re: [pyrnet] CHAT: Great Pyrenees in the Media

[merrirfav@icehouse.net]

Hi,
Wow! This is a fast food society. Were the Pyrenees male or female?  If male had they been 
neutered? Did they have farm training before they were purchased? Or,  were they house 
domesticated since pups? At the cost of the animal tryouts . . . he could have put a fence of 
some sort in. Can a land owner protect his flocks from bears by putting in an electric fence?

These are the questions I would ask before any other Questions Like . . .

"Does this sound like typical behavior, or did the rancher happen to acquire Pyrs with below-
average guardian abilities?" 


"Madel, the area's grizzly-bear management specialist since 1986, has enlisted local ranchers 
in initiatives to deter bears from becoming habituated to people. Instead of leaving garbage 
out on their porches, ranchers have started putting it in sheds. Some have bought guard dogs 
for their herds, and some have run electric fencing around their apiaries and sheep bedding 
grounds." (From  the article)

*Maybe the bears just need a good jolt for some manners, and an electric fence is a good 
way to say ...this is not your dinner table.*

A Pyrenees is about 130 to 150 pounds, and a grizzly is about 500 lbs and up...Not very 
good odds if you ask me. 3 dogs at 130lbs... hummm? Well that would be about 390lbs all 
added up...still all together they come up shy in pounds. Rule of nature...The biggest dog gets 
the bone!




I like to research these things, so I'll look into it
Merri
Spokane, Wa



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


> ** Original Subject: [pyrnet] CHAT: Great Pyrenees in the Media
> ** Original Sender: "Julie Hansen" <julie@northernspruce.com>
> ** Original Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 10:14:55 -0700

> ** Original Message follows... 

>
> Hello everyone.  In the Sept. issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine, Great
> Pyrenees appear in an article about the recently announced plan of the Fish
> and Wildlife Service to reintroduce grizzly bears (25 or more over a 5-yr.
> period) to the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness in central Idaho and western
> Montana, where there have gone extinct.  Much of the article is about a
> sheep rancher in a part of Montana where grizzlies have returned on their
> own, and his efforts to deal with them.  Here's where the article refers to
> Pyrs:
> 
> "Since the first attack, sixteen years ago, he has lost sheep to grizzlies
> every year but one. He experimented with different guard animals: First he
> bought five peacocks, for $500, but the noisy birds didn't scare off bears
> at night. Then he bought a guard llama for $1,000; it wasn't aggressive
> enough to drive away a kitten. Next he bought three Great Pyrenees dogs, at
> $300 apiece. The dogs would at least
>                     get within a few yards of a bear and bark, but they
> wouldn't confront a grizzly and drive it off."
> 
> Stories like this will certainly be used to argue against the reintroduction
> of grizzlies.  For those of you on the list with more knowledge about Pyrs
> as LGDs, what do you think?  Does this sound like typical behavior, or did
> the rancher happen to acquire Pyrs with below-average guardian abilities?  I
> was always under the impression that Pyrs were used historically to protect
> sheep from bears, so I would think that they could be effective today as
> well.
> 
> P.S.  The full article can be found at:
> http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/09/whitman.htm
> 
> 
> Julie Hansen
> julie@northernspruce.com
> Bellingham, WA.
> 
> 
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>** --------- End Original Message ----------- **

> 


Mer

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