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We
first bought a pair of Great Pyrenees sisters in the early 80's ago as Guardians for
the cats were were raising at the time. The first ones were
AKC pyrs. One was a Home Body who bonded to the
Cats and did not like to leave home or even be outside for extended periods
of time. The other was Our Guardian and would maintain watch over our yard
and was more than willingly, even eager to go in the car, hiking, swimming
and just playing. She was ever on the guard against Mountain Lions when we
were in the woods. Both took their job of Guardian very seriously and were
Great at it. So our start with these wonderful dogs, were as
"family" or personal dogs, so we are
experienced in how a Great Pyrenees is qualified to Bond to a household and
house animals and to the People within equally as well as to Sheep or Goats
in any type of setting. Great Pyrenees BOND to their “Family” whether it is
Human or hooved, inside,
outside or whatever that “family” composite may prove to be.
Though these two were AKC, Our current
Great Pyrenees are not AKC by our choice and intent. The first sisters came from an International Show Kennel who also had Working
Dogs in actual fields. The Mom of our pups was a working sheep dog and the
Dad an International Champion. No dog Can be expected to perform Both
Careers regardless of what People may insist. It was the wonderful woman
who bred our 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 and what can be there. It is also from her that we learned why we would
later choose to Not purchase AKC dogs for Our Endeavor. Our first two
represented the Original Ideal of both American and French Great Pyrenees.
They were
both “show quality” And with a Strong Working Drive and Natural Bonding
genetics that had not been “bred out of them”. So we learned how to select
pups that did represent the true original Great Pyrenees Type and
Temperament.
This was when we also learned that the Great
Pyrenees was not always a “white dog”; as opposed to other breeds of Guardian dogs which seem to be
more ‘humanly aggressive’ such as the Mastiff type breeds. The color is not
by accident. The Dark dogs were used against nighttime Human and
animal predators; light or dark we have found that they blend in with the
stock
and predators cannot detect where they are.
Since Our as with most, Sheep and Goats will not be primarily white you will find that we are not as
prejudiced against the original natural colorings found in the breed as AKC
sanctioned breeders may be. Yet while we have had herdsmen claim that the
colored dogs are better guardians than the white; we have found the black to have awesome instincts and have since incorporated the black
into our lines.
So to the story of our dogs, and how we found the black and when we started incorporating
them into our lines.
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The
beginning of this dream began in the mid/late 90's in the form of a pair of pups from a line which had been actively working
for decades: Justice and Joy. We neutered Justice.
We had breeding experience
with dogs just not the Great Pyrenees. We decided, though it was
proving to be hard work; to breed the Great Pyrenees as an LGD.
It is intense but rewarding work. When selecting the male to match
with Joy, we were selective, we wanted heart and intelligence, the
desire to work, tempered with a kind heart. The ability to trust him
in any Situation. Our Search led us to a stunning male, and
due to all that he was proving to be, we named him, Vengeance aka
Vinnie..... "Vengeance is MINE!" the phrase I
thought.
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Joy |
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Vinnie was purchased
from a long line of working Great Pyrenees and actively working
parents with the same criteria we had for Justice and Joy. The trip
took place in the back country of the TX/NM Border around El Paso NM
driving after back so so far back there was no electricity. As we
rounded a corner and some trees cleared you could just see a little
RV camper with sheep everywhere, there was a generator running, and
as our truck came up, an old man stepped out of the RV. We introduced
ourselves and even though it was more than 3 decades ago I remember
the story he told.... |
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pups toddling around the sheep feet, we asked what dogs were available,
we were thinking about maybe getting an adult, instead of a pup, but
hadn't decided. He stood there and simply said, "Any dog on the
place can be, except that one," and he pointed with the knife
he'd been cleaning his nails with towards this male laying quietly
with the sheep. "What's his story?" we asked...
He proceeded to tell us the
story of that dog, who was the father to the pups we were there to
look at. How one night, he was in his camper and heard a thud on the
roof. Thinking maybe a tree limb feel, he |
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stepped
out to take a look. As he opened the door and his feet hit the
steps, a cougar jumped from the top of the trailer and pinned him
down, all he could think was he was a goner, that cat had him dead
to rights. As he was telling the story, I was watching the male he
was talking about, he stood, stretched, and walked towards the man.
