Page 27 - Great Pyreneese
P. 27
Not Just A Pretty Face
Many years ago, long before a kennel was built or the many acres were fenced, I had two Great Pyrenees: Maggie (2
years old) and Molly (7 months old).
Very late one evening, I had them out in the yard on leashes for their last walk before bedtime. A car drove by with three men in it. They started throwing out beer cans and then the window was lowered and one of them yelled, “Hey lady, what kind a dogs are those?” I ignored them and started walking back towards the house. They then backed up and pulled into my driveway. As the back door started to open, I warned, “You are on private property. Do not get out of the car!” The stranger con- tinued out and suddenly I felt one of the leashes go slack. I looked down and found that Maggie had backed completely out of
her choke collar.
Before I could react, she was running
toward the car. Just as the man reached the back of the car, Maggie jumped up, putting her paws on his shoulders, pushed him backwards onto the trunk and held him there. I walked over, slipped the collar back around her neck and pulled her off. Needless to say, he was back in the car and off in a flash.
Her behavior that night is typical of what these dogs can and will do to protect. I thought she was magnificent. She never put her mouth on him and she was willing to leave him when I asked her to. Maggie lived to be 12-years-old and that incident was the first and last time she ever got out of a collar. Although had there ever been another need, I have no doubt she could and would have.
That was my personal experience, but over the years I have heard numerous other heroic stories about Pyrs... the Pyr that moved between a toddler and a rattlesnake
and took the bite, the Pyr that moved his sheep to safety before the barn burned to the ground, the Pyr that alerted his owners to a house fire. There are many, many stories of these dogs, doing what they were bred to do, that we never hear about. All the working Pyrs that keep their livestock safe every day. The therapy dogs that spend hours in nursing homes and hospitals connecting with and comforting the patients; working with patients who are relearning motor skills. The reader dogs that are a highlight at many libraries. The assistance or service dogs that make their owners’ lives easier. And last but not least, the Pyrs that bring joy and companionship to their owners every day.
I was in the Pyrenees Mountains of France last year and was fortunate to come upon two young Pyrs moving a large flock of sheep down the mountain. It was a sight to behold! The only level terrain was the roadway and the dogs and sheep were mov- ing down the middle of the road in spite of the automobiles, cyclists and the horses and cows that also roam the mountainside
By Janet Ingram
there. AND they were doing it all on their own, all alone with no shepherd around. Of course, I got out of the car to take pic- tures. They were not alarmed by my pres- ence or aggressive in any way. They contin- ued to calmly move along, dropping back occasionally to move a stray sheep back into the group. They never approached me nor would they take food from one of the cyclist who offered it as he was trying to move through. They were intent on doing their job. Seeing these dogs in their native country, doing the job they have been bred to do for centuries, brought tears to my eyes. It is a moment in time that I will never forget and one I hope to see again on future trips to the mountains.
The History of the Breed
Great Pyrenees take their name from the mountain range in southwestern Europe, where they have long been used as guard- ians of the flocks. The breed likely evolved from a group of principally white moun- tain flock guard dogs that originated ten or eleven thousand years ago in Asia Minor.
“IT WAS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD!”
