Looking for a Great Pyrenees puppy for my farm

[michelle43]

Nope....none of the farms in my immediate area have LGD's from what I've seen. Everyone out my way is into hunting with Beagles.

 

[carolinagirl]

does your state have a local farm paper? Ours does...it's put out by the department of agriculture and it's loaded with classified ads for all sorts of farm stuff, including LGDs. whatever you do, don't get a pup from a broker. If you do, it is probably a puppy mill puppy. There are also breed rescues you might try calling. you will get an older dog, one that is ready to work now, although it may take some training.

Just so you know.....a dog CAN be a show dog and a working dog too. My pup's sire is a grand champion with many wins under his belt and is also an accomplished LGD. Most of the responsible Anatolian breeders make sure their dog work as well as show. I guess it's not the same with GPs though since they have been registered in this country for many many years. Anatolians are still fairly new here.

 

[michelle43]

does your state have a local farm paper? Ours does...it's put out by the department of agriculture and it's loaded with classified ads for all sorts of farm stuff, including LGDs. whatever you do, don't get a pup from a broker. If you do, it is probably a puppy mill puppy. There are also breed rescues you might try calling. you will get an older dog, one that is ready to work now, although it may take some training.

Just so you know.....a dog CAN be a show dog and a working dog too. My pup's sire is a grand champion with many wins under his belt and is also an accomplished LGD. Most of the responsible Anatolian breeders make sure their dog work as well as show. I guess it's not the same with GPs though since they have been registered in this country for many many years. Anatolians are still fairly new here.

Thanks....we have a local paper "Green Mountain Trading Post" that I look in, but so far I haven't seen anything. I agree about not buying from brokers; it's very risky and puppy mills are most likely where they get the dogs. Thanks again for all the advice. I'm going to take my time and try to find the perfect dog or as close to perfect as I can find. Since he will be guarding chickens though, I think it needs to be a young pup that can learn to protect and not eat the chickens.

By the way, what type of temperament do Anatolians have?

 

[carolinagirl]

Anatolians are similar in temperament to GPs. They may be a bit more reserved with strangers, but not to the point of aggressiveness. They are a very old breed that has not been bred commercially in this country that long, as compared to GPs. And they have only been an AKC breed since 1996 so breeding for show only has not been a problem with them yet. They are very healthy, having a low incidence of hip displaysia. And one really great thing about them is puppy mills are not breeding them yet so they have not been screwed up. One of the biggest reasons I chose an Anatolian is the coat....or lack of coat. The breed standard says their coat must be between 1" and 4" long with an undercoat. The shorter coat is important for me since I live in south Carolina. They can handle the cold just fine, but they can also handle the heat.

 

[carolinagirl]

Here's a really good link to learn more about Anatolins and the code of ethic breeders

http://www.angelfire.com/oz/asdca/home.html

And here's a great link about LGDs in general, with lots of health and training articles

http://www.lgd.org/library.htm

 

[Roll farms]

Our 1st Pyr, while a wonderful dog....was a MESS as a working dog. His coat could not be tamed / combed / brushed / dealt with as a herd guardian.

Even our vet recommended shaving him yearly....which we hated doing, and believe me, between chores, we DID work on his coat. It was just so thick there was no keeping it from matting.

(Funny looking shaved, aren't they?)

His grandpa and grandma were show pyrs.

Our 2nd pyr has a long working dog pedigree, and blows her coat like a good girl.

We bred her to a registered Anatolian and kept a pup so that we could have a shorter-haired LGD.

This is Gus, her son.

The sire we sold to a sheep farmer in TN b/c he was wayyy too aggressive to strangers. We have a lot of visitors here and he scared kids. At his new home he's 'alone' w/ his flock most of the time. They're very happy w/ him.

 

[michelle43]

Wow.....thanks for all the info! I'm so glad I posted here. I will definitely look into Anatolian's. They sound great too.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Yup, like Roll said those working pyrs are going to blow coat twice a year without matting horribly.