"Quicker than I knew, this dog grabbed that cat, and held him,
til I got my gun." He reached down and scratched the dog
between the ears, "He's never going anywhere." I
looked at that dog, and looked at the pup that was following him. He
made eye contact with me, I knew what he was |
saying, he'd picked
my pup for me. "Ill take that one" pointing at the pups.
The old man reached down n grabbed him by the scruff of the neck,
handed him to me. As I took hold of that pup, the male looked at me
again. Turned, and returned to the sheep.
So that is the story of Vengeance, the foundation to B6DR Great
Pyrenees.
We could go on about Vinnie and
what he did, pretty much if you had ever seen it, he probably
handled it. We almost didn't make that drive, but we are thankful we
did. He was so phenomenal he became the foundation to what we wanted
to work towards. and have continued to do so striving to improve our lines as we
go, living in the vast legacy he left. |
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We
retained two daughters From him Mulan and Esmy, as you can see, we
didnt start off with the black masked pyrs with color, but TBH,
where Vengeance came from, was the first one to introduce them to
us, though we didn't bring them in at that time. We spent a few
years finding a male to match to Mulan and Esmy and eventually found
Retro (Retribution). He was an awesome male, and brought much to our
farm, but he was never a "Vinnie". There wasn't anything
we didn't like about him, but the presence just wasn't the
same. We did retain some females and a male from the daughters
to Vinnie. Which brings us to the next generation and Denali. As he
grew, we knew we had something special. |
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Mulan |
Esmy |
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Before
Denali, we did find one black masked female we brought in, but you
will not find her in any of our dogs, she could have been mated with
Retro or Vinnie... but as much as we liked her she didn't make the
cut and we placed her in a different LGD home, as she was a great
LGD but hated fowl. We wanted our lines to have that extra
"thing" and starting with a dog that didn't like fowl, we didn't
want to bring in that genetic component. So color though we like it
and have it, and dont hide it, is not retained if it doesn't
work out as with any of our LGDs. We could go into more depth, as to
why, but the story would get alot longer. |
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Denali |
Retro |
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With
Arabella, a key female we found that proved herself over and over, was
almost an equal to what we had in Vinnie, was Arabella. She brought
a soft side, the feminine touch, if you will, into our lines. She
was ever the nanny dog, fierce protector, if you were missing a doe
in pasture all you had to do was scan the tree line and she would
step out and lead you to the doe and kid. To tie back to our core,
we retained a daughter and son from Arabella and Deanli. That is
where you see Hercules and Rose come in, when we retained Herc, we
had been hunting for the next Male to bring in and we stumbled into
our next Heart of the Ranch. Thor and his sister |
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Hercules |
Arabella |
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Freya.
Thor proved himself over and over, He proved to be an immeasurable
asset! Protecting the stock with a steadfast heart. If We could
say Vinnie was reincarnated, it would have been in Thor. The actions
and demeanor of Thor was uncanny at times in how it displayed. We
sadly lost Thor to young to a poacher one night. It was a devastating
blow to our program. Thankfully we had a litter on the ground out of
Thor by one of a pair of sisters we had incorporated named True. We
retained a son from that cross, Titan, along with Hoss a son of
Hercules.
Titan is currently our oldest male as of this writing in late 2025, we
have sons and daughters of Hoss and Thor, descendants to all the
originals in addition to other |
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Thor |
Rose |
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females that were
utilized in our program that haven't been mentioned... and the story
is continuing, but this was the start, the beginning of the dynasty.
If you note, at this point, only 2 dogs with the black mask were
incorporated.
So when you hear us refer to our core line, these are the main dogs we
are speaking ok, and there are a few more, but sadly due to space and
time, this must be cut short.
Thank you for reading our story.
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| Hoss |
Titan |
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We
encourage all to have their pups spayed or neutered, unless they are truly
informed and positively committed to invest in the challenging requirements
that responsible breeding represents. A spayed/neutered dog is a Happy,
Focused dog and that makes for a happy and less restricted life for dog,
family and owner alike.
We welcome your
inquiries
about our Livestock Guardian Dogs. Please
send any questions to info@bar6diamondranch.com
or info@bar6diamondranch.com just type it into your email or fill in the CONTACT
FORM..
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