How to Train a Great Pyrenees to Guard Sheep

Hello, Many livestock guarding dogs don't guard birds the same way they do larger livestock. In that case, often you need to teach pup to avoid the birds and guard the general territory, and often the birds will be guarded too to an extend as part of pup's territory, opposed to pup guarding because he has bonded with the birds. I would start by supervising pup around the birds, using a long training leash to have pup around the birds often and correcting any chase attempts. You may also want to consider fencing pup near the birds, but with the fence to separate them when you aren't there to correct any chase attempts, to help pup get used to them and desensitized to them, and view them as part of the territory. Finally, if the chasing is really persistent, I would consider remote collar training to teach pup to leave the birds alone. I would start with the use of the long leash and your leave it command, but then also practice while hiding with pup thinking they are alone with the birds, so pup is corrected for the chasing when they think you are not around as well. Check out James penrith from taketheleaddogtraining on youtube. He specializes in livestock chasing behavior. Day 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgNbWCK9lFc Day 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpf5Bn-MNko&t=14s Day 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj3nMvvHhwQ Day 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxrGQ-AZylY I would join some livestock guarding forums as well, to connect with other owners who have experience in this area, as a resource while you train. https://www.chickenforum.com/threads/livestock-guardian-dogs.5267/ https://www.dogforum.com/threads/lgds-livestock-guardian-dogs-breeds-problematic-behaviors-temp.331882/ https://www.workingdogforum.com/threads/best-livestock-guardian-breed.11176/page-4 Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Leisa, I wouldn't recommend it personally. Pup can probably be taught to generally guard the property, not chase the livestock if they aren't directly penned with them, through teaching boundaries of the property with a fence separating pup from the livestock, but in order for pup to guard the animals like a livestock guarding dog, penned with them, without treating them like play things or prey, pup needs to form a bond and see them as family; to develop this bond, a young puppy generally needs grow up living with another type of animal, so pup feels protective of that type of animal, instead of viewing them like prey or a play thing. Since pup is already chasing the animals, that doesn't show promise of pup adapting without risking harm to their animals. There can be the rare dog that will adapt late if they already have a calm disposition and show care toward the livestock, but it doesn't sound like your dog is that dog. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello April, It sounds like pup may not have been supervised and corrected for the behaviors toward the lambs during lambing season early on. Some young dogs will "protect" the lambs from the ewes and chewing of ears can be part of that behavior. I would consider a combination of separating pup from the ewes with lambs during lambing season when you cannot supervise, letting the dog be with those sheep too when you can supervise, then correcting when you see unwanted "protecting the lambs from the ewes, including behaviors toward the lambs that are inappropriate". I would also check out a couple of livestock guarding forums, and ask the others there who have experienced the same issues what they found an effective solution if the dog was older. You might get some good insight and be able to give more details about your situation there. https://www.workingdogforum.com/threads/best-livestock-guardian-breed.11176/page-4 https://www.dogforum.com/threads/lgds-livestock-guardian-dogs-breeds-problematic-behaviors-temp.331882/ Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Doug, First, check out Livestock guarding dog forums like this one. They can be a great resource as issues come up along the way. https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/great-pyrenees-rough-with-sheep.39105/ How is pup's Leave It and Come type commands? If those are not excellent, I recommend teaching pup those commands, then practicing them around the sheep with pup on a long training leash. What are the Sheep doing when she nips at them? Are they running, ranging too far, simply standing there? There may be something in the sheep's behavior that is causing pup to interact that way. If not, pup may simply be trying to play like you said. I would pen pup in an adjacent pen where she can be near the sheep but not able to physically bit them for a while. I would allow pup to interact with the sheep several times a day while on a long training leash and interrupt pup anytime she tries to be rough with the sheep while in the same pen as them, using the long training leash and verbal commands to call her away from them. If she is completely reliable with commands like Leave It and Come even in a scenario like that, you can forgo the training leash potentially, and just use your verbal commands to teach her whenever she starts getting too rough or looks like she is trying to engage the sheep in a way she shouldn't and needs to give the sheep more space. Expect this to take some time and practice right now. She is young and will need your guidance, the behavior to be prevented when you can't train, and a bit of time to mature most likely. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello, Honestly, I would not ever trust them to guard the sheep. You could likely train them to avoid the sheep to stop future killings at pets who do not live with the sheep, and even to potentially guard with a barrier between them and the sheep - like a secondary fence outside of the original sheep enclosure, so that predators have to go through pup's fence before they could get to the sheep fence within the other fence, but your dog's still have a boundary between them and the sheep fence. Imagine a square within a square - sheep in the inner square, dogs on the outer square, with fencing between the dogs and sheep and between the dogs and rest of the yard. I would also ask your question on some livestock dog forums to see if anyone has done so successfully. There are exceptions to things certainly, and someone there might be able to offer some insight. Personally, the risk to your sheep seems to great, even though the dogs could likely improve enough that they did okay most of the time - it only takes once though, and since they have already killed livestock, the usual route for training is to treat the dog's to avoid the livestock to stop the killing - which isn't very compatible with being able to guard them at the same time. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden