***Bar 6 Diamond Ranch Black & White Great Pyrenees***

B6DR Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs
Home of the Landrace Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dog
Strong Spirit, Keen Mind, Staunch Protector;

The Guardian of Hearth and Home

B6DR Great Pyrenees LGDs

The "Black" GREAT PYRENEES

" Guardian Angels of The Ranch"

It always amazes that there are many who ridicule the Black Great Pyrenees and ones who fancy they do not exist; and will vocalize and downgrade without even inquiring of the one who OWNS the animals. They try to deride them saying they are part newfie or part Border collie or some other "mutt" cross. People say that a true pyr could not have black, but we are here to stand and share it does happen; and not hide it.

First off this is an excerpt that was shared with me about The Great Pyrenees with the Black, many years ago, it is more than the Badger, or blaireau, or apricot, the mixture of brown, black, gray, apricot and white, is necessary to maintain the size and strength of this truly beautiful dog. Included in this is also postcards and a few pictures that have been shared with us over the years showing the amount and color in old world Great Pyrenees.

Passage taken From “THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DOGS”
Edited by Ferelith Hamilton and Mr. Arthur F Jones.

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.

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 eye rims 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.

I know it is considered by some as not acceptable and something to be “ashamed”. We’ve been told of those that will put the puppies born with black down at whelping so as to not admit they were born; or even the stud or bitch that produced them, destroyed. These are sad tales that are shared with us. Sadly, goat or dog, cat or sheep, if it doesn’t conform to what has become the accepted "standard"; hide what you get, do not admit it, or you will be blackballed by one society or another. It was through a prejudiced mindset such as this against the black and white Great

Pyrenees that they were almost wiped out; we have seen this in other animals, such as with the true Colored Angora. The color in the Angora was not accepted, so anything with color that was born in the angora, as anything with black born in a litter of pyrs, was put down at birth so as not to upset the "standard". But now, there are people getting COLOR from white to white

breedings of Angoras, because they selected for the ones that carried color and realized the necessity of the color. Selective breeding is bringing the color back in the Angora; and it is now not so unaccepted and color is even desired; so people are not hiding it anymore. But, the moral, the pure true colored angoras were almost wiped out; due to not conforming to a standard but for a few who refused to bow to it, a refusal to give to a prejudiced mindset, and it is making a comeback. The same can be true of the Beautiful Regal Black Great Pyrenees if people open their minds and don't spew the hatred.

The Great Pyrenees, as you should know it is a French dog, aka Pyrenean Mountain Dog or Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées and in the 80’s, we had imported Great Pyrenees from an old and established kennel. As time went on the lady passed that owned the kennel. During the time of our relationship she imparted valued information onto us that would continue to enhance and make us strive to learn and know more of this regal animal. It was from the wonderful woman who bred our two original girls and who showed her dogs and worked her dogs around the world that we learned our basics of Great Pyrenees and their original breed temperament and type. It is also from her that we learned why we would later choose to not purchase AKC dogs for Our Endeavor. Our current Great Pyrenees are, yes, not of AKC registry origins by our choice; we choose now to not place AKC Pyrenees within our lines, as there are things we learned about AKC Pyrenees that makes us feel this way; so our

choice has been good strong working stock. Our first two represented the Original Ideal of both American and French Great Pyrenees. From this we learned what to look for and what we were later to breed for. This is a French imported dog, so our decision was to stick to the French original old world style of Dog.

People without even inquiring or looking for information, will try to discount our Great Pyrenees, due to having the black and French style, by saying things like “those are NOT Purebred Great Pyrenees..... Their heads are clearly not Great Pyrenees heads.....They are.... Definitely mixed with something..." We KNOW breed character, we choose to not breed “AMERICAN” but “FRENCH” character. We WILL NOT breed for American head or build. AKC – The AMERICAN Kennel Club also prefers the AMERICANIZED head and build. We do not, we prefer the French head and style.

One thing with the Great Pyrenees, is that it is the driest mouth (or was) of the large breeds. The French Head is tighter lipped, more refined, think of a French Poodle, not that extreme, but you get the point. You will hear people say they like the dryer mouthed Great Pyrenees, what even they don't realize is they are referring to the French style. You can find picture after picture of old French Pyrenees, of the old true style that have the head and build we breed for. People try to say that our dogs do not fit the “American” standard to justify the black is not true Great Pyrenees. Plain and simply the Great Pyrenees is not an American breed, it is a French Breed with certain old breed characteristics!

