to do , i know a lot of people have thought i have been too soft with Storm as instead of trying to dominate him and try to force him to do what i tell him to do i have found the gentle approach works very well for him , he learned the rules quickly , but he is still a thief and will steal if given the oppertunity , so its up to me not to leave things lying around that he can pinch :D

Your life will never be the same again once a Pyr comes into it everything changes , mostly for the better :D

Fiona xx

Thank you so much for that, it has really helped, i would not challenge him yet as i dont really know him, its strange for both of us at the moment, he listens to lay down, sit and wait command although he seems very stubborn and ignorant as last nite i was trying to get him to come out the back for last wee wee and he totally ignored me :D got there in the end tho i made sure i didnt give up overwise he would have been like oh just ignore her and problem sorted. This morning he tried twice to jump up at my daughter and i said firmly NO and he was fine although now when she goes near him he moves away from her, my daughter has learning disabilitie and i couldnt make her understand why she is not aloud on the floor or to turn her back on him as she wouldnt understand what i was asking her to do.I also think he is over weight i was reading up on some forums last nite and a post said you should be able to feel his rubs under the fur well i cant and although he is a big dog he looks fat :rolleyes: he is being feed bakers complete weight watchers lol and also some terrier food but i was thinking of changing his feed once he is settled to a complete food. My mam feeds her dogs on Alpha Sport for working dogs so might give that ago. he seems very lazy at the moment and walks only last 5 mins and i have also noticed that when he does have a wee wee its hard for him to lean on one leg, as he is 7 yrs old i dont want him carrying around extra weight as it wont help his joints.

:lol: :lol: The joys of a typical Pyr , but it sounds like you are getting off to a good start with him :D You are so right about not letting him ignore you as that is a very important part of training these stubborn independant lovable balls of fluff :D

Fiona xx

:D i have the same selective hearing with my daughter but i learnt that if u except them ignoring things they will do it all the time, he seems very content at the moment and im taking trips to the bathroom more often than i need and making them longer each time so he learns mammy goes upstairs but comes back down after awhile, he hasnt cried today when i have left the room so thats a good sign for my sleep :P his back end fur is very frizzy and his tail look weird and he wont let me touch it at all, although he loves being brushed, i notcied he has big bits of fur cut from his fur aswell and his back feet are in a state but again he is bit fussy bout letting me touch them, i think ill wait untill he trusts me bit more but im concerned about his tail its very thin and always hangs between his legs and has a slight wag :huh:
I know im proberley throwing everything up here and your thinking oh my god lol.

Please dont' use that... it can have unexpected consequences... If a dog is frightened they have two options, flight or fight... The dog can be so frightened that he will start avoiding you or the opposite, he can go for you! This is a new dog and you don't know him. Don't use any aversion on him!!! I don't use strong aversion at all (like pebble bottles), but if used, it should only be under expert supervision!

When we first got Troy, he wouldn't stop mounting our lurcher. We just stopped him everytime saying (or shouting at times) NO and removing him. He stopped it on the second day and hasn't done it since.

As for the brushing... Troy doesn't like his tail brushed or feet touched either, but had to learn to tolerate it. Just touch them frequently without forcing him into anything. When you brush him just go down further and further slowly until you reach well down the tail. He will eventually be ok.

Looking forward to see pictures.

Vera

Just a thought about Jakes food if he is at all overweight you need to put him on a low protien diet as soon as possible when Storm came to me he weighted just under 80 KG's :o And has been on a strict diet for all the time i have had him , a year this month , he has steadily been losing weight at the rate of about 1 KG per month which is fine as thats what the vet recommended , When he came here poor boy was been fed on Bakers complete and pedigree chum which i took him off stright away , Bakers is full of all kinds of colours , addatives etc and addatives can have a real affect on a dogs behaviour as well as their waist line .

There is some good quality low protein complete foods on the market , Burns CSJ etc i have just put both of mine on Gilpa Kennel as it has added Green Lipped Mussel which is great for their joints , i also give them both food suppliments as well glucosamine and Green lipped mussel and evening primrose oil as it is important (especially when you take on a rescue dog and don't know what kind of diet they have had ) to look after their joints

Fiona xx

Fantastic advice really is, i have just finished brushing him and i got some of his tail done but when he got uncomfortable i stopped and gave him a love, his paws are still a no no but thats fine will get round to them when i can with him :D went for a nice walk today and im little worried regarding his droppings sorry this isnt that nice to put down but it was very sloppy and was like a bright yellow, it is the first poop he has had since coming here, i cant comment on how he is in himself as i dont know but he is crashed out near the open fire :) he hasnt touched his food again tonight but to be honest i dont think he likes it :P its all dry and no excitiment there for him o im gonna change that asap as he is on butcher complete weight control and some terrier dried food mixed together, its what the lady brought with him.