# Rotti/pyrenees mix



## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

Has anyone come across this cross?

I've owned a Rotti, beautiful laid back smart dog with no tendency to roam.

I have no experience with Pyrenees.

Foxes and raccoons are main varmits, plus birds of prey.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

I think they would be decent dogs. The Rott blood should help ease some of the more irritating Pyr characteristics, like constant barking and wandering. They would be more people oriented and maybe better all around farm dogs than Pyr. Pyr are bred for a pretty specific purpose and do not fill the general farm dog shoes so well, IMO. Give me an unidentifiable mutt any day, many times those are the very best farmdogs.

I myself am wondering about the possibilities of a Pyrenees x Malinois cross. My Pyr got out, was running with someone else's loose dog for a few days....ALL OVER the countryside I might add!! Then when she finally showed back up, she brought her boyfriend with her. 
She's looking pretty rotund and has milk coming in now. Sigh. On the bright side, she is far too fat to wander right now and I can let her out at times.


----------



## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

Should I decide to get one, I will have it neutered. Which is less likely to wander: male or female?


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

My experience is the females stick around slightly better, but not if they are in heat.


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

ShannonR said:


> I think they would be decent dogs. The Rott blood should help ease some of the more irritating Pyr characteristics, like constant barking and wandering. They would be more people oriented and maybe better all around farm dogs than Pyr. Pyr are bred for a pretty specific purpose and do not fill the general farm dog shoes so well, IMO. Give me an unidentifiable mutt any day, many times those are the very best farmdogs.


You do realize I guess that a Pyr's job is to bark. That being said, it depends on which breed out of a rott/pyr mix is dominate gene wise, I have had a rott that roamed all over the place miles and miles if she could get out of the yard, spayed by the way, and a pyr that never the porch and a mix of the two that roamed anywhere he could (neutered) and barked at anything that moved.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Yup, I know it's their job to bark. And to run things down. That is, after all, why I got a Pyr. 
That was sort of my point tho about them being bred for a really specific purpose and not so much as an all around dog.

My girl is having her puppies now. One out so far and it's a boy!


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

ShannonR said:


> Yup, I know it's their job to bark. And to run things down. That is, after all, why I got a Pyr.
> That was sort of my point tho about them being bred for a really specific purpose and not so much as an all around dog.
> 
> My girl is having her puppies now. One out so far and it's a boy!


Is the the Pyr and suspected Malinois cross?? I so pictures please, I am so interested in what they look like, and as they grow how they behave! 

And my point with any cross is which breed in the cross is the dominate breed in the pups, and each within a litter could have different breed characteristics. One Pry/Rott cross may be happy to lay on the porch all day and guard the homestead and another from the same litter may have the barking/paroling gene, you just never know.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Here ya go. Not the best picture, she had her pups in the laundry pile. 
I'll update as they grow!


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

Miss Shannon, they look wonderful, hope they are all doing well today!!


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

They're doing great, she had 7!
I am seeing two distinct types of puppy, and am not sure if it is from the dad(s?) or from Mom's not so purebred heritage...she's only 3/4 Pyr for the record. 

Obviously, I never intended to breed her so didn't think it would matter much about her mutt blood. As far as Mom's temperament goes, it is VERY Pyrenees, with a small splash of homebody lovebug mixed in.

I know a dog who is going to be spayed in a few months...


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

Ha ha, I wasn't looking closely and couldn't figure out why one of the pups was so danged hairy, then I figured out it is her tail!! She looks good and so do the pups, congrats and congrats on deciding to get her spayed.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

She laid on a pup and smashed it last night.

When I removed the (very flattened) pup from under her and took it away she freaked out and left her litter, busted thru the gate to the porch and started crying at the front door. She insisted I give her pup back, was inside the house sniffing around for it and stuff...and she took it and put it back in her nest. So, there is that to deal with today....somehow. Hope she realizes it is dead by now!


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

ShannonR said:


> She laid on a pup and smashed it last night.
> 
> When I removed the (very flattened) pup from under her and took it away she freaked out and left her litter, busted thru the gate to the porch and started crying at the front door. She insisted I give her pup back, was inside the house sniffing around for it and stuff...and she took it and put it back in her nest. So, there is that to deal with today....somehow. Hope she realizes it is dead by now!


She will, just let her morn with a bit and once she is done bury it well away from her.

Also, I am so sorry that happened and you are having to deal with it.


----------



## hoddedloki (Nov 14, 2014)

Might be worth it to install rails in your whelping box to keep the pups from getting laid on. Here is a link to an example that shows the rails inside the box. 

http://www.mcemn.com/WB-feedback.html

Loki


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Whelping box? LOL, you speak to me as if I knew what I'm doing here.  I actually can see where those rails would work!

Mom has been good about learning not to lay on them, I did have to do a couple of rescues the last couple of days and pulled pups out from behind her, but no more losses. Pups are getting stronger and some are able to crawl back over Mama when they get stuck.

Here is a pic I just took of them.


