Great Pyrenees are awesome!

copperpennykids · #1 10/28/08, 11:59 AM

Little story for you all...

Friday morning my 9 year old son forgot to latch the gate to the calves pen. The pen is actually located on our next door neighbor's property and we can not see it from the house - or anywhere on our property really. We live on the gentle side of a mountain - steep in places, flat in places, mostly gently sloping to the south. There is a lot of underbrush and tons of pine trees so that visibility is rather limited, except on roads, which rarely run straight for long.

The calves are penned securely, except for the fact that they learned they could jiggle the chain that slides into a slot in the gate (corral panel) and get the gate open. We have caught them several times before, but that was when our neighbor was here. He and his wife have moved to Nevada for the winter, so our extra eyes are gone. Anyway, we solved the problem by using a snap fastener on the chain. Works great until DS forgets to use the snap....

So, Friday afternoon, my DD went by the pen (2:30)- the calves were still there. At 5:00 PM DS goes to feed them and the gate is open and the calves are nowhere to be seen. These boys are 6 months old and 500-600 lbs. and it is hunting season here. Not a nice feeling. Anyway, we begin hunting them uphill and down. The girls are on horseback and going down side-trails, through bushes and rugged terrain. My older DS is on the 4 wheeler and going down all of the local roads looking for them. Ursula (Great Pyrenees female) is running alongside DD and Sunny (her horse) as they look. I am just hiking around looking in thickets and trees and praying for help.

It got dark quickly and we all came home emptyhanded. Called DH and told him to keep an eye out on his way home in case he were to spot something odd.

Saturday AM - older DS goes down to calf pen to see if the calves came home miraculously during the night. Nope. But Kodiak (our neutered Great Pyrenees male) meets him on the road and starts trotting down a trail, glancing over his shoulder at my son. So he follows the dog down a barely discernable trail- 3/4 of a mile later, there they are, standing in a bunch of bushes. DS puts a leash around the tame black one's neck and leads them both home. Comes in to let me know they are safe and sound. As he is telling the story, I realize that while we were all running around looking, and afterward, never once did I see Kodiak. I realized that he followed the calves and then stayed with them all night. Then waited for us to show up in the morning, came to the pens to get us (knowing full well that the calves were safe for the time-being), and then led my son to them so we could bring them home.

Ursula was obviously assigned to the "family" and the homeplace, while Kodiak safeguarded the prodigal calves. Awesome dogs!

FYI: For all of those who claim that a Pyrenees needs to be penned with its' charges in order to bond and protect - our Pyrenees have never been penned with those calves, although they certainly know they are ours, and have guarded them while down in our neighbors' field (why I don't tend to worry, even with stories of coyotes pulling down 4 point bucks recently).

Anyway, both Kodiak and Ursula received lots of praise (oh, they know they are so smart!) and they are truly worth their weight in gold. I really do love these dogs!

Camille

cjean · #2 10/28/08, 12:15 PM

What a great story, thanks for sharing! We love our Pyr/maremma cross, too...he's definitely the most intelligent and dedicated dog we have ever had. And that includes the German Shepherd.

Madame · #3 10/28/08, 12:21 PM

Terrific dogs!

mammabooh · #4 10/28/08, 12:35 PM

What a happy ending!

Spinner · #5 10/28/08, 01:37 PM

Pyrs are thinking dogs and they obviously thought out the situation and decided on the best way to handle it. Congrats on "finding" the calves.

Goat Servant · #6 10/28/08, 04:50 PM

Good Kodiak indeed! Your story gave me tears of joy! Its almost unbelievable how gifted they are.
A few weeks ago a cougar was spotted not far from here. We had our Anatolian in a seperate pen cause a buck was here, didnt know if dogs mere presence would interefere with buck's job.
Anyhow it so happened as I found out later, that the morning the cat was seen was the same morning Sheriff the LGD had jumped fence to be with his goats.
Just made me want to squeeze the stuffin out of him!
On the way to pick him up dh kept asking if we could really afford to do this. I was firmly convinced that we couldn't afford not to and over the last couple of years he has proved himself to dh as well.
Thank you for sharing that!

reicheru · #7 10/28/08, 05:38 PM

Quote:

On the way to pick him up dh kept asking if we could really afford to do this. I was firmly convinced that we couldn't afford not to and over the last couple of years he has proved himself to dh as well.

That's exactly what happened to me. I was nagged to death over getting 3 more dogs, even though they'd be strictly outside dogs and serve a purpose. They were still more mouths to feed blah blah blah. A couple weeks ago, I wake up hearing the dogs going ballistic. I can tell a difference in the barking so I look out the window and there's a strange dog [aussie] in the yard on the other side of the electric fence who was 'thinking about it'. I have no doubt that had we not had my little pyr family the strange dog would have been in there harassing the goats at the very least. I've also seen them go running across the field barking at large birds of prey. The only thing I don't like them doing is barking at the horses... even though they live with a miniature horse and the fence joins the yard in front of the barn.

HappyFarmer · #8 10/28/08, 07:06 PM

Ditto that Copperpennykids. We have 3 and they amaze us at least once a month with their abilities to think things out & work together as a team.

No spectacular stories like yours, but when one of my females was about 5 or 6 month old, hubby watched that pup actually assist one of our doelings get a plastic bucket off her head-it was stuck on the doelings head & she was screaming bloody murder! Hubby could almost see the wheels turning in that pups head! She very calmly tried mouthing it off, then gently batted it off the doelings head with her paw. We've been hooked ever since.

I'm glad to hear your calves were safe with Kodiak!
HF

Chaty · #9 10/29/08, 07:44 AM

I hear ya there. I have 4 LGD's and they are a GP/Anat mix also. I was feeding and milking the other morning and smelled a skunk really bad. Told DH to go see if 1 was hit on the road as it was turning my stomach. Then I remembered the dogs really barking the night before, He found it in the buck pen and the 2 males I have in there had killed it and saved my chickens also as that is probibly where it was going. I also have the females in with my does and the older has helped when does are kidding and cleaned babies. I dont know what I would do without them. When the does go to browse the females go and 1 patrols and the other says with the goats. Mine dont bark at the cows or horses as they know they live here too. Got to love them dogs...I know I do.

Dr. Mom · #10 10/29/08, 08:32 AM

Yes, Pyrs are awesome dogs. We love our two male Pyrs. We used to have a goat who kept walking out of 4 strands of electric fence, She would never stray away from the rest of the herd, she just wanted to eat the grass in the pasture. Bat, the older Pyr, just kept an eye on her. I went down to the pen one evening to feed them and she wouldn't go back in the pen. I didn't have a rope or lease so I tried to grab a horn, tail, or leg with no success. She wouldn't let me get close enough to grab her and we both kept going around in circles. I noticed that Bat was curiously watching us from the pen. Out of frustration, I said "Bat, you're going to have to do something, don't just stand around and do nothing!" Well, a few seconds later he lifted his head straight up and barked twice. That crazy goat heard him and understood everything he said. She stopped going around in circles and raced over to the gate. By the time I got my open jaw closed and got to the gate, she was absolutely frantic trying to get through the gate (I guess the electric fence only opens one way LOL). I couldn't open the gate quick enough for her to get into the safety of the pen. I am constantly amazed by these dogs. Bat got extra praise and hugs that evening!