- Highland Great Pyrenees was founded through our own need to protect
our livestock and family. It is due to these wonderful 'dogs of the mountains'
the Great Pyrenees that we were able to accomplish this. Owners of this
majestic dog will agree that nothing comes close to matching the honesty,
loyalty, integrity and true beauty of the breed.
Highland dogs follow the type of the original 'mountain dogs'. Our Great
Pyrenees offspring are bred from parents who have retained the large size
and gentle nature of their ancestors. Highland dogs are chosen from parents
who still carry the rusticity of the dogs of the past. Preserving the breed
as it was in the days of its ancestors is a trait that we have chosen to
keep. We have produced some beautifully badger marked pups with our past
litters not to mention some equally beautiful all white pups. Our dogs
are raised with livestock specifically sheep, assorted birds many of them
exotic, horses and most of all lots of love. The greatest enemy to a Great
Pyrenees is boredom as they are at their happiest when they have a job
to do. Their ability as a working dog is formed from a strong instinct
passed down from their ancestors. A Great Pyrenees is certainly not the
type of family dog that will allow itself to be ignored . They enjoy being
an integral part of their owners daily routine and to love a Pyr is to
make it so! Despite their majestic size these dogs will spring into action
at the first sign of danger to their 'bonded' family, whether it be animal
or person. The presence of a Great Pyrenees is enough to make any would
be predator or intruder think twice!
Why should you choose a Great Pyrenees to be your future companion? There
may be many answers to this question. In our opinion you will most likely
find it when you next look into the gentle brown eyes of a Great Pyrenees
pup!
If you are seriously considering a Great Pyrenees as a future part of your
family or ranch we hope you will choose a Highland pup.
EXTRACT FROM: 'THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DOGS '
Edited by Ferelith Hamilton; Editor of Dog World (England); breeder, exhibitor
and international judge at championship shows.
Associate editor in America; Mr. Arthur F Jones; for many years Editor
and Editor in Chief of Pure - Bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette; author
and editor of many books on dogs; well - known television and radio commentator
on dogs.
Color: The assumption that the pure bred Pyrenean must be white is erroneous.
The permitted colors are all-white or mainly white with markings of badger,
gray or varying shades of tan, mainly on the head, or at the root of the
tail. Badger, or blaireau, as it is called, is an admixture of brown, black,
gray and white hairs and is common in puppies, but generally fades on maturity.
Patches of pure black are not admitted in the show ring, although black
and white dogs sometimes appear in correctly color-bred litters. The desired
jet black nose, lips and eye rims still cannot be maintained in successive
generations of all-white dogs without breeding back to the colored mountain
type. It is noticeable that not only pigment but increased size and vigor
become apparent when color is introduced into the all-white strain, and
in spite of the lack of scientific support for the fact, all-white breeding
tends to produce progressively smaller Pyreneans.
EXTRACT FROM: 'THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DOGS'
Standards: The first Pyrenean Standard to be generally accepted was laid
down by the Reunion des Amateurs de Chiens Pyreneens, shortly after the
First World War. When breeding began in America in the early 1930's, the
French Standard was translated and accepted as it stood, but in 1935 it
was replaced by a new one which contained a significant number of omissions
and alterations, one of which, to the detriment of the breed, lowered the
minimum height by 2 cms. Another alteration included the head, with the
shorter muzzle favored in England and America, but which is not acceptable
in France, where the longer foreface is considered correct. It was the
American Standard which, a few years later, was adopted in its entirety
by the Pyrenean Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain, apparently without
further reference to the original French translation. Essentially, however,
all the Standards call for a dog of great size (27" to 32" for
dogs, 25" to 29" for bitches), strongly built, but with a certain
elegance and a kindly disposition. He should have a thick double coat,
with a fine white undercoat and a long, flat outer coat of a coarser hair.
Black on nose and eyerims and an unbroken black mouth line are also necessary.
In the all-white dog good pigment would ideally be linked with black pads,
nails and palate. Double dew-claws on the hind legs are a distinguishing
feature, and their removal constitutes disqualification in the show ring.
®1996 Highlands
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