How to Train a Great Pyrenees to Guard Sheep

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How to Train a Great Pyrenees to Guard Sheep

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2-4 Months

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Introduction

The Great Pyrenees is a very old breed, thought to originate about 10,000 years ago. They were used as guard dogs during wartime and to protect livestock in peacetime. They are a very popular livestock guarding dog and family pet, and despite the Great Pyrenees’ size and their protective instincts, they are generally gentle giants that are good around children and small animals. They are one of the few livestock guarding dogs that thrive in either role, as a pet or guard dog, being able to bond with sheep or with people. They will instinctively guard whatever they bond with. For this reason, many people feel they should only be allowed to bond with the livestock they will be guarding and not humans. This is not very practical when you need to handle your dog, and the good news is, Great Pyranese can be trained to bond with and protect sheep, and also bond with and obey their human handlers.

Defining Tasks

The Great Pyrenees' personality is a bit of an enigma. They naturally exhibit strong guarding behavior for whatever or whomever they are bonded to and also submissive gentle behavior with what they are guarding. They will be aggressive with predators or threats to the sheep they are guarding, rushing at, growling, barking and intimidating, wolves, coyotes or other dogs. However, trained with adult sheep, Pyrenees will behave submissively, gaining the sheep's trust and eventually living with and protecting the sheep. They generally are gentle and get along well with children and small animals, such as cats, ducks, and chickens, which is important on a farm where family and livestock need to be able to move about unthreatened, while still being protected. The Pyrenees’ unique ability to combine aggression towards threats, generally other canines, and submissiveness towards livestock makes their behavior ideal for working on a farm and protecting sheep.

Getting Started

Many young Pyrenees dogs are trained to guard sheep by association with other mature livestock dogs. It is best to train a Pyrenees with another Pyrenees, as their guarding behavior and bonding instincts are different from most other dog breeds, and an appropriate model for behavior is another Pyrenees that has already become established in a flock. To bond with sheep, several mature sheep that are not easily intimidated are generally used in controlled environments, such as smaller pens with the young Pyrenees, to allow bonding to take place.

The Protect an Area Method

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Step

Provide boundary

Have the area you want your Pyrenees to protect clearly defined. The area should be fenced. Where sheep are being contained, a relatively solid fence with sheep wire usually provides a clear boundary.

Step

Contain

Introduce your young Pyrenees to the area. Initially keep your Pyrenees on a leash and walk the boundaries of the property or contain him in a smaller enclosure within the area such as a dog run or smaller yard. You will need to start with a dog that has limited experience of the outside world, so a rescue, or mature dog, being transferred from another home is not appropriate for this method.

Step

Limit experience

Avoid taking your Pyrenees anywhere else. Do not leave the property with him, except for veterinary care when necessary. Do not go for walks or car rides. If possible, have veterinary care provided on site.

Step

Correct any chasing

Start allowing your Pyrenees off leash around the property. Supervise your Pyrenees around sheep and other small animals present in the area. Although these dogs are naturally gentle with smaller animals, an excited pup may chase a small animal that runs, in play. Discourage chasing if it occurs. Distract your dog and say “no”. As Pyrenees do not have a strong prey drive, chasing behavior is usually easily corrected.

Step

Increase responsibility

Gradually extend off-leash time in his guarding area as your Pyrenees begins to bond and protect all animals within his territory, including sheep within his designated “home”.

The Bond with Sheep Method

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Step

Put puppy with ewe

Put a weaned puppy , usually about 8-12 weeks of age, in a pen with a ewe and a 2-3 week old lamb.

Step

Provide retreat

Make sure the pup has a shelter from the sheep, where he can get food and retreat when required, such as a dog house or kennel.

Step

Ewe teaches manners

The ewe will protect her lamb from unwanted intrusions and ensure that the Pyrenees pup learns to respect her and her lamb by head butting the puppy if he gets too close or acts inappropriately.

Step

Increase sheep socilization

Move the puppy to a pen with several ewes and lambs once he starts to understand ignoring the lambs and giving space. Allow him to socialize and bond with the sheep. Make sure your dog has a safe place he can get away from the sheep. Once comfortable, after several days, move your young dog to a pen with young sheep of the same size as him. Supervise to ensure he continues to respect boundaries, move to a previous step if necessary.

Step

Expose to flock

Once your dog has learned not to harass sheep, he can be moved to the flock's regular enclosure and be allowed to cohabit with the entire flock and protect the sheep.

