When you arrive home with your dog, please keep it on a leash and introduce it to those animals you want it to live with. Understand that your Great Pyrenees will not want to be friends with other dogs and we advise against training it to accept non-guardians as ok in the goat yard, especially working herding dogs. If you work your animals with a dog, please pen your guardians during the time you’re actually working your animals. Your Pyr will not want to let your herding dog work as it will appear to be harassing the animals.

You have purchased your Great Pyrenees to perform as a Livestock Guardian Dog.   Great Pyrenees will do that job with excellence if you let them.  One of the most common problems people face is that they unknowingly train the dog to associate human friendship and treats with not working as an LGD.  Feel free to pet your Great Pyrenees and give him or her treats, just do it in the goat yard when the dog is with the goats.  Make sure you don't train your Great Pyrenees to want to hang around the house yard or even stay at the gate to the goat yard, hoping for some affection from you.  Your dog is supposed to bond with the goats and like you, not the other way around.  Our rule of thumb is: Nothing good ever happens outside of the goat yard.  You don't want an LGD that wants to lay on the back porch like Bob, our farm dog.

Walk your Great Pyrenees around the pen or the perimeter of your pasture each day for two or three days to acquaint it with its new home. When you can tell the dog is comfortable in its situation, release it.

Great Pyrenees will consume large quantities of water during the hot months, they will also visit standing water to cool down. This water may be a lake or a water bowl or anything in between. Please keep water available for your Pyrs during hot weather.

Double dew claws on the hind legs are a breed characteristic of Great Pyrenees. Occasionally, these claws may grow excessively and need trimming so they will not injure your dog’s pad.

We give all of our dogs, Ivermectin, generic Ivomec, (NOT Ivomec Plus) monthly to prevent heartworm. Ivermectin is given orally for this purpose. We strongly recommend that you consult your vet for dosage and a recommendation to continue this practice with your new Pyr (Great Pyrenees only, this can be lethal to collie breeds, some herding dogs, including Australian Shepherds, are included in this category.)  Your dog should also be checked for worms at least every year or when his/her appearance indicates it through either you or your vet taking and checking a fecal sample. Ivermectin is not for tape worms and you should not count on it to protect your dog from them.

Your Pyr has a veterinarian administered current rabies shot and a tag to indicate that. If a vet does not give the shot, in Oklahoma your dog will be treated as if it has not received a rabies shot. Please keep your Great Pyrenees current with its rabies shots and check your state laws on the subject.

Your Livestock Guardian Dog was also given a 7 way shot for distemper, lepto, corona and other diseases which should be renewed each year.

External parasites (ticks and fleas) can kill a dog. Please inspect your dog on a regular basis for infestations. We use Frontline from our vet and still have to supplement that treatment in bad years.  Nothing is foolproof and ticks can kill a dog in two days from the first apparent symptoms.

Great Pyrenees are curious and often playful; they like to take things like gloves, tools or other interesting objects. Please make sure poisons and other injurious objects are stored safely.