Dogs

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN France
MOST SUITED AS All-round herding dog and family pet.

SIZE The shoulder height is 40 - 50cm (15 1/2 - 19 1/2in) for dogs and 38 - 48cm (15 - 181/2in) for bitches.

COAT
The coat consists of fairly long, or at least medi­um length hair with either a strong curl or light­er wave. They can be sandy-coloured, with or without black hairs, streaky grey, or black with white markings.

CARE REQUIRED
They need little attention to their coats. The breed is supposed to look natural and rather rustic and the coat is of such a texture that at most a quarter of an hour a week with a brush is sufficient.
Do not forget to remove excessive hair regular­ly from inside the ear. Wash its short beard from time to time unless you can find another way to keep it clean.

CHARACTER
An intelligent dog that is ready to work, alert and quick, vigilant, animated, with good scent­ing powers, and which is loving with children but not smotheringly so. The Pyrenean Sheep­dog enjoys an outdoor life.

TRAINING
Requires consistent, strict and honest training that is not too tough. It is ready to work and can and will learn. The Pyrenean Sheepdog who is condemned to its basket with nothing to look forward to other than a trot around the block three times a day will become troublesome. They are ideally suited for training as rescue dogs and also do well in activities such as fly-ball and agility classes.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
This breed gets on well with families, including the children. There is also no problem with other pets provided it has had good experiences with them as a young dog. They are some­what cautious with strangers.

EXERCISE
It is advisable to spend at least an hour each day in activity with the dog; walking is fine, so are dog sports.