Great Pyrenees - How Can an Animal be so Stubborn?

When my husband and I decided to start a farm a little over a year ago, little did we know how much joy and frustration could come from this endeavor.

The first purchase we made on the farm were two great Pyrenees to guard our animals. We happily brought Samson and Delilah home to guard the homestead. They were sweet and cuddly, devoted and magnificent dogs … until you turned your back! At that point they become magicians looking for ways to disappear right before our eyes. We had Samson (who was one at the time) for less than a day when he decided to make his great escape. Somehow he managed to get out of the fence and head to other farms to check out what was going on. We were beside ourselves, posting on Facebook, scouring the area and calling and visiting neighbors. Oh he had been spotted all right, just making his merry way to who knows where. About 1.5 days later we come home and he’s sitting at the fence looking at us like, “where have you been?” After this we managed to secure the fences and keep him and Delilah in.

We happened upon another Pyrenees and decided to get the seven months old girl. She was in pretty bad shape, full of ticks and even had Lyme disease. We nursed her back to health, cleaned her up and loved on her so much that she soon became my favorite dog. All was good until she discovered a way out of the fence, it didn’t matter how over, under, through electric fences, even trying a shock collar on her. No! Her duty in life is to guard all the neighbor’s houses and terrorize their dogs. Making us very unpopular in the neighborhood.

She’s had the great dane next door trapped on his picnic table while she guarded their porch. She’s brought home deer legs (who knows?) and the last time I bought her home her paws were frozen. She is still picking ice balls out of her pads! As I went to fetch her once again from the neighbors she saw me coming and tried to make a break. Understand please that this same dog snuggles on the couch with me, follows me around everywhere and we have a mutual love affair. After seeing that she was trapped in their yard she decided to head home but being the stubborn Pyr that she is, the only way she would head home is if I followed her about five yards behind. No she wouldn’t let me catch her until we were on the front porch waiting to go in.

As you can see from above she isn’t going to change and we can’t continue to terrorize the neighbors so we are going to have to rehome Annie. It breaks my heart and I continue to get closer and closer to her as we now have to keep her in the house in order to watch her every minute.

Great Pyrenees dogs are the best breed of dogs we have ever owned and we love each one of them dearly for their awesome personalities. They are a very special but yet stubborn breed. They have been bred for many years to be independent in order to protect their herd. And they definitely the most independent dog ever!!!

Below are pictured: Samson, Delilah and Annie