A little history lesson, Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) come from a long line of ancient dog breeds that originated in various regions around the world and were developed over millennia to protect livestock from predators, and their ancestry is linked to the historic migration of livestock and herding communities. Evidence suggests that LGDs in regions like East Asia and the rest of Eurasia evolved along two independent lineages for millennia, as humans in separate regions developed dogs to protect livestock however, All LGD breeds can be traced back to these ancient dogs, and yes, each region concentrated on certain things for the breeds that

developed. While livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) did not descend from a single, specific breed; rather, they are a functional group with multiple ancient ancestries tracing back to distinct Eurasian ancient dogs of various colors and styles. The Ancestors to the Great Pyrenees and Pyrenean Mastiff likely migrated with shepherds around 3,000 BC, eventually evolving in the Pyrenees Mountains of France and Spain. Studies have shown that there is a shared ancestry and gene flow among modern LGD breeds, the black in the Great Pyrenees even though the attempt was made for it to bred out in them, is in the ancestry as you can see in the shared ancestry of the Great Pyrenees and the Spanish Pyrenean Mastiff, as both are said to have descended from ancient

Molosser dogs brought to the Pyrenees Mountains. They are closely related breeds that evolved in different regions of the Pyrenees Mountains, with the Pyrenean Mastiff developing in Spain and the Great Pyrenees in France as Both breeds trace their lineage back to large Asiatic Molosser dogs brought to Spain by Phoenicians around 3,000 years ago.

Recently I was made aware of a genome study for the PM (Pyrenean Mastiff) and the GP (Great Pyrenees) that backs these points, the study spoke about the similarities between their breed, the PM and the Great Pyrenees. This was a presentation that was sent to the first Pyrenean Mastiff USA club and showed the results of their DNA testing of the Pyrenean Mastiff and Great Pyrenees. What it showed was like the GP the PM is not really a "Mastiff” it is a large mountain dog breed and that they share common ancestry with very ancient breeds. It showed a relationship to the development of Leonberger and the Saint Bernard by the Great Pyrenees. One thing that was also shared, that I found

interesting, is the Pyrenean Mastiff used to have all white dogs in the breed but when the standard was developed they decided to disqualify it, they decided to concentrate away from white, so you now don’t see the white, but it can pop out in the PM, just as the black can pop out in the GP. Just because the color, white with the PM or black with the GP was removed from the “acceptable” show breeding populations, doesn’t mean it doesn’t show up in the working populations as it is/can be there.

Have we seen registered black great pyrs? Yes! With Pedigrees? YES! Have we also been told of those who hide and destroy the offspring of such dogs? Sadly, yes to that also. There are those that say, "IF IT IS there, we would have seen it!" No, not with the stigma attached to it, the hate that the black and white dogs bring out in people; people see that, and withdraw in fear; hiding what they have. This is not the first animal this has happened with, nor will it be the last. Different, scares people, and they react emotionally, in anger and fear....it can be emotional to deal with, but we made the decision not to hide them, so until people open their minds and eyes, and stop the judgmental demeanors, we will be here for those who wish to share but are too afraid to openly.

Our lines we have been working with for the past decades years. We have bred the black in ADDITION to the white, brown badger and wolf greys; we do not hide what they are. First and foremost is working ability, structure, soundness, longevity, but we have been blessed to have the color also. We don't hide it, or pretend to be ashamed of it. If you wish to see pictures of a few different styles of the pyr, type in Pyrenean Mountain Dog in an image search engine. You will see from the very refined head to the “American” blocky head. America calls them Great Pyrenees, but in other countries they are still referred to as Pyrenean Mountain Dogs or Montagne des Pyrénées which is Great Pyrenees in French, do a search and translate the page on search engines around the world. On just a simple search we found sites where they are showing off their Pyrs; their Patous, Grand pyrénéens, Pyrenean Mountain Dogs that are from white to Badger, or blaireau, or apricot to, yes even the black and white. A compilation of Postcards from the early 1900's can be found here on You tube. Watch to see just some of the beautiful color and style of the true Great Pyrenees of old.

So to summarize, If you do honest research on the LGD breeds, you will find the information on how breeds were created in a strains of mountains, deserts and valleys, that were traveled by Nomads and Gypsies. As they traveled, many locals bred their dogs to the dogs of the nomads, and most LGD breeds have a common ancestry from these dogs; but, depending on what area across the continent, what they needed the LGD breed to do, what kind of predator they had, the typical 4 legged predator or 2 legged predator, the wolf or bear, the coyote or bird of prey; or man. They would breed for those characteristics, for the climate, short, long or dual coat, to even the color or size preference. With the development of the LGD; as the breed was developing, look to the area that the Great

Pyrenees came from. The Great Pyrenees mountains, between France, and Spain. On one side they created the Pyrenean Mountain Dog on the other the the Pyrenean mastiff; similar ancestry to the dogs, the only thing separating the people that developed the Great Pyrenees or Pyrenean Mountain Dog and the Pyrenean Mastiff, the crest of a mountain range that the nomads passed over. These are the lines the Pyrenean Mountain Dog comes from, to say that black is in no way shape or form part of the breed, takes all it’s history out of the equation. Look at the just the Leonberger, the Pyrenean mastiff, or find other breeds who came form the same region as the Great Pyrenees. You will see the color is there in the lines from those regions; so it is not out of

thought that it IS truly part of the Pyrenean Mountain Dog. Selective breeding can enhance the color, as selective breeding has sought to breed out the black and white it out.

The Black and White Great Pyrenees is a site to behold and we are privileged to have it as part of my breeding program.

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