greatpyrs

Our Belief About Great Pyrenees Dogs

Great Pyrenees Dogs were developed over the millennia to protect stock. Those who continue raising LGDs to protect the stock of the world are doing an important job of continuing the purpose these animals were developed to fulfill. It came as somewhat of a shock to find there were those who thought spending 24/7 with awful animals like goats and sheep was cruelty and abuse. Those people who claim to love the breed and make statements like that are examples showing the shallowest kind of "love" imaginable. It's like finding a new toy and knowing nothing about it. There are also those people who show Great Pyrenees and take great delight in raising beautiful dogs, meeting the standard for the breed so closely one must look hard to find any faults at all. These people are playing as important a role in the continuation of the dog we all love by setting and following the standards for the breed set by the different "clubs" around the world. It would seem that between the breeders of LGDs and the breeders of show dogs, one would find the union of ideals necessary to keep our dogs both beautiful and physically able to work at their jobs.

Alas while there are many breeders of each kind and some breeders of both who work with diligence to both protect the heritage of our dogs and ensure their future abilities, there are far too many breeders of each group who care nothing for the dogs we love. Farmers breed poorly selected dogs to make a buck and end up dumping Pyrs into the rescue system because they've never learned and don't care about the breed. Show people follow fads like teenagers lusting after the next pop idol breeding dogs that have little relationship to the working dogs we love because they want the status and fame of championships. Human beings, being what they are, delight in blaming others for any problems that affect them and so a kind of war has developed between the breeders of LGDs and the breeders of show dogs. It's a poorly fought war, filled with misstatements, hurt feelings, and defensive attacks. We have, at times, visited various aspects of this war and they are all filled with little truths and exaggerated universal statements. The fact is, people who love these dogs do what they want to do and always keep the well being of the dogs in mind. We breed dogs to guard stock and we work to make our guardians the equal in appearance and ability of any show dog and we know people who show dogs and work to make the equal of any of the great LGDs of the breed. We sent one dog to Europe and she became a champion. Others have taken their guardians out of the field and won championships here. Some who show primarily follow their retired show dogs as they become great guardians.

With the fantastic adaptability of these dogs, why do people breed so carelessly for any activity? The answer is greed and ignorance. Will it ever stop? Probably not. What can stop are the bad feelings between people based solely upon words like "farmer" or "show" and variations of the use of those words. All of us know people who breed with no regard for the breed and those people are not separated by what they use the dogs for. They are separated by their lack of understanding, their lack of care, their embracing of what they see as fiscally smart maneuvering in breeding coats that won't stay decent outdoors but look pretty when fluffed, not checking joints for signs of genetic diseases, breeding dogs to meet their own personal standards and promoting those as "real" Pyrs. For those of you who had no idea such things were going on, we simply ask you to stop a moment before you support any particular breeder and look at their dogs. Get a copy of the standard and see how close the dogs come to meeting it since the standard was set to identify the things that make the Great Pyrenees great at their work. If you hear carless talk about farmers or show people, forget it. Most people don't know who does what, just that it's the nameless "Them" that we should hate depending upon which side we support. Our advice is buy the best dogs you can, and know why they're the best. If you want to adopt a rescue, there are beautiful rescue Pyrs available and some kind of ugly ones too. If it's Great Pyrenees you want make the highest choice you can within your means. These dogs are too valuable to lose into a mixed breed generic type of guard dog. Show people and farmers should support each other in their goals to provide Great Pyrenees where beauty, elegance, and outstanding performance are to be expected.

Over the preceding years, we have written a series of articles on LGDs and consolidated them for a presentation on LGDs during the 2005 and 2006 Langston University Goat Field Days in Langston, Oklahoma. The LGD Seminar button above will take you to the written version of our presentation. On paper, the information took about 20 pages but is presented here in one continuous page.

OFA stands for Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and are the people who do the dysplasia certifications. A dog must be two years old to have his or her hips certified. As a large breed, breeding Great Pyrenees should be checked at two years to insure they have good hips with no sign of dysplasia. All of our breeding dogs have been or will be submitted for certification when they were or will be two years old. Jake, Daisy, Sunshine, Clark, Frank, D'Anouk, Pat and Bonnie have been certified. Glory and Bart will be certified in the Spring of 2010.