Pyrenees Mountain Dog anyone?????

[golfbravo]

No experience with dogs at all and we are now the owners of one of these beautiful dogs.

Any tips???

they shed huge amounts of fluff in the summer comes out in handfuls

I am !!!!

Wanna swap for a Springer ?!!!

Whatever you dont want in it when it is older you need to start training now. We have a puppy who will grow as large or larger than yours.
Do not let them jump up. Turn your back on them each time they do it
Be prepared for malting - it really gets everywhere even where your dog isnt allowed.
Think about surfaces and food - it wont take long before they can reach them.
Bins - havent met anyone who has this sorted and doesnt keep bin separate room.
Be prepared for abuse 0 large means vicious apparently.
Keep in touch with breeders. I am sure there will be national/local club with social events.
Try yahoo groups for breed specific groups.

How old is it?

We had one when I was a child she was lovely but extremely STRONG !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you have a big house and garden and car

DEFFO BRILL dog though - much better than a yappy ankle biter imho

lots of tips here (see menu on the left), though unfortunately it's titled 'think before you buy' ...

Oooooooh wonderful!

My late great aunt usd to have them. She lived on a farm in the Pyrenees though! Great dogs, I used to ride on their backs as a kid! Very friendly and gentle. I have a tendancy to be a bit afraid of barking dogs from being attacked as a child, one of my aunts dogs once scared me as he was in a grisly mood, we went out for the day and when we came back he watched everyone else go past, mad a bee line for me and sat down and gave me his paw. Bless.

Sorry...rambling.......anyway wonderful wonderful dogs! YOu are so lucky!

Attacked by evil type dogs in the village that is not my aunt's dogs!

Do you know about walking them?

my sister has 2 of them.absolutely gorgeous

what i know is that they need a mile walk daily and when theyre very young shouldnt be walked at all apparently, dont know why, could find out for you. she brushes them daily , they only have a life span of upto 7years because theyre so big. they dig huge holes in her garden eat loads

very very very soppy, like huge teddy bears, she has 3 kids all 5.5 and under and they adore the dogs and vica versa.not a viscious breed at all. well done you

They shouldnt be walked as they grow so much so quickly and is too much strain on them. Free play which they control in the garden is fine. Our large dog is 20 weeks and 27kgs. She has 15-20minutes play in the park each day, virtually no lead walking aprt from training and free play in garden with other dog. I was told not to walk her on lead for more than 10 minutes as she will carry on to please past the point she can.

oh and they bark a lot!

northercules, that saved me ringing sis about the walking, i knew there was a reason. i know she has to walk them a mile a day now, they lollop along next to her, look very lazy

Amazing!! Thanks!! Will look at your link 2labs. nothercules what do you mean by "Be prepared for abuse 0 large means vicious apparently"?? Is this a UK thing?? We live abroad.

She's from Italy and we got her from sheep farmer friends when she was 3 months.

She is 9 months now and on (in??) heat - loads of questions about that!!

Have been trawling the net but hadn't seen about the walking. We live in the country so she has access to a large field but we have been taking her for walks - Ooops.

Jumping up is a bit of a prob but the barking isn't as we live in the middle of nowhere!

I noticed she was bleeding on 27th Dec and still is!! Is that right? How much longer do we need to keep her isolated?

My dog has a vague resemblance to a very large german shepherd and that seems to encourage people as well as it's a large dog and I've got kids...

No idea about heat yet. Look forward to that myself.

You can cause hip and joint problems if you lead walk or push them too much when they are still growing. I would get proper advice on this.

If you have a large field I would imagine free running and play she controls is perfectly sufficeint until fully grown. My dog wont be fully grown until 18 months to 2 years.

I was told max 20 mins walk for first 12 months for my dog (not Pyrenees but Bernese Mountain Dog) for similar reasons - i.e. rapid growth putting strain on joints.

I must admit after she got to about 7 / 8 months and rate of growth was not so exponential, I did start walking her for longer - because she gets bored with just the garden and without the added stimulation that walks provide

hmc - I am so . I've always wanted a Bernese

We had a pyrenean when I was a child (well, 10 onwards).
Def. no long walks as a puppy - and in our dog's case, only 1 way walks as an adult..we used to have to keep biscuits in our pockets because she would only walk away from the house, if you turned her to face home she would lie on the pavement and block it..only a biscuit waved in front of her would get her moving. Mum used to get people stopping their cars asking if she needed a lift to the vets .
Lots and lots of brushing or you will drown in fluff..so train her to stand still for grooming.
We ended up with a outdoor room (converted garage complete with sofa for dog to sit on ) for ours, with an attached run so she could laze in the sun ( don't know if they are all lazy or just ours).
She was soft as butter and my nephew would crawl between her paws and fall asleep when he was a little lad. Agree with trying to train her whilst young..we never got the 'no jumping up' thing done so used to get greeted by dog pushing us over (paws on our shoulders) so she could nibble our elbows (it's incredibly tickly).
She could also open lever type doors by standing on hind legs and pressing with front paws so we had to change all the door handles to knobs.
I seem to remember that we had to have her hips checked as hip dysplasia is in the breed.

Our one deffo lived for more than 7 years as my mum and dad had her before my sister was born

She is 4 years older than me and I have a photo of the dog and my cat sharing a bone and I got my cat when I was 7 years

So that makes the dog to be at least 11 years old

And my cat and the dog were together for quite a while so I think she was prob 12+++ years old

So it is possible for them to live beyond 7 years

They are deffo very clever

Ours used to try to escape if she had the chance

thanks kanga,il have to tell my sister, she was told by the breeder that because theyre so large theyre average life expentancy is 7

Obviously ours could have been very unusual but there is hope that hers will live a longer life too

I'm pretty sure ours was over 12 years old when she passed away. Will have to check with my mum.

Bluebear - well I can give you the name of an excellent breeder .

Must say, our Bernese is a very very lovely dog. Gentle and affectionate. But completely obsessed with food.

I'm working on dh now

We should be moving 'to the country' some time this year but I would need to employ an au pair to keep dog company whilst we were at work. (But that's a possibity )

Or just get two dogs - to provide each other company when you are at work

Where in the 'country' are you moving too?

Actually we have two - 2nd one is a teeny weeny JR / Daschund cross. It's astounding how many people think they are being hugely original when they remark "Oooh little and large". I just smile politely because they mean well (whilst inwardly sighing!)

Our Pyr has the cat as company!!

They love each other to bits and it's so strange how they get on as the dog could eat the cat in one mouthful!!

If any other cat comes around though the dog goes mad barking!!