----------



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Crossing a herding dog with a livestock guardian could produce anywhere from an intense herding dog, to a farm protection dog. You won't know until the pups are older, most likely after a year or two old. Both Rottweilers and Malinois have very strong prey drive with some bite. They are also used quite a bit for personal protection work. You could end up with a 100 lb livestock chasing machine with the independent nature of the Pyr. 
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ko7zb6w1QY[/ame]


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

I do see where you're coming from here. I could end up with....well, anything at this point. I do know as soon as they are a little bigger these pups will be going into the goat pen to teach some interspecies respect while they are still small enough.

And with that said, my Mama dog here(Auntie Em we call her!) is a small part aussie shepherd on her mother's side herself..both her and her mother are actually really good farm dogs with no herding tendencies. She has a smattering of Akbash in her too, kind of a Supermutt LGD. I think I did good picking her out for my place.  

Oh, Emily does have a chicken chasin' sister though... dog lived here for awhile then she had to go to a citiot home where people think kitty chasing and shoving people over is cute because I sure in heck wasn't going to deal with that cull. They are sure happy with the dog, but I wasn't.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

More puppy pics to brighten the day. Whatever they are or will be, they sure are cute little ones!


----------



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

There are some herding bred dogs that don't have much in any drive to work. I have seen several Aussies who couldn't care a less about herding. Looks you were lucky and got the pup who didn't have much herding in here, while the other pup has it.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Well, I culled the pup who was chasing chickens in a sense. Then picked up a siser from same litter.
I'm not sure what the litter statistics were as far as lgd type vs herding, just know most the pups went to farm homes. As far as the looks go, auntie em looked the least like pyr in the litter, was also the runt.

As far as pup behavior goes though, at least a good part of it is learned behavior from Mom. There is of course instinct that comes into play, also how the dogs are raised by the owners. I can only hope to do decent by these little ones as far as curbing any killer instinct towards farm animals goes before they are given away. I know that at the place Emily came from it was sort of a nobody pays atention free for all with all kinds of animals loose everywhere and very little actual observation or correction of pup behavior. Hopefully I can do better!


----------



## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

I guess the message of responsible dog ownership hasn't gotten through to everyone.


----------



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

So the mom is part Pyrenees and part Aussie. Her sister was culled for chicken chasing. The mom was gone for a couple days and came back with a Malinois? The pups could have different fathers depending on the intact dogs in the area. 
The prey drive may not kick in until closer to 5 or 6 months, or maybe a year.


----------



## wiscto (Nov 24, 2014)

Shannon. Have you found any kind of puppy socialization/enrichment process to follow? You'll probably figure out who the aloof or prey driven ones are with plenty of exposure to new things.


----------



## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

Is someone who can't figure out how to keep an unspayed ***** in heat confined, doesn't bother trying to find her until she "shows up" a few days later and then doesn't provide a whelping box with rails to protect the puppies really going to engage in a socialization program?


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

wendle said:


> So the mom is part Pyrenees and part Aussie. Her sister was culled for chicken chasing. The mom was gone for a couple days and came back with a Malinois? The pups could have different fathers depending on the intact dogs in the area.
> The prey drive may not kick in until closer to 5 or 6 months, or maybe a year.


I agree on maybe two fathers, I see two totally separate types of pup here. The mom was kind of gone and then home again but wouldn't let anyone catch her. And yes, it is totally my fault she escaped in heat, she got through the electric fence while it was unhooked, the battery was being charged. How awful and irrespobsible of me, lol I'm a terrible person.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

wiscto said:


> Shannon. Have you found any kind of puppy socialization/enrichment process to follow? You'll probably figure out who the aloof or prey driven ones are with plenty of exposure to new things.


I like this. I had planned to socialize with the animals when they are a little older and human/kid interaction at my place is a given. If it wasn't so dang hot here already car rides would be on the menu and bringing them with me on goat walks is easily doable. I do have other dogs here so they will have some socialization from them.
I have some concerns about taking puppies that are too young to be vaccinated to say, the lake or dog park though. How much should I worry about that? Mom is utd on all her vaccinations so there is some antibody protection to the pups, yea?

And do you have more suggestions, like maybe shall I set up obstacle courses or see who is gunshy maybe? I'd love to hear more from anyone here who isn't stuck in a state of eternal dogma.


----------



## wiscto (Nov 24, 2014)

ShannonR said:


> I like this. I had planned to socialize with the animals when they are a little older and human/kid interaction at my place is a given. If it wasn't so dang hot here already car rides would be on the menu and bringing them with me on goat walks is easily doable. I do have other dogs here so they will have some socialization from them.
> I have some concerns about taking puppies that are too young to be vaccinated to say, the lake or dog park though. How much should I worry about that? Mom is utd on all her vaccinations so there is some antibody protection to the pups, yea?
> 
> And do you have more suggestions, like maybe shall I set up obstacle courses or see who is gunshy maybe? I'd love to hear more from anyone here who isn't stuck in a state of eternal dogma.


No I think you're right about the dog parks, I know I wouldn't. When that happens is up to their future owners and their veterinarians. You have dogs that you know are clean, that's a great start, probably more than a lot of puppies get before they're sold/adopted. 

I wouldn't do the gunshy thing, that's honestly one way to create a gunshy dog (depending on what you do), but you can start introducing them to strange noises and work on their adjustment. I'll pm you a good resource.


----------

