The Pyrenean Mountain Dog,
known as the Great Pyrenees in North America, is a large
breed of dog, used as a livestock guardian dog.
The Great Pyrenees is a very old
breed, and has been used for hundreds of years by shepherds,
including those of the Basque people, who inhabit parts of the
region in and around the Pyrenees Mountains of southern France and
northern Spain.[2] One of the first
descriptions of the breed dates from 1407, and from 1675 the breed
was a favourite of The Grand Dauphin and other members of the French
aristocracy.[3] By the early
nineteenth century there was a thriving market for the dogs in
mountain towns, from where they would be taken to other parts of
France. However as late as 1874 the breed was not completely
standardised in appearance, with two major sub-types recorded, the
Western and the Eastern.[4] They are related
to several other large white European livestock guardian dogs (LGD),
including the Italian Maremma Sheepdog, Kuvasz (Hungary), Akbash Dog
(Turkey) and Polish Tatra or Polski Owczarek Podhalański..... /
Wikipedia /
