Pyrenean Sheepdog

About the Pyrenean Sheepdog

The Pyrenean Sheepdog is the little herding dog that worked in partnership with the great white guardian in the same valleys, one keeping the flock together while the other kept the wolves off. It is the smallest of the French herding breeds and among the most energetic dogs of its size anywhere.

Dogs stand roughly 40 to 48 cm and weigh very little for the drive they carry, with a lean muzzle, an intense expression and a long or half-long coat in fawn, grey, brindle or merle, often with white markings. The breed is wary of strangers, intensely attached to one person, and never still. A stud should be confident and easy to handle, since nervous sharpness is the fault most often seen and the least useful to pass on.

Ask for a current eye certificate, since collie eye anomaly has been recorded in the breed, and for hip scores and a patellar assessment. Epilepsy is reported in the breed and there is nothing to test for it, so ask about seizures in the wider family rather than only in the stud. Where a stud carries merle, ask specifically about the intended bitch, because two merles must never be paired.

Health & breeding

We check every hip, elbow, eye and DNA result you give us against the Royal Kennel Club’s public records by hand, and we record who checked it and when. The Royal Kennel Club’s public records may not include all the screening a dog has had, so a dog with no Royal Kennel Club record showing is not necessarily untested.