The Dog Role Model Method

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Step

Introduce dogs

Introduce your young Pyrenees to an older Pyrenees that already guards a flock of sheep. Introduce dogs in a neutral location, not where the sheep are, as the older dog may see the younger dog as a threat.

Step

Control situation

Keep you young pup out on a leash at first so he respects the older dog's space. Allow dogs to smell each other. Provide attention and praise to both. Repeat frequently over several days.

Step

Socialize

Increase socialization with the older dog, allow them off leash together in a controlled environment, free from sheep to bond.

Step

Familiarize with sheep

Start introducing the young dog to the sheep pen once the older dog has accepted the younger dog, keep the younger dog on a leash. Walk around sheep, discourage excited behavior and encourage submissive behavior. Introduce the younger dog to a few sheep in a small enclosure. Choose sheep that are not easily intimidated, such as a couple mature females or rams, and let the young dog learn to submit to the sheep.

Step

Allow older dog to model guarding

Start allowing the young dog to accompany the older dog in the sheep pen once your new dog has learned appropriate submissive behavior around sheep and the older dog is comfortable with him. The older dog will “finish” the training, modeling appropriate behavior to guard and protect the flock.

Success Stories and Training Questions

Training Questions and Answers

Question

Millie

Great Pyrenee

1 Year

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Question

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Millie

Great Pyrenee

1 Year

Millie has been really amazing.
We tied her when we first got her at age 10 months with the 2 month old goats. She did great and is now off leash.
We will take them out of the fence during the day and stake them to graze our perimeter.
Lately we have noticed some aggressive behaviors with her to them. I am not 100% sure if it is only around her food. I am trying to watch. Should we re-tie her for an amount of time to control her interaction?

3 weeks, 5 days ago

Millie's Owner

Caitlin Crittenden

Dog Trainer

110 Dog owners recommended

Hello Georgia, That depends largely on what type of aggression it is. If it's resource guarding, then that would be addressed the way you would address a dog resource guarding around another dog. In that case, I would recommend hiring a private professional trainer to help you in person. If the aggression is prey related, then that is a lot more serious. Tying her might help but you may need to use a soft silicone basket muzzle on her while doing it, to keep your goat safe. Either way closely monitor her reaction toward the goat. I suspect that she is responding to the goats the way she might would to other dogs. Now that she is older, her desire for dominance, and things like resource guarding, possessiveness, protectiveness, or fear aggression can all surface. Between one-to-two years is when I see the most temperament related behavior issues. Those things are often present in younger dogs but do not become obvious to owners until mental maturity and hormones change, even in fixed female. I would suggest hiring a very experienced trainer to come and evaluate her reactions to get an idea of what is going on, so that you will better know how to address it. If you want to include more details on the aggressive behaviors and exactly what she is doing and when, then I would be glad to help further. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

3 weeks, 5 days ago

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Question

Bindi

Great Pyrenees

8 Months

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Question

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Bindi

Great Pyrenees

8 Months

Our pup has been running with the full flock for 3 months but has recently started chasing and bothering the lambs.

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Bindi's Owner

Caitlin Crittenden

Dog Trainer

110 Dog owners recommended

Hello Sandy, Look into high quality remote electric collar training. Check out the YouTube channel I have linked below. The trainer is James Penrith and he does a lot of work with electric collars, also known as e-collars, and livestock chasing. Since you want Bindi to still be able to be with the flock, you want to use what's called a "Working level" stimulation. A working level stimulation is a stimulation that is low enough to simply get your dog's attention and show your dog that you are extremely consistent even while not with her. You do not want to use a high level of correction to teach total avoidance. High levels of correction with chasing behaviors are only used for dogs who need to never go near animals. Use only a high quality e-collar brand for this. A collar with at least thirty to forty levels, and ideally at least sixty to one-hundred. Dogtra, Sportdog, Garmen, and E-collar Technologies are all reputable brands. Do not buy a cheap collar. They can be dangerous and ineffective. A good quality collar will let you set the collar to a very low stimulation level. E-collar technologies and Sportdog would be the two brands I would most recommend for your purpose. See if there is a trainer in your area who is very experienced with using e-collars on "working levels" and hire that person to teach you. You can learn some of what you need online but e-collars are best taught by a professional. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrI7sJTnP64 Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Thank you so much for your response. Part of our problem is that she exhibits these behaviors when we’re not there to correct her. Today I actually put an e-collar on her and have watched from a distance. Any suggestions what to do for correction when I’m not there to push the button? She is a great dog and only exhibits this behavior from time to time, but she is hurting lambs with her play.

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Bindi's Owner

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